Little Dresses for Africa (Part Uno)

It was recently my birthday as you know, and I threw myself a dang good party!

(No, I'm not usually that vain to throw myself a party, except when I turned the big 3-0 a couple of years back, and then it was practically mandatory! I'll not soon forget that awesome bash at the roller rink...)

But this wasn't any ol' party. The birthday part was just a great excuse to get together and make a difference. And yes, my guests were required to bring a present 'cause, come on, who doesn't love presents?!

(No, I'm not that greedy, keep on a-readin'...)

But not just any ol' present. A pillowcase, to be exact.

My birthday celebration was a "Little Dresses for Africa" party!

I first heard about this organization through Ashley's amazing blog. Let's face it, she's the queen of crafty and cool, and I was drooling over her party pics. Ever since, I've been itchin' to throw a party, and since this was my year to turn 33, I knew I'd found the perfect excuse. When you're turning the same age as Jesus, you gotta find a fitting way to celebrate, and I know Jesus would approve this party!

We transformed ordinary pillowcases into dresses fit for little African princesses. There were three trusty and determined seamstresses on hand to help sew them up, so no sewing skills were required from my guests. When the party was over, we had 38 finished dresses hanging on the clothesline in my front yard. Amazing, right?!




But what's even more amazing is the fact that, as of today, there are 75 finished dresses, with about 25 more to be finished. That's right, kids, there were approximately 100 pillowcases donated in honor of my birthday.

100.

Can you even imagine?

100, people!!!!!!




Just picture it -- 100 beautiful African princesses of God standing in their new dresses. If that isn't one of the most beautiful images you could ever conjure up in your head, I don't know what is.






(images from the Little Dresses for Africa organization website)

This could never have been possible without everyone else. A huge thank you to all of my guests for coming and participating and bringing the most awesome pillowcases. An even bigger thank you to my friends that went above and beyond, collecting pillowcases out the wazoo, inviting even more friends to come, and for friends that contributed fun additions to add to the dresses, like my friend, Kristi, who made a ton of adorable flower brooches to put on them. We used every single one of them, Kristi! And a humongous thank you to my mom, my aunt, and my friend since the 5th grade, Christa, for sewing up a storm, in what my aunt dubbed "the sweatshop" (aka my dining room). These ladies never once took a break and went well past the end time of the party trying to get as many finished as possible.

I seriously thought my heart was going to burst into a million little pieces from the sheer happiness I felt all throughout the party. The thought of seeing our adorable creations on even more adorable little girls was just too much. I am still on cloud nine even days later.

A big fat muchas gracias from me on behalf of some amazing little girls across the globe.

Look for Part Dos and Part Tres and heck, maybe even Part Cuatro later this weekend. I've got a bazillion more photos to share -- how I set up the party, the beautiful women in attendance, and of course, all 100 of the creations!

Get ready to fall in love with pillowcase dresses. And with parties that show how amazing the hearts of people can be.