This past week, J and I attended the 8th birthday party for Emma, a little girl that’s dear to our hearts. She’s the daughter of my academic adviser (and life mentor!), and she’s an absolute sweetheart. Emma has a little sister named Hannah, who’s also a complete cutie.

Prior to the party, I put together two identical little costume boxes for Emma and Hannah as combined birthday and Christmas gifts. Here’s a breakdown of my spending, for those of you who are curious:

• I picked up two red damask hatboxes from Hobby Lobby on a 50% sale, so I spent a total of $7.00 for two hatboxes. I also picked up a bow for $1.00.
• I also picked up two size 12 play dresses (the girls are both tiny, and I wanted the dresses to feel like dress-up, so I got a larger size) at Once Upon A Child, our secondhand children’s store here in town, for about $10.00 total.
• I also grabbed two pairs of sunglasses for $3.99 each, totaling $8.00.
• At the $1 Dollar Store, I grabbed a four-pack of necklaces for $1.00, two four-packs of headbands for $1.00 each, two lip gloss/chapstick packs for $1.00 each, and two picture frames for $1.00 each, totaling $7.00.
• At Walgreens, I printed 7 photos at $0.39 cents a piece, totaling roughly $3.00 with tax.
• At home, I grabbed six beaded bracelets that I never wear, and I threw those into the hatboxes as well. I also utilized tissue paper that I already had on hand. Price for these items: FREE.

TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT: $36.00 for two fun-filled costume boxes. Pretty good, I think!

After my shopping, I packed all of the items into the hatboxes, covered them up with tissue paper, and put bows on the top (I had one bow on hand).

A few weeks before the party, I had lunch with my mentor and asked him if he’d be willing to allow his daughters to serve as flower girls at our wedding. While we have a BEAUTIFUL newborn niece Harper that will certainly be a part of our special day, we wanted to also honor the other special girls in our life and have them walk down the aisle for us. He was honored that we asked, and he proceeded to give me a children’s book entitled “Lilly’s Big Day” by Kevin Henkes. My mentor gave me the idea to trace a scene from this book onto a paper card for each of the girls, cards which I would give them at Emma’s birthday party later that month.

I spent one entire Sunday tracing and coloring these cards, and making them special for Emma and Hannah, and the finished product was (in my opinion) spectacular. Sadly I didn’t snap a picture of these cards before I gave them to the girls, but the front of the card was a scene from “Lilly’s Big Day,” while the inside of the card read, “Will You Be Our Flower Girl?”. They were cute cards, and I was proud of them.

I tucked the cards inside the top section of these hatboxes, and the girls opened them together at Emma’s party. One of Emma’s dear friends read the card aloud to Hannah, who is still learning to read, and when she read, “Will You Be Our Flower Girl?” Hannah’s little heart melted. She turned to J and I with huge eyes full of excitement, and she said, “REALLY?!” We giggled and said yes, and she gave us a huge hug. Emma too was thrilled that we asked, and they both seem very, very excited to participate in our big day.

They’re such special girls, and we’re so happy that they’ve agreed to be a big part of our wedding day!

For more, check out our Wedding Party page!

Who are you asking to be part of your big day?

What creative ideas do you have for asking the special people in your life?