Tutu Birthday Party

Hey party people!
We are really really lucky. My husband and I, that is. We have the best neighbors in the world. Seriously. They moved in when Kim was pregnant with their first child, Charlotte. Last year, we got to celebrate her Charlotte’s Web 1st birthday with them. This year, we got to be there for her Tutu Birthday Party! What a difference a year makes. She was running around and talking. It’s been such an honor for Kim & Jeremy (our neighbors) to include us in celebrating Charlotte’s life. 
Kim is uber creative and she came up with the cute Tutu theme to celebrate her 2nd birthday. It turned out amazing and Kim was gracious enough to let me share the photos with you.  


 Here’s the birthday girl right as she got on her tutu. Isn’t that the cutest little getup? 

Kim ordered this beautiful tulle table skirt and it really made the entire party. She offered guests mini sandwiches, chips and dip, pasta salad, and watermelon.
*She got the table skirt from an Etsy shop. Here are several options. 
 The dessert table was decorated with apothecary jars, a feather boa, pink pom poms, and balloons. 
 For an inexpensive centerpiece, Kim used star wands in a vase filled with pink crinkle paper.  
 

 This glitter candle was a DIY project Kim did. She bought a regular candle, added glue, then sprinkled glitter over it, and let it dry. 
 Kim shares my love of Shop Sweet Lulu, so here are the plates and napkins she ordered from there.  

 This is my favorite DIY and budget-friendly project Kim created for the party. This is a little crate tutu holder.  

 How to Create Your Own:
Step 1: Pick up a banana crate from your local grocery store. Her husband Jeremy just said to ask your local store to set one aside for you and they will give them to you for free.
Step 2: Screw in a small dowel rod into the sides of the crate, so it resembles a little closet.
Step 3: Paint your little crate tutu closet.
When it’s finished, use kid hangers and you’ve got the perfect tutu hanger.  
I tried to snap some cute pictures of Charlotte & the other kids, but I’m not used to photographing such fast moving objects. Here are a few that ended up semi-decent.  

 Here’s Kim, Jeremy, and Charlotte. Aren’t they a great looking family? 

 And this photo melts my heart…

 Cousins are such a sweet gift. Here are Charlotte’s cousins Ella and Cooper. Their mom, Megan, has a cute blog, too – Perfectly Prosser. 

 
If you’d like to throw your own Tutu Birthday party, here are a few great tips to take away from Charlotte’s Tutu party…

Stick to one “Wow Factor” thing. This can be said for almost any party. If you want your party to be awe-inspiring without stress, just stick to one BIG thing. It will be the thing everyone is talking about and you won’t be ready to give up on life because you’re so exhausted from trying to create 15 major Pinterest projects that no one will notice because there’s so much going on. It’s like that street of gorgeous gorgeous homes, but you could drive down it once and miss so much because there’s SOO many. You have one amazing gorgeous home on a street of plain homes, and it automatically is memorable. Kim stuck to the tulle skirt tablecloth and it made the whole party! 
Focus on just a few DIY projects. For the tutu party, the Wand Centerpiece and Tutu hanger were such fun details and very simple. They also didn’t take much time. Always balance the cost of buying versus time of DIYing it. 
When ordering party items, plan that the party is a week earlier. Kim almost had a big emergency. The person she ordered Charlotte’s tutu and the guest tutus from didn’t get the package to her until the morning of the party. Talk about stress! She had the order in plenty of time, but Kim kept saying that she wished she had told her the party was a week earlier. That would’ve reduced a lot of unnecessary stress. In general, I try to have all my ordered items arriving a week or two earlier than the party. 
Keep the desserts simple and decorate around them. As much as I love gorgeous dessert tables, one dessert is enough for a party. Keep it simple, but decorate around it to create a beautiful display without the added work and cost. 
I have to say that going to this party made me realize that you can take the girl out of the tutu, but you can’t take the tutu out of the girl. ;p No matter how old I am, I’ll always love tutus. Great revelation from a 2 year old party, huh? 
Whether you’re a tutu-kinda person or not…don’t forget to party on!