America's Top Model (10-12yr) Fashion Challenges

My daughter's absoulute favorite tv show is America's Next Top Model! So we decided to have an 11th birthday party for the biggest fan of this tv show and her friends to strut their stuff and get the full model experience for one day!

INVITATIONS:  I got some blank cards from Invitation Outlet and put together my own. On the front of the card, I pasted the picture of Tyra banks and a picture of Molly copying the pose. Then on the inside of the card, I pasted the America's Next Top Model logo and below it I pasted the words Who will it be?". Then I included the following text: "Congratulations! You've been chosen to compete in Cycle 12 of America's Next Top Model. This season will take place at the luxurious mansion on (OUR ADDRESS) starting on (DATE OF THE PARTY). You should bring any clothes you don't mind sharing and a good attitude. Our winner should be determined by (END OF THE PARTY) . Hope to see you then! We found some cute high heel makeup and glamour stickers and stuck them all over. 

DECORATIONS: WE went crazy with all the obvious streamers in the doorways and ceilings. We covered the tables with hot pink plastic clothes. I also grabbed a bunch of cheap mirrors and nailed them all over the walls for doing makeup etc.. My husband also dropped one of the mirrors so we used it on a door and it looked awesome with all the shattered pieces! In one of the main rooms we took all of these paper umbrellas that we got from Oriental Trading Co. and put them up. Then we hung them upside down from strings on the ceiling. This looked awesome! For the photoshoots we had three backdrops to chose from- plain white black and tie dye which we set up before the party on doors. I also blew up two pictures to hang up... I did this at staples. one image was: http://www.fashiongates.com/img/upload/items/america-Top-model-Logo and the other was a picture of Molly that I let all the girls sign with Sharpies. I also included a blank "guest book" type of thing in front where the girls could write longer notes. It looked awesome! 

ACTIVITIES As the girls arrived Molly showed them where to put their sleeping bags and such. 14 girls were scheduled to come from 430pm-12pm. So in total we had 15 girls. What we did was to create that sort of luxurious apartment look was as follows: We took my daughter's queen matress our queen guest bed matress and four twin air beds ( we borrowed two of them from friends). Then we put nice sheets on these beds and a bunch of pillows and they used their sleeping bags as blankets. We arranged these six beds in sort of a circle so all the girls could talk at night. We put a nice futon in one corner and in another corner we put a sort of mountain of blankets so the girls could lounge and feel comfortable instead of the usual hard floor sleeping bags. 

While waiting for everyone to come we had the girls decorate shirts. We bought white tshirts from Target and most of the girls wrote Molly's 11th Birthday My Day as a Model. They wrote on these in sharpie. Then we took them into the backyard and tiedyed them! We had various choices for color including blue red and green! And after the girls finished we hung them up on a clothesline... This took about an hour and everyone had arrived at that point. Then we started the modeling...

TIME CHECK: 530 activity #1: We told the girls to get settled on the third floor and then a few minutes later I hopped up the stairs with an envelope that said "MOLLY MAIL" like "TYRA MAIL" on the show. I slid it under the door and knocked then ran away. It said "WELCOME TO THE SHOW GIRLS You have 15 minutes to get on a cute school outfit and meet downstairs for your first challenge!" I heard them squeal and start to run around! To make this authentic I paid four different high school and college students and paid them 20$ for one hour at our party to act as photographer. They used digital cameras.

So for the first photoshoot they were told that they had to sell Five Star notebooks. Each girl was given a notebook and they also had to choose a persona out of a hat for their school girl look. The choices were: "Naughty School Girl" "Nerdy School girl" "Teacher's Pet" and "Popular Girl". Each photoshoot had different elements to it that they could chose to add to their photo: Naughty: lot of lip gloss or a cell phone. Nerdy: glasses or a bowtie. Teacher's Pet: apple or A+ paper Popular Girl: Three other girls to have in your picture or a backpack. They LOVED THIS. They got so into it. This lasted about one hour and each girl got about 5 pictures. After they were done they were told to go get cleaned up upstairs.

TIME CHECK: 630 activity#2: MOLLY MAIL- "It's that time! Take off any makeup you may have and get ready for the new you! Be ready in 5 minutes!" One of the college students we hired actually had experience in hair styling so we were thrilled to make a makeover activity! What we did was… Divided the 15 girls into 3 groups of 5. They vistited three different stations together in various rooms for about 15 minutes each.

STATION ONE: Hair and Pedicures! One of our college students and I worked here on the DECK. We set up five chairs and five pools with soap with rose lillies. I painted their toenails and as our student gave them "up do's" curls braids etc They looked awesome.

STATION TWO: Massages and Manicures- Two high school students worked here. THIS WAS IN OUR LIVING ROOM. They sat in sort of lawn chairs and their hands soaked in little dishes as they were given three minute massages or  got their nails painted.

STATION THREE: Makeup and Clothes! My sister and a college student worked here. We bought a bunch of cheap clothes from Garment District and after their makeup was done they picked an outfit for their next shoot! Then they were sent upstairs..

TIME CHECK: 715 activity#3: MOLLY MAIL: "Woof! Woof! Meet us downstairs in 3 minutes." The girls met their next photographer. He  put them in five groups of three which he assigned then told them to pick out of a hat to determine order. On the slips of paper it said 1 MAX or 2 CHARLIE or 3 DODO or 4 MUFFY or 5 JUJU. He revealed the surprise that this shoot would be with dogs. The concept was that they were trying to do a shoot and this dog interruped them! The girls got even more excited shooting with eachother. They had their shoot in the living room. We got the dogs from various neighbors. We have a big basement so we let the dogs play in the basement until the shoot then their owners came to pick them up. The girls were sent upstairs after to wash up..

TIME CHECK: 8  DINNER: We wanted a luxurious dinner like the superstars of the show often get. So we had the fifteen girls squeezed around our table with candles and flowers decorating the table. Then my husband dressed in his tux and acted as the waiter. On our MENU the options were: APPETIZER: potato crisps garden salad or brushetta MAIN DISHES: fettucini chicken parmesean or stirfry DESSERT: chocolate mousse strawberry tort or vanilla delite! DRINKS: Water Sprite Coke or Orange Juice THIS WAS A BIT HIT. We didn't have to spend hundreds of dollars to go out for dinner.

TIME CHECK: 915  activity#4: MOLLY MAIL: "Dress in a jean and plain t shirt and get ready for a glamourous shoot! Meet on the deck in 10 minutes!" The girls met their next photographer and then used the black background for this shoot! They were told that they need to chose what they wanted to write at the bottom of their photograph. This statement had to say: "I am a Covergirl Queen because.." and this photo would be a close up of their face with a Covergirl product. These were really beautiful! Each girl got about 3 pictures. Some examples of these statements were "I am a Covergirl Queen because I'm beautiful on the inside and out" or "because I know how to work it" or "because I love myself and I know I'm beautiful" After they had each completed their picture we had them all gather on the stairs and have some group pictures. They all matched so they looked beautiful!

TIME CHECK: 10 activity #5: MOLLY MAIL: "You might be getting sleepy but get on your pjs for this next shot be ready in 5 minutes!" We wanted to try the falling kind of shoot from one of the cycles. The concept was that the girls were "falling asleep" as they were in their pajamas about to land in a pile of pillows. We put the camera on a special sports setting. We told them to continue to smile as they fell so they would look pretty mid-air. This took a little longer.

TIME CHECK: 11.  NOTE: As the girls were waiting for their photo in some of the shoots they watched their friends but for other shoots they were given cookies to decorate art activities to do like decorating sunglasses beading coloring headbands or they were given a camera of their own to play around with!  TO end the day we watched some Tivo-ed episodes of America's Next Top Model.. We put on two episodes and then it was 12 o clock and time for bed. They were exhausted which is a good thing! 

NEXT DAY: We woke up the kids at 930am! For a not so elegant breakfast we let the girls make their own pancakes! They loved this! They staggered down in their pjs and muched on breakfast. In the morning we assembled the girl's portfolios with the five pictures from yesturday. They were nice black folders that we found at Staples. At around 10 we started our final activity! 

Activity #6: Go sees! In our backyard we set up 8 different stations with various people and assignments. The girls were given one hour to visit as many go sees as possible! Examples of the stations are as follows:

1. My Station- The girls had to chose from a variety of hats and do a runway walk with it on then describe how it fits their personality.

2. Personless Station- There was a polaroid camera and they were told to take a goofy yet still beautiful picture and leave it on the table signing their name.

3. My Sister's Station- The girls were given a hideous shawl that they had to incorporate with their stylish clothes in a modern way… This was a blast!!!  AFTER GO SEES.. We told the girls to hang out upstairs and gather all their stuff together. While they were doing this we went through all the go see notes and pictures and made a certificate for each girl based on strengthes they showed.. EX: Most Bubbly Personality Beautiful Smile Best Attitude etc…  

FAVORS: The girls were given their portfolio certificate as well as a small drawn string bag with a small lotion Hershey's Kisses perfume and a bottle of nail polish.   FABULOUS PARTY!"