Girls Birthday Dresses are the only Gifts We Gave this Year.

My daughter is in elementary school, and I swear, she gets invited to dozens of parties every year.  That's not to say that she's hugely popular or anything.  She's just average in popularity.  But you know how it goes these days.  Parents are very conscious about not excluding anyone, so half the time, the entire classroom is invited to a birthday party.  Throw in her gymnastics class and music friends... that adds up to a lot of presents we have to give.  So I just made it very easy on myself.  Instead of shopping around for thousands of different gifts, I decided that this year, we were going to give out girls birthday dresses like this one.  Birthday dresses are easy, they are fun, casual, and can be worn to lots of occasions.  They make the lucky girl who's wearing it feel special, pretty, and funky.  So the next logical question was, where are we going to get all of these girls birthday dresses.  I mean, we didn't want to give out some that were prettier than others.  That would be playing favorites. So we did some research online and this is what we discovered.

There are lots of website that sell birthday dresses for girls, but a lot of them sell inferior clothing that's just going to fall apart after one wash.  That's not the kind of gift giver I want to be.   I don't know what the deal is.  Maybe these dresses are manufactured overseas where they don't pay sewers a lot of money, but it ain't for me.  We were able to find one site that manufactures all of their birthday dresses in America.  Can you believe it?  It's called TwirlyGirl and I urge you to check them out.  It's a small little company, but they have such a great selection of unique dresses.  Each dress is made in a limited run.  This was important to me because it makes the present more special. The girl who gets it is not likely to see any other girls wearing the same exact dress.  You know how humiliating that is?  That's why stars don't do it on the red carpet.  To me, this gives each birthday dress a one-of-a-kind appeal.  Let's be honest, I'm kind of taking the lazy way out here, but by shopping at TwirlyGirl, no one else is going to know that.  Each girls dress practically looks custom made, so it looks very special, in my opinion.

Here's a link to the TwirlyGirl website just in case you are confronted with the same motherly problems that I am.  Poke around.  I also like the fact that they gift wrap all of their dresses for free.  The wrap it up in fabric, then tie off the ends like it's a piece of candy.  It really is so sweat.  Talk about making all of my headaches go away.  LOL!  Makes me wish I owned stock in this company.

Summer Means Maxi Dresses are Out and About!

Summer means many things to different people.  To kids, it's no school or homework.  This has been replaced by camp, barbecues, swimming, sleep overs, camping, and backyard fun!  We live in a cold weather state, so for our girls it's a chance to break out the warm weather clothing.  Dresses that have been hanging tantalizingly in their closets can finally be brought out and warn.  My nine year old girl has a one dress in particular that she could not wait to wear around town: this maxi dress seen here.  Maxi dresses are a fun and popular fashion from the 1970s, and fortunately for out sake, they are back in vogue.

My daughter absolutely adores how she feels in her maxi dress for girls.  She spins and twirls and struts with renewed confidence.  She says it makes her feel sophisticated and unique, and makes her channel her inner Farrah Fawcett, even though she doesn't really know who that is.  She first fell in love with maxis when she was looking at old photos of me in my younger days.  The child's dad says I was quite the stunner back in my day, to which I say, "Hey, I still am!"  So when my child saw that dress on me, she insisted that she get one for herself.  Easier said than done.  But thanks to the internet, there really isn't anything you can't find these days.  So we did a Google search for "Girls maxi dress" and came up with a bunch of sites.  But one really caught our eye.  It's called TwirlyGirl, and they have a great selection of dresses that are all made right here in the USA.  How rare is that these days?  You can't even find Apple Pie made in America, it seems!

So we toured their website and my girl was immediately faced with a huge problem:  she went on there to buy a maxi dress, but fell in love with a bunch of other styles and now she didn't know how to choose.  Seriously, this became a source of great anxiety for the girl.  Oh, to have the problems of a 9 yr old!  But I made it easy for her.  I told the kid we would buy a maxi dress for girls for this summer, so that she could wear it and enjoy it immediately.  And we would return to buy some other dresses when the birthday rolled around, and even for Christmas.  This worked out in my favor because I noticed that TwirlyGirl has a "birthday club" that you can enjoy for free.  You just put your name on a mailing list, and when your girl's special day rolls around, they send you a coupon for 10% off.  Boom!  I'm already saving money.

Go check out TwirlyGirl's website.  They really are a great source for maxi dresses as well as skirts, tops, pants, and leggings.  It's a great clothing line for kids.  Just press this and you'll directed to their online store.

Mysterious Girls Capri Leggings Found Under the Couch

File this one under "Mysteries, Unsolved."  Yesterday, my daughter found an old pair of capri leggings like these crumpled in a ball, tucked away behind the couch.  When she unfurled them, we couldn't figure out who they belonged to.  She's the only girl in the house, and certainly I'm too big to fit into these leggings.  I asked her if they could've belonged to one of her friends.  After racking our brains, we couldn't figure out who.  It couldn't be a cousin, or a neighbor.  We really couldn't guess at all.  The style was very funky.  It had mismatched legs, and the fabric was very soft.  Whoever these capris belonged to was certainly missing them because they could not have been cuter!  There was a tag inside, so just to play detective for a few minutes, we decided to do a little more legwork, as it were.  The tag directed us to a website called TwirlyGirl.

Once we visited their website, we had a new problem on our hands.  We checked out their page devoted to girls capri leggings, and although we couldn't find a perfect match for them, we found others very similar.  This made my girl want to buy some.  And when she checked out some of the other dresses and clothes they offered, she wanted to buy them too.  All of their styles were super cute.  The colors and patterns were so vibrant and alive, it made me wish I were still a little girl.  Boy have clothes changed since I was a kid.  Thanks to the internet, you can find whatever you want, as long as you know where to look.  Having a background in marketing, I was also very impressed with the way their marketed their clothes.  All of their dresses and leggings came with a little story or poem describing them.  Sort of a backstory in how it originated.  Of course, it was all made up to be fantastical and whimsical, which made me want to check out their other offerings just to read the creative story behind them!  We were hooked, and to be honest, we wanted to be!  In the end, we never found out who was the original owner of these capri leggings for girls.  But that's ok.  The investigation was fun while it lasted, and we became fans of a great new product.  I'm including a link to their website if you want to check them out for yourself.  Maybe you know a girl who is having a birthday coming up.  A really funky pair of capri leggings might make a cool and unique gift.  They also have a free podcast of original short stories for children, which we found really delightful.  The stories were written by a professional Hollywood screenwriter.  I'm telling you, TwirlyGirl really knows how to make a great first impression.  I dig companies like that!  So here's a link to their store.  Even if you're not in the market for for capri leggings for girls.  You'll admire what they're doing there.

My daughter's fascination with girls capri leggings

It's so funny to look at artwork that four year olds draw.  I'm always fascinated by the way they perceive the world.  If you notice, when they draw people their feet rarely touch the ground.   Theyr'e usually floating in the air, or drifting into outer space.  But when I analyzed the drawings that my little Katie did on the first day of school, I was really struck by what she sketched.  I think it was supposed to be a picture of her older sister.  I mean, it certainly looked like a girl, and her character was dressed the way my older girl wears her clothes.  That is to say, the girl seemed to be wearing capri leggings.  How do I know?  Well, they didn't seem to be pants, and they were only 3/4 length and they were striped.  You see, my older child love to wear capri leggings.  She almost never takes them off.  But that's another story.

She says that capri leggings, like those here, are perfect for any occasion.  She even likes to wear them to sleep because they are so soft and comfy.  But more often than not, she puts them underneath her skirts and dresses on days that are a little cold.  Half the time she wears them with sneakers, because the capri slash sneaker look is uber-funky, as she so often says.  Who raises these kids?  LOL!  Certainly not that deadbeat of a husband I thought I loved for about five minutes.  Have fun with your brain dead girlfriend, Luther!  But I digress.

My girl wears capris everywhere.  It's like her security blanket, I guess.  The cool thing is, she seems to have started a trend with some close friends, because now all the girls  seem to be wearing.  Of course, my oldest would never brag or even admit it.  She's far too good of a friend.  Not at all the Queen Bee type.  In fact, she bought a few friends some capri leggings since they didn't have any of their own, and we got a really good deal on them.  And even though they all kind of go together, none of them are perfect matches.  That would be so weird.  This way, each girl gets to feel unique about the leggings they wear.  We did that by shopping for different styles on the same site.  We found a great website with tons of variety and super soft clothes and gave them away as party favors for the last birthday.  I love sharing online stores with other moms.  And dads.  I don't discriminate.  So here's a link if you feel like checking out their leggings.  Or any of the other clothes they have.  http://www.twirlygirlshop.com

Sandra guest blogs about the Girls Maxi Dress. Welcome Sandra!

My name is Sandra and I'm getting in shape.  I'm eleven years old and I believe that health and fitness is very important and you can never start too early in life to set good habits.  I want to look nice and healthy because I have a big party coming up and I want to be at my best.  So I'm doing jumping jacks, playing lots of Wii, and hopscotch and I also do ten sit ups every day.  I think that's a lot.  It's hard to know.  But the important thing is, I am going to be a good role model for all my friends when I show up to the graduation ceremony looking fit and happy in my maxi dress like this one.

Oh, did I forget to tell you?  I saved up all my money doing chores and errands to buy a girls maxi dress.  I've always been attracted to that style, ever since I was a little kid.  By the way, I'm a tween now, so I don't need your sarcasm.  It's not necessary and certainly not appreciated.  Now, where was I?  Oh, yes.  My maxi dress.  I love the style and elegance.  It makes me feel like one of those old time movie stars.  Like Farrah Faucet.  Whenever I wear them to school, I get tons of compliments.  And not just from my teachers who are a million years old.  My friends like them too.  They're like, what do you call that?  And I'm all, "it's a maxi dress, girl!"  And then we laugh and then I tell them where I bought it from.  There are already two girls my age in my school wearing them.  And just today at lunch, three other girls told me they wanted them too.  Maybe I'm a trend setter.  LOL.  Or maybe I'm like my grandmother's dog.  An Irish Setter.  Laughing out loud, y'all!  My mom says I'm really good at jokes and maybe she's right.  Hollywood, do you have room for a cute girl in a just as cute maxi dress?

Okay, so where did I buy this girls maxi dress.  Well, I bought it online silly.  From a terrific little clothing manufacturer called TwirlyGirl.  They make lots of styles of clothing for girls two through twelve.  If you want to see what they have, then I will post a link to make it simple for you.  Click here.  The way I see it, the more people who buy a maxi dress, the more of a trend setter I am.  So it's not like I'm trying to keep it a secret. Come on, do it!!!

My Review of TwirlyGirl's Birthday Dress

All things Duncan has done it again!  This month, I open things up with a review of TwirlyGirl's Birthday Dress.  As you all know, I own a super fab blog, that everyone loves to read.  I have so many visitors, that I often get to review products, then post my thoughts on my site.  TwirlyGirl has so generously given me a dress to write about.  I'm going to give you all my thoughts below, but just in case you are in a huge rush, here's the long and short of it:  these birthday girl dresses are outrageously fabulous!

First of all, honey, when the dress arrived at my flat, it was wrapped in the cutest pink fabric.  I was like, what's this about?  Then I realized, it was made to look like a candy wrapper, and that inside you were getting a sweet little treat.  Come on!  How cute is that?!?  Don's answer, because I will.  I opened the dress up and held it to my niece, who is only seven years old.  We'll, she nearly fell out of her high chair, she was so delighted.  Just kidding.  She outgrew that years ago.  Anyway, I told her to run in to her room and change into her new birthday dress so that she could model it for me.  She's a good little girl, and did just that.  When she came out in her new dress, I almost fell out of my rascal!  Just kidding, I don't have one of those motorized wheelchair things, but don't they look fun?!  I told my girl to spin and twirl and put on a little show.  You should've seen her face come alive.   This girl absolutely adored her dress.  She was so excited, you would've thought it was her birthday.  She started laughing and giggling, then I started cheering and hollering.  You would've thought that I was the girl in the birthday dress, not her!  Laughing out loud, youngin's!  

Yes, this birthday dress costs a little more than that garbage you see at the big box stores, but all of TwirlyGirl's dresses are made right here in the USA.  If you want quality, you have to pay for it.  But hey, I would much rather have one dress that my girl wears all the time, then ten dresses that just sit in the back of her closet.  What's the point of that!?  Plus these dresses are so soft, and comfy.  TwirlyGirl knows that girls hate itchy seems, so they are all hidden so that they don't touch the skin.  And the way they combine prints is so terrific.  These birthday dresses are so alive and vibrant.  It's like, OMG, can you believe girls get to wear these things!  Why can we all?!

So, that's what I think about the TwirlyGirl girls birthday dress.  It is so special and terrific.  I'm posting the link below so that you can go to their website and see for yourself.  But be warned: once you girl tries one TwirlyGirl dress, she's going to want to try them all!

Girls Birthday Dresses are Sweeping Facebook

I've recently noticed that a new social media campaign is sweeping Facebook. It seems that every time I log on, one friend or another is commenting, liking, of sharing the status of one small company that manufactures girls dresses.  It's not a paid advertisement, so I guess that means the business has genuine fans that just likes to share info with other people. The biz that I'm talking about is called TwirlyGirl.  I looked them up on google and took a look at their website.  Apparently they sell a specific kind of girls birthday dress that kids just can't seem to get enough of.

What exactly is a birthday dress?  It's a type of garment that is made for girls that is both fun, soft, comfortable and easy to care for.  They are perfect for dressy occasions because they are so special.  However they are also appropriate for everyday wear because they are comfortable and inexpensive. You don't even need to take them to the dry cleaners.  You can just toss them in the wash, put then in the dryer, and voila.  Done.  I guess this is what makes them so popular with girls and with moms!

What I like most about this website is how creative it is.  They don't just sell a birthday girl dress.  They sell of lifestyle based on imagination, creativity, and empowerment.  All of their dresses are accompanied by short stories or poems that describe what they are in a really fun fashion.  Girls like to go to this website just to read their content.  How original is that?!  They also have a live chat feature so it's easy and convenient to chat with a style coordinator if you have any questions about the dresses.

But don't take my word for it.  See for yourself. You'll likely spend hours just hanging out there.  Sometimes you shop for girls dresses.  Other times you'll just spend some time reading their stories, or listening to their podcasts, just because its such a hoot.  The site is called TwirlyGirl, and this link will take you to them.  Have fun and lose yourself!