Mexican Fiesta: Success! (BIRTHDAY OUTFIT)

One of the things that amazed me with kiddie parties of this generation are the pre-birthday activities. All I remember about my childhood pre-birthday events is well composed of one most-anticipated moment - buying a new dress. And by dress, I mean nothing grand, just a prettier dress than the usual stuff in my wardrobe.

But nowadays, kids go through a slew of pre-birthday activities and preps. There are pre-birthday photoshoots, pre-birthday shopping for party stuff, pre-birthday dress fittings and dress rehearsals, and lots more. I bet those who have a bigger budget for their kiddie parties have even more pre-birthday stuff going on. Hehe.



When my daughter had her first birthday, she had a pre-birthday shoot at TPC. We loved all the shots, but since printing was kind of expensive, we were only able to get four out of our many favorites. She went through three costume changes, so we got the best shots out of each. :-)

She also had three party dresses then, one made by Babies and Hairbows (hopefully I can work on a separate blog post on them soon. Love love their products.), one made by a local seamstress, and another made by her great grandmother (my paternal lola).

Since we had a smaller budget this time, and would be having a simpler party, the little girl had only one party dress (the party only went on for two hours, thus no costume changes were necessary. Hehe), and one really cute and colorful hairbow (which I also got to wear during the party. Harhar.)

Party dress inspired by Dora's Dance Fiesta outfit, and fiesta hairbow on the right by Babies and Hairbows

The Dress
❤❤❤❤.5 out of 5

the inspiration pic for the 2nd birthday dress

The idea for my little girl's dress was derived from  what Dora is wearing in the picture above. I personally love the color purple in all it's hues and shades, and this picture caught my eye right away during my search for Dora outfits. I wasn't really keen on having my daughter wear Dora's usual pink shirt and orange shorts get-up.  :-)

I originally planned on having Babies and Hairbows make the outfit as well, but since my MIL knew a local seamstress who could make the dress, we decided to go for the latter. To save on costs, we bought the fabric from Divi, as we were also going there to get some party supplies. I was actually torn between getting cotton fabric (something starchy) and satin (I'm just a fan of its pearly sheen.). With the advice of my MIL, we chose stretch satin, which turned out to be a great choice.


I loved how soft it was, and that it wasn't necessary to put lining in it because the cloth itself wasn't irritating to the skin. My idea of a Mexican dress was about ruffles, ruffles, ruffles, and patterns, patterns, patterns. But since I wanted Keisha's dress to be not too complex, I just went for a tiered/ruffled dress, with a ruffled collar. It was my call to add that pretty orange rose on the removable belt, for that extra cute factor.   :-)

I gave 4.5 rating because the seamstress almost gave me a heart attack when we only got the dress three days before the party...even if we finalized order details like a month before her party.

The Hairbow
❤❤❤❤❤ out of 5

I had not known about the world of hairbows until I chanced upon Babies and Hairbows' site last year. Since then, I have been a fan of those cute headpieces that could really make any kid stand out. Farle of Babies and Hairbows is one of the nicest online sellers I have met, and since then, if I wanted something really special for my daughter, I had it made by her. :-)

For her 2nd birthday, I wanted her to have a unique and colorful headpiece since the theme was Mexican Fiesta, anything goes! But I absolutely didn't want her to wear a fruit headdress! Hehe. That would be too heavy, and she'll look silly. :-)

Even if I was already acquainted online with other hairbow sellers, I much prefer having this one made by Babies and Hairbows because I trust in the quality of Farle's work and in her creativity. I didn't have a design in mind, so I just told Farle what the color scheme is, but I told her since the theme is Mexican Fiesta, she can play with the colors as much as she wanted.

My daughter's fiesta hairbow. Pic from Babies and Hairbows' FB site

When I first saw it posted on the site, I was already happy. The lime green on violet with orange and pink accents was a brilliant idea, as it was sure to stand out when paired with her dress. I'm so glad she didn't go all the way with the orange and violet theme as it would make Keisha's overall look kind of monotonous. :-)

The hairbow was placed on a thick plastic headband, which was just what I wanted, since the shape of Keisha's head is not ideal for elastic bands (and she doesn't like 'em too for some reason). It was wrapped with quality ribbon in this pretty shade of violet. I also really liked that the hairbow piece itself is bigger than the usual hairbows, making it instantly complementary to the big, bold shapes and colors of a Mexican Fiesta theme. And that whisper of a pink feather and the gold centerpiece, was just perfect to balance out the color scheme. :-)

Here's a picture of my daughter wearing the hairbow. :-) It was just the right size on her, not too big to overwhelm her, but big enough to be noticed and make her stand out. (Oh and yes, that's me on the right pic. I got to wear it too. :-))

To get in touch with Farle of Babies and Hairbows, you can go to their website: http://www.babies-and-hairbows.com/ or to their FB site: http://www.facebook.com/babiesandhairbows

Thanks for reading, and happy kiddie party planning! :-)