MAKE IT CUTE

Every party needs a little crepe paper. Pick pastel colors to stream from the ceiling or doorways and wrap around railings. Cover tables with a pastel tablecloth or a plastic table cover, and create a bouquet of live flowers. Or, head to a craft store for artificial blooms that'll last forever. You can hang giant flower appliqués to the walls, but make sure you use tape or a poster sticky that won’t chip the wall paint!

Style your cupcakes with an edible flower design. Make them before the ladies arrive or have them ready so you can all decorate them together!

Cake mix
Vanilla Frosting
Food coloring (blue, red, yellow, green)
Colorful mini marshmallows
M&Ms
Cupcake holders to bake the cupcakes in
Cupcake oven tray

1. Buy a prepared mix for cupcakes and follow the instructions on the box. Be sure to let cupcakes cool.

2. Choose any color food dye for your frosting. Only add one drop of dye at a time to keep your icing lightly colored, or mix colors like red and blue to get something like purple.

3. For the flower on top, use an M&M as the center. Cut the mini marshmallows in half so they’re a li'l shorter. Pull on two sides of the marshmallow to stretch it into an oval and pinch one side to make it pointy. Use five or six halves of these mini marshmallows and make them stick out from the middle M&M to look like flower petals. Add sprinkles or flaked coconut to make your confection even more colorful!

You won’t be drying your eyes with these tissue petals. Gather up your girlies and create fab bouquets that last.

Pretty pastel tissue paper of in colors of your choice
Green pipe cleaners
Pink gift wrapping ribbon

1. Cut the tissue paper into evenly sized squares (5x5 inches is a good size).

2. Stack about 10 of the square sheets so that the corners all match up. Using more sheets of paper will make the flower appear fuller.

3. You can make your blossom multi-toned by using different shades of the same color and alternating the layers.

4. Fold the tissue papers together accordion style like a paper fan, each pleat being about one inch apart. It should now resemble a rectangle.

5. Wrap the end of a green pipe cleaner around the middle of the folded tissue paper.

6. Holding the paper where the "stem" is tied and with the green tissue paper on the bottom, begin separating the papers by gently pulling up the top layer towards the middle of your bloom, doing one side then the other before moving to the next sheet. The top sheets will become the middle of the flower, and the bottom sheets will be on the outside.

7. Cut the green tissue paper into a round or pointed shape if you want to make them look more like leaves, and you can pull them down instead of up to separate them from the flower petals.

8. Make a few pretty blossoms. Tie the stems together with a pink bow with the ribbon! You can also tie on green ribbon and use scissors to curl the ribbon to represent vines or more leaves. For a finishing touch, glue a button or curl yellow ribbon on the inside of the flower to look like pollen.

Pick out a few bright and pastel nail polish colors. Spend time giving each other manicures and pedicures! Go extra snazzy and make each nail a different color.

When you're inviting your besties over for the sleepover, remind them to bring their floral print clothing and accessories (psst! Floral is VERY in right now!). Set up some sort of runway, whether you roll out a long carpet, lay out a bunch of little ones connecting or just set up two rows of pillows so a path runs down the middle.

Mix and match textures, colors and prints. Have only one sistah strut her stuff on the runway at a time, that way all the other girlies can be the judges. At the end, have each gal write down her fave outfit and toss it into a basket. Then take out the names and find the winner. Be fair. No one can vote for herself!

Take time to relax with your gals and catch a flick. Stick with your flowery theme by watching The Secret Garden, a classic film with tons of blooms.

by GL | 2/1/2016