It all started with two little girls who love their American Girl dolls and a little bit (ok...maybe a whole lot) of sparkle!  Addie and Abby are best friends with birthdays just two short days apart.  They quickly came up with the idea of a shared birthday party.  Addie wanted a tea much like the one you can experience at American Girl Cafe, and Abby wanted a day at the spa....thus, we came up with Spa and Tea with Dollie and Me!  Wow, what fun this combo came to be!

Prior to the party we got the girls together for a homemade photo shoot with their favorite American Girl dolls.  We used the photos to create the party invitations which we purchased from www.tinyprints.com.

On to party day...we started off with a day at the spa.  The girls were asked to arrive in their robes ready for the royal treatment.  We had lots of volunteers to help us with manis and pedis.  Each girl had a plastic foot basin ($1 each at Walmart) with a gerber daisy attached and a rolled white towel tied with ribbon inside.  They each also had a little pedicure goodie bag inside the basin to take home with them.  After everyone arrived we filled the foot basins with warm water and bath salts.  The girls soaked their feet, then received a pedi with the nail color and embellishment of their choice.  The manicure followed.  After their nails were good and dry, the girls (16 in all) moved the the makeup station.  We set up little mirrors, and each girl had her own makeup to apply.  They applied it all by themselves...just seemed like the most fun.

After they were all glammed up, the girls headed to the dressing room to change into their tea party dresses!

Next, they paraded around the house in their dresses for all the adult guests to see.  They then stopped at our American Girl photo booth for a quick souvenir photo.  My BFF's husband crafted this box from an old box he had laying around his garage and did quite a fabulous job with it.  My husband stood in for a photo op!  ;-)

After all the photo fun it was time to eat!  Our menu consisted of star shaped turkey, ham, and cheese sandwiches, fruit kabobs, cheese assortments, dirt cake embellished with daisies, pretzels, pink chocolate dipped marshmallows, pink chocolate dipped rice crispie treats, strawberry and banana smoothies, and pink lemonade.  It was a very kid friendly (low cost) meal fit for the sweetest of girls.

We didn't forget the dollies!  We made adorable little milkshakes for them using small 2oz. size party cups, colored pompoms, straws (cut down to size), and added sprinkles using spray adhesive.  The girls got to take these home to keep the fun rolling with their dolls!

After a fabulous meal we moved on to my favorite thing....the CAKE!  My BFF made all the confections herself and did an over the top job!  We decided on a few different things to make this part of the party just right.  She made two American Girl inspired cakes, then made several plain white cupcakes to be decorated by the girls themselves.  We bought 10-well white art pallets and filled each well with a different type of sprinkle.  The girls put the cupcakes in the middle of the pallets and went to town on their decorating!

I've never had so much fun planning a birthday party.  The girls enjoyed it so very much making it worth every second we invested into it.  It made the experience even more sweet that I got to share the planning and hosting of this party with my BFF, and Addie and Abby made a memory that they'll forever carry in their hearts.  To some it may seem a little over the top, but I'm a firm believer that they're only little once.  I want to make the best of the time I have with my girls while they are small....gonna tuck these days away and carry them with me forever.  <3

The fearless party planning duet!