Shelby's Brilliant Bizarre Beauty Pageant Party

Shelby turned 12! She is a young woman!  Yikes... We celebrated as a family and had to take the traditional birthday girl photos with each member of the fam.

 We totally love this girl...

A few weeks after her birthday- we had Shelby's party.  Shelby had been planning this party for MONTHS!  When she first told me she wanted a beauty pageant party I know I cringed.  I mean really- is this what I want my daughter to find important?  However, with a bit of imagination- Shelby had one of the best parties EVER!

 The mini cheesecakes - complete with purses, lips and shoes...

 Shelby is getting ready for the party- with a little extra sparkle on her cheek...

 The lollipop bouquet... (Shelby found something similar on pinterest and she HAD to try it!)

 The Birthday Girl- please note the shoes Shelby refurbished from our local Goodwill Store.

 There were three parts to this amazing party.  After decorating their beauty contestant sashes- Shelby called herself "Miss Glam," we headed inside to introduce the contestants to the judges.

 Here is Shelby as she comes down the stairs while the announcer (me) gives Miss Glam's bio to the judges. (We had each girl make up whatever they wanted -where they were from, their favorite foods, etc... Jake, Kailey, and Kailey's friend Sadie were our judges.

 Her curtsey for the judges...

Then- there was the talent competition.  Shelby's talent turned into an impromptu dance party.

The final event was the swimsuit/ diving portion.  Here Shelby is blowing an air kiss to the judges.

Shelby's final wave before she dives into the pool.  (Notice how thrilled Judge Jake is.)

 Then Shelby blew out the candles...

 and all of the girls got their crowns.  We had watched a few snippets of Miss Congeniality and all of the girls had perfected their fake cries...

 The contestants! (The actual winner was Maren- the girl in the red swimsuit in front.  She designed and created her first outfit completely out of tinfoil!  Then she became a Greek Goddess and showed us some of her artwork- which is incredible- for the talent competition.  Finally- she wore a devilishly lovely costume as she jumped into the pool- cape and all!  She totally deserved to win.)

 The DIVA Pose

Of course, there was swimming and a bit of train time on the slide after the pageant was over...

SUCH a FUN Party!  So glad Shelby has great friends.