Next Top Model: Sweet 16 Bash

Here is a flashback post from the Sweet 16 Party I put together for my sister last year.  It was such a fun idea I thought I would share it again!

This is my beautiful baby sister, Sara. I know, I know... she's not a baby anymore. In fact, she just turned 16!

She is such a wonderful young lady. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this little girl and how proud I am of her. She is friendly, well-mannered and has a really great sense of humor. On top of that she has a 4.3 grade point average! That's right: Beauty and Brains... Look out!

She loves everything fashion and everything photography, so it is no surprise that one of her favorite shows is America's Next Top Model. So, we thought it would be fun to throw her a Sweet 16 Bash centered around that theme!

Check out these adorable invitations designed by Kimberly McDowell of The Event Essentials:

There were a total of 8 girls who were able to attend (including Sara). When they all arrived, we asked them to have a seat around the dining room table at my parents house. They each received their very own personalized champagne flute to drink our homemade sparkling punch.

Check out this snazzy cake my step-mom made. She also filled a silver platter with sugared berries, cheese, crackers and other yummy treats. Then she walked around the house serving the girls from the platter... it was so fun!

Next, we had them all draw numbers to determine which order they would go in. First, they were each to have their makeup professionally done. Here is a shot of some of the girls primping and waiting for their turn in the makeup chair:

Rebecca Bond-Turner. We were so excited she was willing to do this for us! She did such a fantastic job with all the girls, taking special care to spend the same amount of time with each girl.


And here we have our very talented makeup artist:

Once they were finished having their makeup done, each girl got to spend about 10 minutes with the AMAZING professional photographer: Shawna Yarbrough and her assistant of Studio 7 Photography. I love this shot from Sara's shoot with both photographers doing their thing:

Meanwhile, about halfway through the morning, we stopped to sing Happy Birthday to Sara and cut the cake.

Here are another couple of cute shots of the girls taking photos with each other as they waited their turns:



And NOW... Here are the before and after shots of all the girls:
First up, Danielle:

Next was Kaitlin:


Then Chelsey:
and the lady of the day, Sara:

Followed by Missy:

And Danika:

Then Shelby:

And last but not least, Alyssa:

Then, in true Next Top Model fashion, they all donned various colored tank tops to give some consistency to the shot and took some group photos together. Here are a few of my favorites:

While Alyssa was finishing up her shoot, all of the other girls decided to pose with Rebecca... she was such a blast!

Then we arranged for a limo to come to escort the girls to a surprise lunch in Scottsdale. Here is a shot of a few of the girls posing in front of the limo. They were SO excited!


And finally, here is a shot of the girls at their final destination: Benihana. Sara has always wanted to go there and we thought it would be a fun interactive lunch for the girls to enjoy. (Plus it was SUPER yummy too!)

So there you have it: A 16-year-old's dream of a birthday party! They all had so much fun!

Way to go girls! Hope to see you on America's Next Top Model some day!