Fashionista Dress Up Party Activities

This year, we hosted a Fashionista themed party for my daughter's birthday.   I shared some of the decorative elements of the party that I created using my Sizzix eCal Cutting Machine and now am excited to share the ACTUAL party photos with you.  

I believe that you don't have to spend tons of money on decor for any at home party.  I styled this party using items I already had in my own party stash, creating my own decor from paper, shopping at the dollar and discount store and spending very little on the dessert table by making my own sweets.   There were so many elements to this party, that I decided to separate this post into a three parts. Today, I'll focus on our dress up room, activities and favors. 

The Mini Diva LOVES fashion.  She has such a unique sense of style and I truly enjoy watching what outfits she will piece together from her little wardrobe.  The theme of this party was all her!   She chose the colors, we shopped for the decor and paper packs I used to make some of the party items, and she also had a hand in choosing the style of cake and desserts we used for her sweets table.The dopest idea I think she thought of, was to create a dressing area for her and her friends.

We have very limited space in our home to set up something like a dressing room; aside from my husband moving out furniture to accommodate us, we were going to have to come up with something brilliant.  We achieved what we wanted by turning the tent on our deck into a little fancy dressing parlour for my baby girl and four of her besties.

I started by using lots of bright and colorful fabrics and pillows to cover up our outdoor furniture.....(palm leaves, red quatrefoil and cabana stripes don't exactly scream little fashionista). The fabric was already in my party stash and used in previous parties, luckily they were perfect for the pink, purple, and turquoise color palette that my daughter selected.  I also used sheer fabric curtains that were actually in her room when she was a baby to hang around the tent, as well as, gold fringe curtains that were in my party stash!

Then, I set out a vanity that I found on the side of the dumpster near my job that I repainted bright pink and re-finished.  Other than the draw missing it's bottom and the glass knob being a little loose, it made for a perfect table for the girls to grab makeup and quite literally 'paint' their faces.  I set out a lot of other decorative pieces, accessories and custom fashion sketches from Sunny By Design.  My budget friendly tip for for fashion, spa or makeup parties, shop the dollar stores for inexpensive makeup.  There are lots of color options to choose from and little girls will have a ball doing each other's makeup and you won't have to worry about spending tons of money on expensive products.

Since this was a fabulous dress up party, I grabbed a garment rack I keep on hand for dress up stations for parties and hung little black dresses on it.  I found black swim coverup dresses for $5 each at Five and Below and let the girls put them on.  Since we had a small group, the total amount of dresses were just under $30!  

Our top models used accessories, like hats, purses, jewelry and headbands to rock their own individual style.  I found all the accessories either at the dollar store or on clearance for less than $25 total.  Since, I've had parties in the past with dress up stations, I was able to reuse some pretend jewelry, hats, feather boas and scarves that I had stashed away to add to the collection of accessories.  It was so much fun watching the girls get dolled up.  I'll share their fabulous looks in my next post.

Some other activities that were incorporated into this party was a nail station.  I found kids decorative press-on nails and those were also dollar store finds.  There isn't anything more fun than a craft or art activity at a party! You can find wooden coloring dolls at The craft store for $1 each.  I set out markers that we already owned and placed them in a can that I blinged out.  The girls really enjoyed creating their own fashionista that they could take home.   To make sure the ladies stayed hydrated, we gave each one their own fun water bottle and my daughter 'personalized' each one with her guests names with a gold paint marker.  Each girl also got a 'shopping bag' to keep up with their crafts and accessories.

Lunch was easy, if you've been following for a while, you know that I tend to not make a big deal about food for the kids parties.  All my kids ever ask for are pizza and wings!  So, I setup a table and decorated it with feather boas and colorful plates.  Each girl was sat down at the table and knew just were they were to sit from the chic place cards at each setting.  I placed a small gift box filled with chocolates at each setting for the girls to put in their shopping bags to take home with them.  You can watch this video on how I created the Party Dress Favor boxes.

I'm excited to share more of this fabulous soiree with you.  You'll get a better look at how my little mama turned up!   It was lots of fun letting her have more input on her parties....she's my best and most favorite client!

Check back next week as I share how we created a fun fashionista photo booth and sweets table!

Vendors Credits:
Styling & Design: Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Tutu (as seen in main photo): Atutudes
Embroidered tank (as seen in main photo): Great Stitch
Fashion Sketches: Sunny By Design