A TOE-tally Awesome Gift!

A couple months through the year are big time Birthday Months...October, January and May are huge for us with lots of friends and family that have birthdays around the same time. When this happens, I try to plan ahead so I'm not at Target every Saturday of the month trying to figure out the "perfect" gift for these people only to settle with a so so gift shoved in to a store bought gift bag. 

Samantha has 4 of her very best BFFs birthdays this weekend and next, and with it being so close to summer time I came up with this TOE-tally awesome idea :)

Now I don't know about everyone elses girls, but my daughter and her friends are full fledged in to the whole "tween" thing...they are 7 going on 17 so simply going to the store and buying a Barbie isn't really an option anymore. They love American Girl dolls, but lets be honest here....that stuff is like "from Grandma for Christmas" kinda presents ;) However this little gift is sure to please, its cute, fun and trendy for the girl, easy to put together and inexpensive for the gift giver, and it offers a utility aspect for the birthday girls parent ... a cute new beach towel and flip flops plus they don't have to unpackage a million tiny plastic pieces! 

This is all you will need to get started:

-A beach towel

-A pair of flip flops

-A bottle of nail polish

-A small bottle of nail polish remover

-An emory board

-Some cotton balls

-A small drawstring bag (I get these in the wedding aisle at hobby lobby)

-Some cardstock tags

-Some tulle that matches your overall theme

First, make your "nail bags." using the drawstring bags, slip a handful of cotton balls in along with the emery board, nail polish and remover, tie the bag closed. These are so cute you could just stop here! Wouldn't this make a great party favor? or stocking stuffer? Love it :) 

Next open up your towel so its about three times the width of your flip flops (It really helps if you buy the towel prefolded...you only have to unfold it once in the middle and you still have the nice clean lines everywhere else) Simply set your flip flops and nail bag on top of the towel in the center with about 3 inches sticking out of the top. get about a yard of tulle or ribbon and center it under the towel.

fold the right side (the inside) over the shoes, then fold the left side over so it all kinda rolls up, tie a knot in it with your tulle. Everything should feel very secure in here...you should be able to stand it up and turn it upside down with out the flip flops or nail stuff falling out...if it feels loose, push your flip flops in further or tie the tulle tighter.

Make a cute gift tag...I just printed out some little tags using free fonts I downloaded and glued it on to some cardstock then punched a hole in the top corner.

thread your tag on to the tulle, tie a bow, cut any excess off the tails and there you go! 

Arn't they fun! We are all ready for a fun weekend of birthdays with besties now! 

**Don't forget to check out the GIVEAWAY I have going on over here! The contest will end NEXT FRIDAY MAY 18th @ MIDNIGHT**