9/1/09

Make your own Stage: Tu Tu Party



I just love how my friend Stephanie did her daughter's 3-year old party! 

1. She held it in her own home
2. She invited 3 year old friends and their siblings
3. She kept it simple, frugal and fun

Three-year old girl-parties are a blast.  You're no longer dealing with babies - you're now entertaining little girls!

Each girl who was invited was given a handmade tutu (you can make for $2) when they arrived. The ballerina was waiting downstairs behind the curtain on the "make-believe stage" while the kids came down the stairs.  When the music started, the ballerina came out from behind the curtain.  The little girls were so excited!



The most exciting part was when the girls were given lessons, and then they got to perform in front of their parents and siblings, on the stage!



The stage
Steph turned her basement into a recital hall!  She hung heavy duty wire across the back of the play room.  Then she took some old curtain panels that she was not using and strung them through. It was perfect. You could also easily use sheets to make it really frugal, and just get some shower curtain rings and clip them on to the sheet. She created her own stage!



The food
Steph made a huge tortellini pasta salad and lemonade for all the adults, and heart-shaped peanut butter and jam for the kids,  Goldfish and juice boxes.

The dessert
For dessert each child got a cupcake with their own candle (this is a great idea) because you know how the kids all want to help blow out the candles, but you don't necessarily want them to steal the moment from the birthday girl or  spit all over the cake?  

Stick a candle in each cupcake and they all get to blow one out!

The best part of the party, besides being able to celebrate with friends and family, is that Andie now has her own stage down in the play room where she spends hours putting on "performances" with her friends.  Yes, even at age 3.



I'd love to hear about your most frugal children's party?  

Read about my daughter's 11th Simple Happy Birthday party, here!

16 comments:

slip4 said...

Our daughter's 8th bday was pretty frugal and lots of fun. It was a "kidnap" party. Invitations were made by telephone to the moms, leaving the guests unaware. The bday girl was in on it, though. On a Saturday morning, my daughter and I drove to each guest's house and "kidnapped" them in their pj's and took them to our house. The table was set for a fancy meal, with candles and nice china. They ordered breakfast from the waiter/chef (my husband) and enjoyed a fun breakfast together, still in their pj's. Then they opened presents (the guests were surprised too as their moms had bought them!) and played for another hour or so, and then we took them home. My daughter is 17 now and she still talks about it!

Darla said...

What a clever theme for a birthday party. I love it all but think the candle/cupcake idea for everyone is genius and could be used with any birthday theme.

Darla

Brenda @ Its A Beautiful Life said...

Those little ones are sooooo adorable. How could you not love them to bits!

I don't have any little girls in my immediate vicinity, my youngest niece (coming up 7) lives far away. I'll have to scout around and 'adopt' a few so I can host a tu tu party!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea!!

Judy said...

What a wonderful idea...it makes me long for a little girl (well just for a minute...lol)

When my son was little we had a scavenger hunt in our back yard where chocolate gold coins where the surprises hidden. We also had cupcakes that I baked in ice cream cones, so much easier to handle and eat for the kids.

Moore Minutes said...

Oh! This is precious! I wish I had little girls to twirl around in tutus. :(

Gina said...

I love this! We had a great frugal tea part for our daughter's fourth-it was fancy yet simple and very inexpensive-here's the link: tea party

Anonymous said...

My sons 5th bday party was alot of fun and not expensive. Everyone brought their little bikes. We decorated the wheels and handle bars with colorful crepe paper etc. Each child was given one of those pointed bday hats to wear along with a tooting horn thing that unwinds when you blow it. (what are those called?) Then we had a parade thru out the neighborhood. (we lived in a place with not much traffic) My son is now 26 and we still talk about his parties. He has never liked cake, so I made pies. One year we had homemade choc milkshakes instead of cake. A HUGE hit!

Lucy..♥ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lucy..♥ said...

Wonderfu idea and so much fun!! Love it!

Lucy..♥ said...

Sorry, I can't seem to spell correctly today ;(

Rachel said...

That's adorable and brilliant and I love it! LOVE IT!

~j~ said...

absolutely precious! It's been so long i can't remember too many details other than they were very,very simple and un-complicated, held at a park with cake/ice-cream, pin the tail on the donkey and that was it!

Lora @ my blessed life said...

We love to do birthday parties at home! One of my faves was my son's 3rd birthday. He was totally into dinosaurs but we couldn't find any dino party stuff anywhere. For a fun activity, my husband downloaded a pattern of a stegasauras skeleton, drew it on foam and cut it out as a puzzle. Then we hid pieces all over the yard for a dino hunt. The kiddos had a blast putting the dino puzzle back together. I made homemade cupcakes and topped each one with a tiny plastic dinosaur--you can buy a tube of them at Target for just a few $.

kim @ mommyknows said...

I had a Japanese themed party for my 10 year old daughter at home. We hung homemade party flags in Japanese printed fabric.

For an activity we made candy sushi. Each child was given a small take out box to decorate (bento box), and then they took their homemade candi sushi home as a party favor.

We also had cake, ice cream and they played some non-Japanese Rockband (well the ps3 is made in Japan :D).

You can see my candy sushi tutorial here: http://mommyknows.com/birthday-party-candy-sushi/

Our Little Blessings said...

So cute. I wonder how you make the tutu's though.