Super Easy, Cheap, No Sew Tutu Tutorial and DIY Project Parade

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Roeshel

Well – OOPS! This was to publish Sunday but I messed up the date. Welcome to the party one day early!

My niece’s 1st birthday is coming up and as our family’s (amateur) photographer, my gift is portraits.

Her mom wanted pictures of her in a tutu. So cute! Loving DIY and little girl stuff, I offered to make one.

No Sew DIY TuTu Tutorial

under $10!

This might not be anything new or unique. I’m not up on the latest DIY baby but in any event, here is what I did.

Please pardon the blurriness of these pictures. I forgot to change my settings. 🙁

Materials: Ribbon, Roll of Tulle, Scissors

How to:

1. I guestimated my niece’s waist size (and it was perfect too!). Measure around waist. Add 12″ to each end (24″ to waist measurement) and cut ribbon to length.

2. Tie a knot 12″ in from the end on each side.

3. Cut strips of tulle to desired length. For a 1-yr.-old, my strips were 12″ long. If you have tulle in yardage, just cut strips on your own about 6″ wide and desired length (which will be folded in half in next step). For my niece, I used 30 (12″) strips of tulle from my roll.

4. Gather strip of tulle.

6. Fold strip in half. Put “hole” (fold) of tulle over the ribbon between the knots.

7. Pull ends of tulle through ” tulle hole” and knot (pull ends underneath ribbon and up through the ‘tu
lle hole’. Ribbon will be inside tulle).

Knots will look like this:

8. Weight one end of the ribbon (I just put it under a heavy vase) and continue steps 5, 6 and 7 until finished from one knotted end of ribbon to the other. Weighting the one end allows you to slide knotted tulle into place.

Finished tulle knots:

9. Trim tulle and ribbon if needed. Optional: Add ribbon in a different or coordinating color scattered throughout. Add flowers. Use different colors of tulle – get creative!

Super easy, right? TUTU cute!

I‘ll be sharing a few more DIY baby girl projects coming up – I’ve been invited to a baby shower too and love handmade gifts. Don’t you?

What have you been doing this weekend?

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BBQ/Baby Shower Invitations

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Roeshel

It’s almost two years now that I hosted a BBQ baby shower for my sister for the impending arrival of this little guy…

He’s usually very camera shy but the purple park is so much fun!

With summer nearly here, it’s that time of year for hosting a BBQ/Baby Shower. Since the time that I played hostess, I’ve had requests for the BBQ invitation which I created because invitations were either too baby-shower girly for a co-ed event or they were too “grill-picnic”-looking.

I‘ve been doing some new designs upon request. I am no longer taking orders/offering this invitation. I’m a DIY’er but not a graphic designer so these are pretty but amateur however they’re perfect for simple/inexpensive invitation postcards.

(Original) Blue BBQ

Pink BBQ

Purple BBQ

And here were some highlights from the BaBy-Q:

Get the full details at my original BBQ/Baby Shower post. The BBQ baby shower was so much fun – and nearly 100 showed. I think the “beer” on the invitation convinced friends of the expecting couple that it wasn’t a typical ladies’ type shower. The kids had a blast too. It’s a fun family reunion type atmosphere. We still played games (Water balloon between knees race – to see who’s water broke/didn’t, guys raced to see how could finish a tiny bit of beer from a baby bottle first. They were all “this is way too easy” until they started sucking. Harder than it looks.)

yle=”border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;”>I found clearance favor boxes and filled them with candy for the kids.

Tables had mason jars tied with ribbon and filled with flowers – those were the door prizes (drawn from addressed envelops for thank you cards filled out by guests). Adult prizes were dollar scratch off lottery tickets. Kids prized were a few outdoor toys (big bouncy ball/bubbles/glow in the dark bracelets/etc.)

I put all of the pop/water in a baby wading pool with ice for easy grabbing/staying cold.

We had a fire pit – smores! We also had badminton and bean bag toss/horse shoes set up. My sister was a member of the Moose lodge so tables and chair rental was free (worth the $25 yearly membership right there!).

Can you tell it was the best party I ever hosted? lol I was pretty excited. Everyone talked about it all year long.

If you’re planning a BBQ baby shower – everyone will have a blast!

Do you have baby shower ideas to share? Please feel free to share the link in the comments!

A BBQ/Baby Shower

Posted on August 11, 2009 by Roeshel

Some of you know that I just hosted a co-ed baby shower/BBQ and I want to show off! I hope it’s inspirational and helpful to those planning the same since I found very little info via a google search for BaBy Q when I was planning.

Entertaining involves a different kind of DIY, but anyone planning an event knows there is a lot of DIY involved.

Note: Some of you have seen bits n pieces but I wanted to include it all in one post for those who haven’t…please be patient with me or really, go ahead and holler out that you saw it first – I don’t mind!

I want to share what I’ve been working on for a few months – in addition to the barn/patio/grape arbor projects. 🙂 Lots of hard work, some injuries, a deadline and lots of fun. I love party planning!

Yes-rsvp’s total was approx. 106 including women, men and children. It evolved into a fun family reunion. (Getting 50% yes rsvps was a myth in this case. Every one loves a family event!)

I created the above mosaic courtesy of DIY instructions from Bargain Hunting & Chatting with Laurie.
Thanks Laurie!
(Laurie – Now you can tell your family & friends that you’re an international computer software instructor…if only that came with a $$$ income and benefit package, huh?)

Invitations

I couldn’t find what I had in mind for BBQ/baby shower invitations. Red/white checkered tablecloths are fun…but not the theme I wanted for a baby shower. So I used Photoshop to create my own simple post card. Vistaprint was running a special for 100 free postcards – how awesome! I paid the extra for faster shipping but 100 invitations cost me about $25 which when pricing them – is an awesome deal. Postcards are also less expensive to mail out.

(The word “beer” encouraged the male species to look forward to attending…tricky, ain’t it?)

Decorating

I considered doing a nest/baby bird theme but since it was a BBQ/baby shower with women, men and children, I opted for just using shades of blue so Iwasn’t tied to just 1 theme. “Blue” is a pretty wide range for being able to find things easily.

I purchased the Martha Stewart pom pom kits from Michaels. They’re beautiful decor. Martha Stewart even has DIY instructions for making them out of any color of tissue paper (without purchasing the kit). They’re such a pretty option for an event decoration, don’t you think ?

We were lucky enough to get tables/chairs free of charge from a local club since my sister is a member (A membership is $30 a year…it’s worth joining just to have access to free ta
bles/chairs…have you ever rented them? $$$! ) We did have to set them up without tablecloths and under trees because of the sprinkling rain. I was way too distracted to have an OCD flare up about the tables not being evenly spaced & lined up. 🙂
I also put together a little clothesline using baby clothes (gift for mom-to-be & decoration – hurray!) and added a simple quote to our DIY chalkboard:

Centerpieces & Prizes

Centerpieces are mason jars tied with ribbon. I added fresh flowers purchased from Sam’s Club. I also tied on little envelopes with lottery tickets. I numbered them because I wasn’t sure how I would do the drawings, but didn’t end up using the numbers. We just drew names from envelopes that guests had signed with their name/address – to use for thank you cards. It was a hit. Who doesn’t love flowers & lottery tickets? We even had some winners! 🙂 Giving centerpieces away as prizes was also cost-effective, not to mention…a few $1 lottery tickets are more fun than dollar store kitchen towels, right? If not…I bet those who won will run out and buy dollar store kitchen towels with their winnings (nothing personally against those…just using them as an example, btw).

I over-estimated my flowers and had enough to make a few bouquets as well.

I had a few other prizes on hand as well for the games. A big rubber ball for the kids and a utensil holder with utensils and a few lottery tickets.

We only had two games, (see below) but there was participation and they were fun (I didn’t think the guys would go for the usual baby word scramble. (Although I love that game – I always win!) We also had some outdoor activities such as bad mitten (correction = badminton, who knew?), volley ball and bean bag toss. There was also a bon fire. It’s a little wimpy on the “bon” but it was perfect for roasting marshmallows after dark and in August…no one is interested in it for the heat, right?

Party Favors

Isn’t it nice to include party favors as a way of letting guests know you appreciate them? Coming up with a unisex and usable party favor was easy. I purchased these bbq-sauce and hot sauce bottles from here then added my own labels and tied with ribbon. These also served as double-duty…decorating the tables. (We had a little rain when setting up, so no tablecloths and the centerpieces and favors were the perfect choice because a little rain didn’t ruin anything.)

Kids – Favors & Activities

I did a children’s table with favors just for them. I got Chinese style gift boxes (on clearance from Michael’s), tossed in a mini-container of play dough and a ring pop.

Michaels also had mural coloring pages. It was perfect for covering the table. I added a few bowls of crayons too.

The teenagers also helped with face-painting for the kids. Crayola washable paint pens were perfect:

BBQ smoked ribs – Russ is famous for these. 7 racks of ribs which are low-maintenance and all of the prep is early in the morning (marinating over night).

Fried Chicken (WalMart…large guest lists warrant easy arrangements. Can you imagine the time it would take to make it myself? 100 pc. chicken was $60).

Hot Dogs – inexpensive, easy and kids love ’em!

Before I had a chance to continue with menu planning, I found that guests were offering to bring side dishes. This helped out A LOT and we had more than enough food. I’m so thankful for the unsolicited help! 🙂 Since the atmosphere is casual/outdoor picnic – pasta and potato salads, baked beans, hashbrown casseroles, veggie/meat/cheese trays, pretzel salads, etc. were perfect accompaniments!

Dinnerware

The casual cook-out/picnic atmosphere allowed for kegs of beer (plastic cups), bottled water, cans of pop, plastic bottles of Little Hugs (with straws). We also just used styrofoam plates and plastic silverware. I did wrap the silverware individually in blue napkins secured with homemade stickers (leftover labels from party favors). Easy to grab 1 bundle and festive. 🙂

Dessert

Sam’s Club cupcakes are perfect for a large guest list. I ordered equal amounts of chocolate/vanilla and buttercreme/whipped topping then decorated them myself. It keeps me sane when there’s so much going on and they are tasty. 🙂 I added a plastic baby to the center of one “pregnant” cupcake. It’s another way to give a prize without having an actual game. I chose a microfiber blanket for a prize…since it could have been an any-age-group winner. I did warn guests in advance!

Games

We did two games:

Don’t Break Your Water (all ages). Guests lined up and a finish line was marked a short distance away. Each guest was handed a water balloon. They were instructed to place them between their knees and to get to the finish line first without “breaking their water”. Kids and adults enjoyed this one and a prize was awarded to each.
Baby Bottle Race (adults). I filled dollar store baby bottles with 2 oz. of beer. You should have heard the guys complaining and bragging that it was only 2 oz. until I said “go”. It’s harder than it looks. A full 8 oz. baby bottle would have worn out their jaw before they finished. Hilarious! This is what it looks like:

Misc. Tips

We find that using a kid’s wading pool is GREAT for ice/pop & water bottles.
I made a sign on poster board for guests to easily find our house:
Inexpensive paper lanterns make a nice entrance:
Designate a “photographer”. I thought I’d have time to take pictures but there was no way. (Thanks Celeste!) As hostess, I was busy organizing games and drawings, keeping food stocked, giving home tours, mingling with guests, etc.
Add a few bottles of hand sanitizer to the food table.
Citronella candles and food tents are helpful for outdoor events. So is having tents on stand-by in the event of rain. (20% rain = 80% sunshine when you see the glass half full…but best to have a back up!)
Have band-aids and disinfecting wipes on hand.
Open gifts as guests arrive. Most guests are only excited to see their gift opened and it doesn’t create a long time frame of gift opening boredom. We displayed opened gifts on a table so guests could see them.
Do not stand on an unsteady wicker chair to hang decorations. Nosebleeds are not on your to-do list. Slow down and breathe. 🙂
Have fun!

The mom-to-be, my sister, Bobbi.

This post is brought to you by Pink Lining, stylish designer changing bags for your baby.

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Category Archives: Baby Shower

Super Easy, Cheap, No Sew Tutu Tutorial and DIY Project Parade

BBQ/Baby Shower Invitations

A BBQ/Baby Shower