What Goes with a Tutu? A Princess Wand!

I've been giving tutus as birthday gifts to preschool-aged girls lately, but it just didn't seem like enough.  A few weeks ago it hit me:  a princessy scepter wand thingy!  Girls don't care what it's called, but they love it.

My daughter is the model for this one.  She is a tiny 1 1/2 year old and the recipient was a 3 year old so it's a little big on her.  And yes, that's a bathing suit shirt.  We were going to a pool party.

We'll start with the wand.

Remember the ribbon holder?  We'll be using some of the dowels from that project.

Get a roll of tulle to wrap around the dowel.  Start with a dab of hot glue to hold it in place

then start wrapping

put a few dabs of glue along the way as you're wrapping, just to be sure it stays in place.  Wrap all the way to the end.

When you get to the end, tie the tulle in a knot and glue it well.  Leave a train of tulle whatever length you desire.

Tie and glue a few more pieces of tulle and/or ribbon to the end.

My daughter ripped a little decorative fabric crown off one of her dress up outfits that day... it was perfect for this!

I glued it on to cover up where the ribbons were tied

I'm pretty sure you don't have a shimmery fabric crown lying around.  Get creative!  You can use beads, an applique, whatever you want.

Here's how I did the tutu if you're curious.  I'll keep it quick in case you're bored already

Sew a loop of elastic the size of the girl's waist (or you can use a stretchy headband).

Cut equal lengths of tulle (you'll need about 2-3 rolls, depending on how long and full you'd like your tutu) about 3 feet long.  I cut both rolls at once to make it go faster

Take each of these and fold it in half

Start tying them to the elastic by sending the ends through the loop like this

Pull tight.

You can tie the tulle pieces in a a regular knot, but doing it this way helps them lay better.  Keep tying them and pushing the tied pieces of tulle close together so the tutu ends up nice and full.  You're going to use more tulle than you think!  I can't give you an exact amount of tulle pieces because every tutu I've made has been different.  I also tied some pieces of ribbon into the tutu to add a little more color.

I heard the girl who received this tutu wouldn't take it off and wanted to wear it to bed.  Now that's a successful gift!  Here's one more pic of my girlie wearing it

This is such a great solution for an inexpensive girl gift.  Now, if I could just find something as easy to make for boys...

Let me know if you have any favorite go-to gifts!
Blessings,
Jamie
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