Unicorns might not be real‚ but they're making appearances at South African birthdays

When Siobhan Kelsey asked for junk food and a unicorn for her 21st birthday‚ she never imagined that her family would fulfil her odd wish.

On her birthday she found herself in their Pinetown‚ west of Durban‚ garden on a horse disguised as a unicorn.

"She didn’t want to do anything for her birthday. She just wanted junk food. But when I said we have to celebrate‚ she said‚ 'Fine‚ make the theme unicorns'‚" said her aunt‚ Aleasha Nell.

Nell decided that her niece deserved a surprise and began looking for a horse to play the part of the mythical creature. But very few owners wanted their horses to be prancing around in a unicorn getup.

"We finally found someone who was willing and excited about doing this. We arranged for it to be a surprise and it really was. Siobhan really did enjoy herself. We all did‚" Nell said.

Horses hired to play the fantasy creature have brought the unicorn to life at parties‚ weddings and even photo-shoots throughout the world. In Johannesburg‚ it is "Fudge" who is the most famous unicorn on the party scene.

Tammy Wile receives phone call requests for her pony to play a unicorn at a kids’ party "every other day".

"The kids go mad when Fudge arrives as a unicorn‚" Wile said.

Trend analyst Nicola Cooper said there was no escape from the unicorn trend‚ from hair‚ makeup‚ all kinds of unicorn food and the famous Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino.

"The unicorn has become the mascot of the millennial and it is rough out there. The unicorn gives a sense of escapism or a nostalgia routed from the 80's and 90's from the hardships of adult life. A unicorn taps into the social media platforms through its uses combinations of colour‚ and it really lends itself to how we communicate today‚" she said.

Although some have a genuine affinity for the mythical beast‚ the unicorn trend is reaching saturation point for a number of reasons‚ Cooper said.

"However‚ the most important point is by adhering to this trend‚ one of the most misunderstood generation is infantalising themselves. Major corporations such as Starbucks are cashing in on this and more than often when larger companies begin to align with trends it indicates full saturation point and a looming death of the trend‚" she explained.