‘Making magic’

While they may not sing “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” the Fairy Godmothers of Newton want to make sure as many little girls as possible are treated like princesses at least once in their lives.

Founded three years ago by “Queen Fairy Godmother” Sarah Curry, the nonprofit group provides an annual workshop during which they style pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade girls’ hair and make-up and provide them dresses, shoes and accessories for the “Princess and Papas Ball” hosted by Newton Senior High School.

“Originally, this started because I was working with the Sunbeams at the Salvation Army, and it’s a little girls group, kind of like the Girl Scouts, and a lot of the girls didn’t have dads or money to go to the dance,” Sarah said.

“They were all upset because they couldn’t go,” she continued. “I thought, ‘There has got to be some way to get them ready, get them dresses, help them come up with chaperones or some way to get them to the dance.’ So, I asked my friends, and a whole bunch of them stepped up.”

Although it was a very last-minute effort, Sarah estimated they helped 18 to 20 little girls become princesses for a night.

The group managed to get a few donations, and another Fairy Godmother, Sabrina Hoffert-Smead, pointed out Sarah’s extra effort to make that first event happen.

“Sarah won’t say it, because she’s being too modest, but she was taking her own money to go buy girls shoes and go buy girls tights to make sure that everybody had what they needed,” Sabrina said. “She was taking that on herself, and we said, ‘You can’t go buy all that stuff. We can figure out how to make this easier.’”

Since the first “Princess Workshop,” the number of girls undergoing the Cinderella treatment has grown tremendously. This year, the workshop will be from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Newton American Legion Post 111. Sign-up will be limited to around 45 girls.

However, these Fairy Godmothers don’t have magic wands and require help to make this year’s workshop the biggest and best yet.

They are asking for community donations for girl-size dresses, girl-size shoes, hair pins and princess accessories (jewelry, tiaras, etc.).

“We do everything, and it’s all donations and volunteers,” Sabrina said. “It’s the only way we can keep it going.”

“We are not professionals. We don’t have any training. We are moms with boys,” Fairy Godmother Angie Mowbray added with a laugh.

“We never get to do stuff like this,” Sabrina added.

While getting a chance to play dress-up is fun for the Fairy Godmothers, they all agreed helping young girls feel special is the most rewarding part.

“Their smile, that’s got to be it,” Angie said. “At first, they’re so shy, then they’re smiling and twirling their dresses, just the whole transformation process.”

“They are so proud of themselves (afterwards),” Sarah said.

If you have items you would like to donate to the Fairy Godmothers or wish to sign-up a girl for the princess treatment, you may contact Sarah at (641) 275-5613 or Sabrina at (641) 521-8928 or email them at newtonfairygodmothers@gmail.com.

Staff writer Ty Rushing may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 426, or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.