A Tween Halloween

This year, for my tweens Halloween festivities, we/she decided to go a different route. Being that she's DEFINITELY not a little girl anymore :( she wasn't up for "dressing" up this year. Yes, it made me sad but I was kind of excited because it gave me a chance to introduce her, to what I feel will be a pretty cool trend for the tween/teens in the years to come. The fabulous Genevieve of Celebration Today.... The Super Chick Way and Posh Party Pretties, aka the Kandy Kone queen, created what she calls "Kocktail Krowns". Kocktail Krowns are themed cocktail hats, that can give you an amazing dramatic look with out all the hoopla of a costume. When I showed these bad boys to my daughter she absolutely LOVED them, which made me super happy because she NEVER likes anything that I like or suggest for her (lame right!). I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of these gorgeous hats and we had so much fun dressing her up! I totally think that anyone with a teen or even an adult, should check these out for next Halloween or for your next masquerade party. A very fun theme for New Years Eve parties is a masquerade and these would be PERFECT! Check out my gorgeous daughter sporting her "Kocktail Krown"!

She decided to wear a simple black dress and finish the look with accessories.

Thank you for the Kocktail Krown Genevieve! Totally in love with these!

My Parties: Serina's 12th Birthday {Zebra Funk}

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a fab weekend! Mine was great but very exhausting. We celebrated my daughter Serina's 12th birthday on Saturday. She requested a little party for her and her friends, plus a sleep over. So we did just that! It was a little tricky putting this together because if you have tweens or teens, you know how PICKY they can be. Those creatures are very hard to please! With her help on EVERY detail, I thought we put together something cute and funky, yet simple, we called it "Zebra Funk". I incorporated some of her favorite things like jeans, bead bracelets, the color blue, zebra prints and photos. She loved it and all the girls had a great time, what more can I ask for. (Sorry for the over load of pics! There are actually MORE, check out the full album HERE)
I also want to thank Claudia of Tini Posh for squeezing me into her busy schedule to make the awesome dessert labels and table signs for me! You ROCK GIRL!!!

I made the table runners out of denim and added a zebra trim.
I added denim and beads to the vases
(Below) Added zebra ribbon to the lanterns
Bracelet making.....

Activity and favor table
Favors included:Color hair extensions, sunglasses and candyHaving a make-up artist in the family is VERY convenient! The girls enjoyed their make-overs.
Shirt cutting is HUGE with tween/teens. I highly recommend it for a fun party activity. I taught myself just by watching a tutorial on YouTube.
The Divas!!

Sources:
Tini Posh: Dessert labels & table signs
Local Air Brush artist: Birthday sign
Heavenly Moments: Linens (excluding the table runners)
Zebra platters: 99 Cent Store

Party Planning: Zebra/Blue Invitations

As I mentioned before, it was no small task settling the color or patterns or ANYTHING for that matter for my daughters 12th birthday. She likes blue, like Dodger/royal blue and so we finally agreed to add a zebra pattern, which I love. Her and her friends adore their bead bracelets and that is one of the things she wanted to add to the party. Of course, her wish is my command! With the advice of my friend Roxanne, I added them to the invitations as well. Take a looksy at the invites I made for her friends, I hope they like them!

Party Planning: Tween Activity/ Shirt Cutting

Yes, it's that time, to plan another of my kids birthdays. When you have 3 kids, there is always a party to plan. Obviously, I TOTALLY don't mind and I love it! Although this time around, for Serina, it's been a little harder. She's a "tween" and basically that's pretty much a teen. They are cranky, sensitive, emotional, PICKY people, especially a GIRL. When I started to think of ideas for her birthday, I came up with what I thought was an awesome color palette and "cool" decor. Then I asked her about her ideas and what she wanted; RUDE awakening to say the least. LOL! I'm way more girly than she is. I like bling, sparkle, pretty blues and pink even. She wanted royal/Dodger blue, black and dark purple.....huh?!?! Well it was back to the drawing board! After discussing it with her and even taking her to the Fashion district in downtown L.A., for fabric choices, we came to a decision. Now the next challenge was the activities. She wanted nail painting (not with pretty pinks and glitter) but with funkier colors. Ok, check! As I ratted my brain to figure another activity, I thought of something I had seen on MTV (yes, I watch it now and then!). Shirt cutting, by the famous designer Adam Saaks! Ever heard of him? Maybe not. He is the famous shirt cutter (YES, that's an actual job!) for the Ed Hardy brand. His work is insane and his speed for this technique is crazy. I definitely don't have celebrity money for this service, so I thought I better learn this myself. After looking at a few videos on YouTube, I got the hang of it and decided to try it out on Serina. I had her grab an old top that she didn't wear or like anymore, grabbed the scissors and got busy! Can you believe my tween totally LOVED the idea, especially after I cut up her top. She actually wanted to wear that top to dinner. I think I may get "Rock Star" mom of the year award :)