Tights and tutus and twirling OH MY!

Add a little cowboys and space rangers; some icing, and balloons and you got yourself (as Kev and I used to say),  "A shin dig--dangerously bordering on a hootenanny!"

Well,  the daughter turned four on the weekend and the daughter decided this year, with her very-sure-of-herself  mind, that she wanted a Ballerina Princess Dress Up Party, so that is just what we did.

Dressing up is THE THING to do in Ava's little circle of friends. Her little Besty is hardly here at our house for five minutes before they both have their clothes whipped off and something else to put on. (my, my, the fashion statements that have paraded down our hallway!)

So, I threw myself into making some dress-up clothes for the coming party guests and the girl of honor based on a super clever idea good ol' Al gave me that she got off some website out there.
(So don't go getting too excited, this isn't all original ideas. I'm only halfway awesome for pulling it all together)

The Tutus were made with long bands of ribbon and smaller strips of tulle from the dollar store wrapped around and then the ribbon is tied around the small ballerina's waist.

I also lucked out at the Liquidation World and scored these sweet tights for the girls for .75 a pop. "ai thaank yoo"
The t-shirts took a little more finagling, but it was a five-minute-per-shirt ordeal that took one evening, and I thought they were pretty jettin by the time I was done.

The total cost  for supplies --I won't post that here,( but it was ridiculously cheap) and I gave each girl their costume as a take home treat instead of loot bags full of evil candy (evil I tell you :)*

Here was the costume I did up for the Birthday girl:

 The slightly more Frou Frou version of the other ensembles.

Bless her heart, when I surprised her with this after her nap, all she could say was "Oh Mother, Mama Mommy, Thank You! Thank You Ever So Much!"
( I kid you not, she talks like this, and I have no idea where she got it )

She even let me put her hair in a bun before the party, what a great kid!

The Cake (it's two ballerina slippers for which I will post a tutorial I promise) and the unsweetened grape juice and club soda punch ( "cut the sugar where you can", was my motto, so we could enjoy the cake with that much more gusto)

 and enjoy it we did!

  ballerinas and a super simple fruit plate for snack after decorating paper tiaras with rhinestone stickers.
(They did a hunt around the house for the tiaras)

I also love how G, couldn't get enough of the dressing up and is sporting a full length ball gown OVER the tiara. Whoever said less is more, was not a  ballerina princess apparently

  Av, and myself (sporting a rather Van Halen-ish hairdo, now that I look at it....)

 The Classic Pile-On-Before-the-Meltdowns-Occur Photo Op.

thanks girlies for the bestest party ever!

We then went on to have ANOTHER potluck family party with her grandparents and cousins, which was all about laid back food and laughing around the kitchen table.

As Ava Grace only has boy cousins, and her latest craze has been Toy Story in a hardcore way, I decided to surprise her with some Toy Story cupcake. I made these by using a package of stickers and taping the characters to toothpicks with cardstock backing. It worked awesome, and was sooo easy I felt like laughing maniacally all day. 

All in all it was a great day and she enjoyed every minute of it, she received some very lovely gifts including a new play shopping cart to replace the three-wheeled one she's been pushing around pathetically for almost two months now. :)

Thanks to everyone who made the day really special, if I can get her to sit still for minute this week I'll try to get her to answer some questions for me to time capsule who this vivacious little creature is at four years old.

Where has the time gone?
Our Coco Girl is FOUR YEARS OLD!!!!!!!


How did this happen overnight?
One minute it seems she was a tiny squidgy little thing swaddled up on my chest, and the next a skinny legged silly pants who can't stay still if her life depended on it.
A child with such zest for life is a fabulous and very exhausting thing (the good kind of exhausted) :)

She's such a great gift; thank you God.

Ah, my heart is full and so is this post.
Cheers.

* Just kidding on the evil :)....

They're  pure evil. :)