It’s Tutu Fun Turning Two!

I can’t believe our baby girl turned TWO at the beginning of this month! She is a petite little thing, who waited until she was 18 months old to start walking, so she has been our itty bitty baby for so long, and now all of a sudden, she is a running, climbing, opinionated TODDLER! It doesn’t matter how many people warn you about how fast it goes, it still just keeps going SO FAST.

We celebrated our little Ellie Belle turning two, with a glitter filled tutu party and I am so happy with how it turned out, despite the fact that our house will now have traces of glitter for all eternity. There really should be a disclaimer on our front door.

When we threw my son’s birthday party in December, we had a “kids” party and filled our home with his friends, and our own. Since Elyssa doesn’t have too many of her own friends yet, we kept it more intimate with a family party. We had about 25 guests, which was just the right amount for our little house. Since it was a smaller party than we normally throw, I was able to relax a bit and didn’t let myself get too overwhelmed. My parents took the kids the whole day before, so I was able to get the house fully prepared, which helped a TON, and when people offered to bring something, I took them up on it!! I had ACME do the cupcakes, Royal Farms provide the fried chicken (seriously, it’s so good), my parents brought a crock pot of roast beef for sandwiches, and then my parents, sister, and aunts helped me fill out the appetizers, sides, and desserts. Letting people help is a LIFESAVER when it comes to throwing a party in your home. They helped so much that I was actually able to carry out one of my New Year’s resolutions for this year, which was to be more deliberate in actually enjoying the parties that I throw, without letting myself get too caught up in the details. I did have to let a few things go when we got down to crunch time, but in the grand scheme of things, they were not missed, and I was able to have a great time at the party and spent quality time with our guests, which really is the most important.

I originally thought about going completely nuts with the tutu theme. Tutus and tiara’s for all the guests and really princessing it up, but then I realized that we only had two little girls coming, one of which was 4 months old, and we had many more adults than kids, so I decided to go heavier on the decor than the props and just made everything pretty with tulle and glitter. Oh. So. Much. Tulle. And. Glitter, and a color scheme of pink, gold, hot pink, and silver. I loved it so much that I just finished taking down the decorations this weekend, and I have been looking all over the house for somewhere else that I can hang them. Maybe Ellie’s bedroom…or my office.

As always, I ordered a custom invitation file from Etsy and had them printed. I splurged and had them printed at Staples rather than Walgreens because I wasn’t sure how the glitter effect would have looked on glossy paper. It probably would have been fine though. The invitation was done by Style With Charm’s Etsy shop and they came out so pretty.

This party was jam-packed with so much fun DIY that I will probably be sharing tutorials for weeks to come. For now I will just share some of the photos from the party…

And a party wouldn’t be a party without the guests…

Party season, in our house, is officially OVER. Whew! I love a good party, but after Elyssa’s, I did decide that since Gage’s birthday is right before the holidays, and her’s is right after, I will absolutely never host both of their parties in my home again in the same year, lol. They went great, and we had a blast, but there is a difference between being happily frazzled and being out of my freaking mind. I prefer the former. I am still not opposed to a combo mid-January party, is that allowed?

I now have tutorials up for how to make all of the fun (and inexpensive!!) tulle decorations, and how to add a little sparkle to your party with glitter! You can also check out the step by step directions on how to make your little girl a birthday outfit for less than $20!!! In the meantime, I’ll be here wallowing in the fact that I officially have no more squishy babies in my house.

xo
c