June 28, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

‘Fairy Godmother’ makes girls’ dreams come true
by JENNIFER KATZ

Ebony Edwards holds her wedding gown next to some of the “dress up” items for little girls during the opening of her salon, Little Fairy Godmothers, 631 Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown, last week. (Photos by Jennifer Katz)

After her 2005 wedding, Ebony Edwards looked at the gown hanging in her bedroom in disbelief, sure that she would never wear it again. But then it occurred to her that she could recapture the glamour of her wedding day with a small idea that has turned into a booming business and led to the opening of her salon, Little Fairy Godmothers, at 631 Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown last week.

A self-described “girly” girl, Edwards said she kept looking at her dress wondering what she was going to do with it.

“It was just sitting there,” said Edwards of her strapless gown.

On a whim, Edwards decided to put an ad in the Local, advertising her services to act as a fairy godmother for girls’ birthday parties.

“We would come dressed up and do their hair and make up, give them glitter tattoos and wands and tiaras,” Edwards said.

The party theme was more popular than she could have imagined, and in less than two years she had over 1,000 bookings and appeared at more than 200 birthday parties.

Born in Brooklyn, Edwards, whose maiden name is Walker, moved to Chestnut Hill with her family when she was 10-years-old. She attended C. W. Henry School and the William W. Bodine School for international affairs. Now a West Mt. Airy resident married to Sean Edwards and mother to a 10-year-old son, Edwards worked in politics and mentoring before finding her passion in making little girls’ dreams come true.

“I love making children feel special,” she said. “I love helping children live their imagination.”

Armed with princess music and even a fog machine on occasion, Edwards casts a spell on her subjects.

One of her clients, Andrea Smith, said she could not believe her daughter’s and her friends’ reaction to the special princess treatment.

“The children were awestruck,” said Smith of the group of girls who attended her daughter Lauryn’s ninth birthday party last year. “They all sat there completely quiet. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

With the success of the birthday parties, Edwards started thinking bigger and put together a business plan to open a salon geared toward girls aged three and older with a penchant for princess-style glamour. Her plan recently won second place in the New Covenant Church Business Plan Competition.

The salon features a boutique with fairy princess items ranging from dress-up gowns of pink and purple toile and purses to match, to prince frogs with crowns and special Little Fairy Godmother lotions and shower gels. The shop’s make up line is geared toward children and is all hypo-allergenic. She had planned to open the doors just in time for the Grand Opening week of June 25 to July 1 but had so many people stopping in inquiring about the shop, it opened almost a week early.

Last Sunday morning alone, one would-be princess after another wandered into the bright pink shop with wide eyes and large grins seemingly overjoyed by the shelves of glittery items and primping wares.

The allure of being pampered and treated like a princess was too much for Maya Esberg, 6, of Chestnut Hill, who on her way into the shop said, “I’m more like a boy, but I’m trying to think more like a girl.”

After her transformation to a “royal princess,” Esberg said she would like to have her birthday party there in the fall.

Edwards said the shop can cater to girls of all ages ranging from the youngest ones for birthdays to teenagers for pre-prom primping and even older girls who want to indulge in a little girls’ night out frivolity. For Edwards, there is no limit to what a girl wants when it comes to being a princess.

“I plan to be on Oprah,” said Edwards of her own fantasy.

For now, she is content to help other girls live out their fantasies and to “keep making wishes come true.”