National Tell a Fairy Tale Day Is Back with Two Exciting Parties!

Every year on February 26th, some of the most talented fairy tale authors in the world get together to share games, promotions, and free books in honor of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. This year, not only has Brittany Fichter launched her annual Once Upon 2025 celebration again with a large group of authors, but Callie Thomas has also gotten in on the fun as well with a fairy tale adventure of her own. Due to the number of authors involved, these online parties can be a bit time-consuming if you wish to participate in every event. It's especially challenging for those of us with full-time jobs or other commitments because the games and freebies tend to vanish after National Fairy Tale Day is over. For that reason, it's a good idea to plan for this day ahead of time and start early so you don't miss out on the fun.  It's too bad it doesn't take place on a weekend!

This year, I decided to start my morning with Callie Thomas's Fairy Tale Adventure because it was completely new to me! I was excited to try something different. This event is presented like a "choose your own adventure" game with tons of puzzles to solve and unlock an interconnected story. Essentially, a wizard named Nodoore has chosen you to search nine magical portals and find the magic words to unlock the treasures of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. Accessing these portals requires you to open the invitation and solve a puzzle to piece together the message. Each color-coded portal unlocks the world of a different author and contains a new riddle or puzzle to find that portal's secret word. If you don't have a good memory, you might need a notebook because there's no way to save the words once you've found them. I had some technical difficulties with a couple of the pages, but I was still able to complete the quest. It's also a good idea to save some of the links as you go so you don't lose your progress. The prizes for this event contained more artwork than free books, which is a great reward if you are a fantasy fan. There were coloring pages, printable bookmarks, and enchanting wallpapers to enhance your phone or desktop.

Brittany Fichter's Once Upon 2025 festivities began on her themed Facebook page with posts throughout February to introduce the ten authors that would be participating in today's party. Early this morning, the magic portal opened on her website with a webring containing links to various authors' party pages where they introduced themselves and their books and shared various activities that were similar to last year's event. Many of them were presented on DIY static images in which the users can select words to find their fairy tale name or personality. I still miss the early days when readers were able to interact directly with the authors through live Facebook posts and comments at set times, but I understand that setting up pages in advance works better with everyone's busy schedule. Some of my favorite activities included personality quizzes that told me which characters I had the most in common with from various series. Most of the posts contained links to books that the authors were promoting for new releases or sales promotions. I had selected most of the books I wanted to collect before I reached the final page, which contained a master list of Fairy Tale Day book promotion links.

Since I'm a big reader, my favorite part of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day is the free books that the authors promote through their events. However, if these events are too time-consuming for you, there are many more ways to celebrate National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. You can take a few minutes to read your favorite fairy tale, watch a Disney movie, sing a song, or dress up as your favorite princess. I set up a display of fairy tale books at my library to encourage parents to explore the magic and wonder of fairy tales with their children. Just because this magical day only comes around once a year doesn't mean we can't celebrate the wonder of fairy tales all year long! I celebrate fairy tales every day by sharing my reviews and experiences with all of you here on The Princess Blog. How do you celebrate your love of fairy tales? Let me know in the comments!

As National Tell a Fairy Tale Day comes to a close, I'm grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the magic of fairy tales with authors, readers, and fairy tale enthusiasts around the world. Whether you participated in Callie Thomas's Fairy Tale Adventure, Brittany Fichter's Once Upon 2025 celebration, or simply took a moment to revisit your favorite fairy tale, I hope you had a chance to tap into the wonder and enchantment of these timeless stories. Mark your calendars for next year's celebration and get ready to be transported to a world of magic, adventure, and happily-ever-afters!