PRINCESS ELMO BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS

Today my little one turned 1.  We had a party with ELMO food/cake and a purple princess tutu dress.  It was fun and very easy to do!  Here are the ideas:

Homemade No-Sew Tutu Dress and Homemade Tulle Wand

DIY Tutu Table Skirt~~~ Tutorial from sweetcraftcakes.com ~~~

ELMO 7 Layer Dip

~~~ classic 7 layer mexican dip recipe ~~~

~~~ tomatoes for face, black olives for mouth, carrots for nose ~~~

~~~ cream cheese or sour cream for white of eyes with black olives for pupils ~~~

ELMO Fruit Tray

~~~ strawberries for face, blackberries for mouth ~~~

~~~ clementine for nose, banana slices for eyes ~~~

M&M Jar with Number 1

~~~ peanut M&Ms with number 1 candle ~~~

~~~ just add a few M&Ms to a clean tomato sauce jar ~~~

~~~ then set number on side in middle and fill up the rest of the jar with M&Ms ~~~

Number 1 Brownies

~~~ Make brownies, cut them, and design a number 1 on some aluminum wrapped cardboard ~~~

I also made homemade sausage balls and a generic sandwich tray.

Hope some of these ideas help make a cool party for you too!

TUTU DRESS TUTORIAL - NO SEWING REQUIRED!

TRAVEL DISCOUNTS, TRAVEL CREDITS, & 

HOME BUSINESS ALL IN ONE - LEARN MORE HERE!

Today I made my first tutu ever.  I decided to make a no-sew tutu dress for my little princess who will turn 1 in 11 days.  Since we are temporarily living away from my sewing machine, I needed to think of new ways to do things. I figure she can wear this dress for her birthday and also for Halloween.
I also made a wand to go with it - see it HERE.

Here is my attempt to explain how I made it...

What you need:

Tulle 

Ribbon

Scissors

Cardboard (for measuring/cutting the tulle)

Lighter (for burning the ends of the ribbon)

PATIENCE!

Tulle:

96 total pieces for this dress:

- 12 white 

- 42 lavender

- 42 purple
The width of each piece was about 3-4 inches - not an exact science.
For the length of each piece:
I measured how long I wanted the dress to be from my little one's armpit.
I added 3 more inches to allow for the knots and drop down gathering.

Ribbon:

8 feet lavender

9 feet purple

Cut the Tulle:

Check out this great tulle cutting tutorial from Treasures for Tots.

Measure the size of your little one's chest.

To mark the ribbon, make 2 knots in the ribbon for the diameter of the chest.

Tie on the tulle between the 2 knots.

I followed this awesome video tutorial for how to use ribbon as the holder instead of elastic

and for how to tie on the tulle to the ribbon for a basic tutu. 

I decided to put 2 pieces of tulle together of the same color for each knot that I tied.

I followed this pattern for colors: 

2 lavender knots, 2 purple knots, 2 lavender knots, 2 purple knots, 1 white knot,

repeat until reaching the other knot

I ended up with 48 total knots tied on my ribbon.

To make the drop down:

Weave a separate piece of ribbon about 2-3 inches (or whatever you think will work for your little one - be creative) down from the top.

Lay your dress out on a big flat surface or hang it tightly from something.

Pulling the tulle straight down, wrap the ribbon around each knot and continue to connect onto the next knot, make sure to leave extra on the ends for tying the dress together in the back when you put it on your little one.

(sorry for the lack of pictures for this, but I needed both hands)

Decoration:

Decorate the top and drop down by wrapping around more ribbon.

Make sure to leave extra on each end in order to tie the dress together and make a bow.

Tie 4 ribbons on the top for the over the shoulder bows.

Use the lighter to burn the ends of each piece of cut ribbon.

Voila' - you are finished!

Here is the finished dress laid out flat.

Here is the dress hanging on a hanger.

(will post pictures of the dress on my little one after her birthday)

20 TUTU COSTUME CREATIONS

20 adorable tutu costumes for halloween, birthday parties, or playing dress-up.  A lot of these seem quite expensive, so make them yourself!  Here is the no-sew tutu tutorial video I posted to help you get started.  ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elmo Costume 

from coolest-homemade-costumes.com

Pumpkin Costume

from kaboodle.com

Black Cat Costume

from motherpopper.com/

Ladybug Costume

from poshtots.com

Princess Costume

from childrenscottage.net/prpobiprco.html

Witch Costume

from saigenicolesbabyboutique.blogspot.com

Peacock Costume

from scrapitfabulous.blogspot.com

Pink Panther Costume

from scrapitfabulous.blogspot.com

Cowgirl Costume

from thefrogandtheprincess.com

Satin & Tulle for Newborn Costume

from savvybritchesboutique.com

Luxury Rose Costume

from poshlittletutus.com

Tinkerbell Fairy Costume

from poshlittletutus.com

Enchanted Mermaid Costume

from poshlittletutus.com

Little Pumpkin Costume

from poshlittletutus.com

Hawaiian Hula Girl

from sweetbelladesigns.com

Angel Baby Costume

from poshtots.com

Sunflower Princess

from no-plain-jane.com

White Cat Costume

from etsy.com

Bunny Costume

from thisnext.com

Butterfly Costume

from thisnext.com

NO SEW TUTU SKIRT VIDEO TUTORIAL!

This is, by far, the best no sew tutu skirt tutorial that I have found on the internet!
Here is her youtube channel: camrynscloset

I have been researching tutu skirts online because my daughter turns 1 later this month.  I needed a method to make it without sewing because I am temporarily living in Florence, Italy away from my sewing machine.  

I really like this girl's method for 3 reasons:

1.  The first comment under the youtube video is:  

"After watching your video I learned how to make a tutu..Started making them as gifts and now I have my own tutu business in 1 month..Thank u for your clear and detailed video<3"

2.  She uses ribbon instead of elastic for the waistband, so more comfy for my little one.

3.  She teaches you how to cut the tulle material extremely efficiently and quickly.