Giggles storefront transports window-shoppers to fairyland
While Sanibel and Captiva are home to plenty of magnificent flying creatures, Giggles owner Marcia Kimball is presenting island residents and visitors with a special challenge — guessing the correct amount of fairies that are currently hiding in her Chadwick’s Square storefront window.
The child that guesses correctly will win a giant Sesame Street Abby Cadabby doll that retails for $250.
Kimball spent five days on her whimsical window, filling it with flowers, grass, trees, animals, sparkling beads, glowing lights and of course, fairies.
“This little girl told me that fairies live in a very special place. I didn’t know anything about them, so I started reading and researching all these things about fairies and how they like to hide and burrow behind things,” Kimball said. “It was interesting to learn all these things. They like to hide in golden fir trees and they like anything to do with diamonds and shiny stuff. Someone told me that butterflies carry them, so I put butterflies in the display. I wanted it to be authentic.”
Kimball said she calls her display “Good Fairies Win,” which was inspired by her daughter.
“She calls three of her friends ‘the good fairies,’ so I named this ‘Good Fairies Win’ because she got out of what was happening to her with the help of her good fairy friends,” Kimball said.
Kimball’s intricate window is bustling with magical activity, and she thinks it would make a suitable habitat for any good fairy.
“As I was reading, I learned that if you make an environment for fairies, they’ll come and visit you. And as I was decorating, I kept getting these really great vibes — so, I think the fairies like it!” she said. “Even as I was picking out the eucalyptus at the craft store for the display, the aroma of the branches started to get really strong, so I thought to myself, hmm…I think the fairies like this!”
Kimball said she bought lots of duplicate items for display and for purchase this time around.
“Usually I’m greedy and I want to keep everything — so anything that’s in the window, except the lights, they can buy. I’ve decided that if there is something in the window that I really and truly love and don’t want to sell, like the tree, for example, I’ll charge $1,000 and give it to charity or an organization,” Kimball said, pointing out her shimmery gold fir tree in the corner of the display, a home for both regular fairies, mermaid fairies and a guardian gnome.
So far, passersby have approved of the magical habitat.
“The resort was really busy this Labor Day weekend and everyone was coming by and looking at it, commenting. They really liked it. We worked really hard. We’re trying to make it fun,” Kimball said.
The Giggles fairy habitat will stay in place until November to make sure plenty of children have a chance to count the fairies.
But with every good fairy comes a bad one, and in this case, it’s pressure to make her next window display even better than this one.
“Christmas will be a challenge because I have enough decorations to do three windows,” Kimball said. “But I’ll give you a hint — for Christmas, I’m going to have real snow in the window!”
If you know a youngster who’s willing to give fairy-counting a try, Giggles is located in Chadwick’s Square across from South Seas Island Resort.