Flower Girl Reception Ideas

The Best Wedding Receptions—Ideas to Incorporate Your Flower Girl and Other Child Guests

Once the formal wedding is over, your reception is the chance for your guests to kick back, relax, and enjoy celebrating your marriage with frivolity and fun. While you adult guests have plenty of food, music, dancing, and drinks to entertain, what about your flower girl and other young ones? With a little creativity and a lot of good cheer, you can help make your wedding fun for each and every guest. Here are some ideas for incorporating kids into your wedding reception:

• Creative kids tables—When people leave your reception, they won’t remember the centerpieces or song list. They will remember experiences. Pinterest is full of crafty, fun kids’ tables. Whether you go with sedate printables or full-on crafts, your little guests will end up being a highlight of the night, and not a later, not-in-a-good-way talking point.

• Kids’ dance—If you envision a fun night of dancing for your guests, plan on at least some special kids-oriented dancing. Depending on your schedule, this could be a few songs early on, or one song each during specified time brackets. Not only will this give kids something to look forward to, but the photo opportunities will also be priceless.

 

•  Kid-friendly food—Children are notoriously picky, and you will gain praise from both your little guests and their parents if you have something on the menu that is appealing to younger palettes.

 

• Above and beyond—If you are hosting a large contingent of children, you may want to consider a special “Kids’ Room” for your reception.  Armed with activities and entertainment, this room can be an out-of-sight space for them to let loose. However, if you go this route, you should remember that supervision is essential. Whether you get family volunteer or provide qualified sitters, you need to place safety and supervision above all else.

At Elite Dresses, we know that your wedding is special, and we want to give you the tools, tips, and perfect attire to satisfy both your flower girls and all of your young participants. Check out this week’s sale, and start planning the most memorable reception your friends have ever seen!


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DIY Decorative Candles Perfect for Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is only days away so I have here a tutorial for making an ordinary, plain candle and turning it into something beautiful to give to your mother or it can be an activity you can do with your kids on Mother’s day.

What you need: New/used Candle(Preferably white, cream, tan or beige), Glue stick, tissue paper (facial), hair dryer, printer and design materials(optional)

How to do it:

1.) First you have to find the image you want to put on the candle. It can be a picture of you, your mother, your kids, grand kids, or the whole family. 

This is the Image that I used.

2.) Insert the image to Microsoft Word. Make sure it’s on landscape mode.  Adjust the image on the center of the page and make sure it’s the same size as your candle. 

3.) Attach a piece of tissue paper (1 ply) to a piece of paper by putting glue around the edges.  This will keep the tissue paper in place as it goes through the printer. Load the tissue paper into the printer and print the image onto it.

You can see how the image is just at the middle of the tissue paper.

4.) Cut the tissue paper along the side where the glue is. Make sure that it’s the same width (or a little smaller) than the height of your candle.

5.) Wrap the tissue strip around your candle to make sure it fits.  Put a line of glue directly on the candle where the end of the tissue meets to hold the tissue in place.

 6.) Blow the heat using the hair dryer at the candle moving slowly over the tissue paper. Don’t stay in one place too long or the wax will start to pool. As the wax begins to melt, it will seep through the tissue paper. Shortly your whole candle will be smooth wax with the tissue paper image underneath. Look at the image below.

The wax is seeping through the tissue paper.

 7.) Design your candle with embellishments like buttons, beads, ribbons, etc. I have some beads and gemstones lying around so I used that to design my candle.

End Result!

You can wrap your candle with a clear plastic and add some raffia or ribbon to the top as your finishing touch. 

Advance Happy Mother’s Day!

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Old T-Shirt Head Band

If you have lots of old T-shirts found after spring cleaning, don’t put it in the donate pile yet! Here’s a great way to be crafty with an old shirt!

What you need: An old shirt, scissors, fabric glue and design accessories (optional).

How to do it:

1.) Cut a strip of shirt to the desired width.

2.) Measure head and cut the excess.

3.) Glue the design on the band or you can make a flower/bow out of the same old shirt as well.

4.) Glue the ends together.

I love how you can make it so personal and how it can fit anyone, may it be you or your little princess.

I think this style will be super cute on our little daughters for spring and summer.

Pair these up with our floral dresses available here at Elitedresses.com

				Girl's Lavender Floral Printed Dress
				List Price: $80.00 Our Price: $39.99 You save $40.01!
				bursts of flowers printed on the dress with matching sash and flower on the waist Available in sizes 2 to 12 Flower power!

Happy Crafternoon!

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Cereal Box Tote Bag

Feeling crafty today? Why don’t you make something useful and something fun with your kids today? Before you throw anything away, think if you can use it for something else like a cereal box for a tote bag. Who would ever think its possible? But it is… here’s how:

What you'll need

• 1 empty cereal box, any size
• Scissors
• Gift wrapping paper or newspaper
• Paintbrush
• Mod Podge matte sealer

How to make it:

1. Cut off the box's top flaps.
2. Measure where you want your handle to be, probably about an inch from the open end. Draw a 4x1 inch oval centered on the front and back of the box then cut out the ovals to create the handles.
3. Measure the box and cut out your paper according to the measurement. Or you can also just tear your paper into various shapes.
4. Apply a small amount of Mod Podge using the paintbrush to the whole box then smooth the paper onto the box. Fold the papers over the edges of the box where necessary. Spread more Mod Podge over the paper to help seal it in place. Let it dry for about 20 minutes.
5. To close the tote easily, fold a line down the middle of each side of the box, then bring the edges together to crease the fold.

 Done! And now you have a new tote bag to carry along while you shop. You can even use this as a gift bag to give to others!

Stay tuned for more crafty bits only here in our blog! Don’t forget to shop at Elitedresses.com, if you’re looking for a great dress for your little princess.

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Home-made Play-dough Recipe

Want to do something different with the kids? 

Try this Homemade play-dough recipe. Why? Because it is cheap, non-toxic and lasts a long time! Save money by doing this at home than buying the expensive brands you see at the toy store. This is very easy to make with ingredients you can see on your kitchen.

What do you need:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• food coloring

Instructions:

Mix together all the dry ingredients first, then the wet ingredients afterwards, (except the food coloring) in a saucepan or a large pot. Stir until no lumps remain.  Cook over low/medium heat, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until a dough forms (kind of like when you cook a mashed potato). Once it begins to thicken, add the food coloring. Continue stirring until the mixture is much thicker and begins to gather around the spoon. Remove the dough onto wax paper or a plate to cool. Add flour if too sticky or a few drops of water if too dry. Knead until uniform in color. Store in airtight containers.

If you've got a different recipe for homemade play-dough, please share in the comments.

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Recycled Bottle Bowling Fun for the Family

This Earth month, Recycling is one of the best activities to do with your kids. Using recycled materials saves money and saves the planet too! You can make amazing crafts with things that people normally throw out like plastic bottles.

With just a little time and some supplies, you’ll be able to make a fun bowling game for your whole family using recycled plastic bottles.

What you need: 10 used plastic bottles, paint (you can use one just one color or 10 different colors) and glue.

How to do it:

1.) Remove cap from bottles and clean thoroughly.

2.) Squeeze a small amount of paint in the bottom of each water bottle. 1 oz will do. If your paint is thick you might want to add a bit of water but not too much or the paint won’t be able to cover the bottle properly.

3.) Put the caps back on all your bottles and (let your kids) shake each bottle briskly to spread the paint all over the bottle.

4.) Remove cap and pour out any excess paint. Keep the cap off and allow your paint bottles to dry. When dry, put a little bit of glue on the lid and put it back on top so that your kids won’t be able to open the bottles.

5.) Set up your recycled bowling pins, grab a ball and have fun! 

If you have more fun recycling ideas for the whole family, don’t hesitate to share and comment below!

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Toilet Paper Roll Crafts for Earth Month

It’s Earth month! And what better way to help mother earth than to reduce, reuse and recycle trash at home. We have a lot of trash at home and maybe we can do fun things with them instead of just throwing them straight to the trash can. 

Lately, I found very interesting things that you can do with Toilet Paper rolls! It’s interesting because you can have fun with your kids while doing it or make it an activity for them to keep them busy (and another way to teach them on recycling trash). Here are some of the toilet paper roll crafts you can do:

1.)    TP Tube Bracelets (Something you and your daughter will love)

What you need: toilet paper rolls, paint, scrap paper/magazine pages (optional), clothespin, glue and design materials (beads, ribbons, buttons, etc)

How to do it: Cut tubes about 2 inches wide then cut a slit in each one (so it looks like a C). Paint tubes or glue down scraps of paper or magazine pages. Hold tubes together with clothespins and let dry. Lastly, decorate with beads, buttons, ribbons and other designs to make it a very fun, personalized tube bracelets.

2.)    TP Music Shaker (fun for kids)

What you need: toilet paper rolls, paint, uncooked pasta/rice, duct or masking tape.

How to do it: Paint the toilet paper roll and let dry. Put the pasta/rice inside the roll and tape the ends. Whala! Instant music shaker.

3.)    TP Puppets

What you need: toilet paper rolls, cartoon character pictures, tape or glue.

How to do it: Very easy! Just cut out the cartoon character pictures removing the background then tape it to the TP rolls. You can even use family pictures to make it even more personalized.

4.)    TP Bowling pins

 Use the same instructions as TP Puppets above and just grab a ball and knock as many down as possible.

5.)    TP Kids Binoculars

What you need: Toilet paper rolls, felt paper, glue, string and rubber band.

How to do it: Cover the TP roll with felt paper, glue and trim off excess. Repeat with other roll. Glue the two together side-by-side to look like binoculars. Lastly, Punch a hole in each side to attach a string to wear around your kid’s neck.

Not only did you contribute on recycling for Mother Earth, you also had fun with your kids!

Happy Earth month! If you have more great ideas, comment below!

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Chinese New Year Crafts

Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, happens to be the biggest and the longest of all Chinese holidays. With Chinese New Year being just a few more weeks away, you're probably looking for some arts and crafts stuff you could with your daughter.

Here's a picture of one of my favorite Chinese New Year crafts that will surely give your daughter hours of fun! And you know what else would be fun? Your daughter making this project in a girls Chinese dress!

This paper cut is the Symbol of Spring. If you hang it upside down, it means spring arrived.

Material Needed:

Qty 1 - Sheet 8 1/2 x 11 colored paper

Qty 1 - Double Sided Tape, 1" long

Qty 12 Inches, Red Ribbon, 1" or so wide

Tools Needed:

Scissors

Instructions:

1. Get Red or other colored paper, 8 1/2 x 11

2. Cut the paper so it is a square 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 (an option is print out the diagram below on the colored paper to make the project easier).

3. Fold the paper in half, from corner to corner to make a triangle.

4. Repeat, folding paper in half to make a smaller triangle (Quarter Size).


Fold Again (eighth)


5. Cut using this Template .

6. Cut the tip of the cutting to create a hole for the ribbon.

7. On the ribbon, using a scissors edge, shred the bottom 10 inches to create a string type.

8. Create a loop at the top of the ribbon and tie a not 1" below the top of the loop.

9. Thread string through center of paper cut (hint, using some type of hook thread such as a pen cap, thread the shredded part through the hole).

10. Attach double sided tape to bottom of paper cut inside to shredded Red Ribbon and paper.

11. Hang in your house.

Okay, so that's about it. Now you know how to make a Chinese Spring Symbol. That wasn't so hard, was it? To learn more crafts for Chinese New Year, click here.