Once a year Isabelle's dance team has a fantastic slumber party for the whole company - the little girls and big girls together for a special bonding night. This is only Isabelle's second year on the team but she's been looking forward to this party since the morning after last years. It's that wonderful! This year the theme was "Holiday" and the girls were supposed to come dressed in their holiday best.
Isabelle couldn't wait to get out the door!
The girls were sequestered in the studio lobby while the grown-ups brought in all their slumber party supplies. Volunteers had worked all day transforming each room of the studio into a different holiday theme.
The first stop was the Christmas room.
There were lots of crafts to do, like decorating Christmas sweaters and making scarves.
Fabulous treats - even the frosting cups were color coordinated and made to look cute!
Santa was there too! On a side note, this is the first time Isabelle has come within a two foot radius of Santa without crying ever. Like, EVER! Thank you peer pressure!
Go Minis!
Can we get back to the treats for a minute? Hot chocolate station with marshmallows and whipped cream? Check!
More crafts...
...and then it was on to dinner in the Cinco de Mayo room.
Taco bar and non-alcoholic margaritas. :)
After dinner there was dessert in the Halloween room.
Could anything look more magical?
The highlight of the evening was when the girls were paired up with their big/little sister. After going on a scavenger hunt to find a present with their name on it they went back to the Christmas room to open their gift. They then had to find the girl with the matching item.
This year Isabelle was delighted to be paired with lovely Emily.
Then it was time to get to know each other better with a "favorites" questionnaire. It will be fun putting together little surprises and treats for Emily this season.
Bigs and littles mingling.
The party really got going in the Chinese New Year room.
Then the girls split back into their teams for a tree decorating/present wrapping relay race.
Let's just say this wasn't a race the minis were meant to win, but they sure did try hard!
Then, close to midnight, the girls cuddled up with their new big/little sister and they watched all the different teams perform their competition dances for the year. It was AMAZING!
Best. Dance. Studio. Ever.
But, even though the dancers are amazing and have been taught so well, the thing I love most about our studio is how much the teachers care for these girls. And, it doesn't just show on an evening like this when they've gone way above and beyond what is necessary or expected. Every day I see them encouraging each girl to be great at dancing, but also to be great people.
I'm so thankful, I don't even have my feelings hurt when I overhear a conversation between my girls that goes something like this:
Isabelle (discussing Miss Amy and Miss Tricia): "You know Maddy, Mommy is a teacher too."
Maddy: "Yes, but she's just a plain teacher, not a dance teacher."
Isabelle: "Huh, you're right. She is just a plain teacher. I really like dance teachers."
