So does my daughters Sweet 16 count as a National Holiday????

If she had her way it would! In our house, the rule is NO discussing birthday ideas until after January 1st. Trust me, she waste no time either. If it's 12:05 on New Years morning and she remembers, she'll kindly remind me. Last night she brought it up and between Shari & Shaelyn and Ciara & I, the ideas started flowing 11pm. We had been toying with the idea of a black and white themed party and once we started looking around the internet, it was for sure a Go! There are lots of cool ideas out there and some we've already come up with ourselves. I've also asked my online friends for suggestions. My daughter is super stoked, becuase she's know I'm a sucker for planning a party. Party planning is one of those things I love to do. I must admit, I've had some awesome parties in the past. We've celebrated Blues 1st B-day and Hillary Duffs 16th birthday. I've thrown showers, hosted Halloween parties, had end of summer bashes and definitely thrown a ton of Birthday parties. Once I'm on board with the idea, she knows she's got it made! Since last night, we've come up with the following ideas. 

Her party invitation: 

 

Courtesy of the Summer in Paris Cricut cartridge:














Her 1st choice in dresses, is a short black party dress. She's not sure if she'll go with a white cover up or a black cover up, but I guess it depends on what we find.

Now the center pieces are a combo of Shari's find and Ciara's idea. We're going to do something with these great polka dot balloons Shari found and attach them to the table with some kind of frame with a black and white photo of Ciara. 

As much as the child wanted a topsy, turvy, layered cake from the bakery, that's not going to happen. She'll have to be happy with a MOM creation. We're considering a cupcake and layered cake combo like these. 

We'll definitely have a bow on the top layer, but I'm not sure if we'll decorate the cupcakes or keep them simple with decorative cupcake wrappers.

With Ciara watching Sweet 16 on MTV for so many years, she has some crazy ideas and some good ideas! It will be interesting to see how all this plays out on a budget!