Bows 101

I have wanted to do this post for a long time! Life is so busy with 5 kids, a husband who is a full time pharmacy student, and now I also do photography! I want to start blogging to teach other moms with girls tips on how to use and wear bows. I know that sounds kinda weird but I had no idea when I had my little girl how to do it so I thought I would teach you the things that I have learned along the journey of making and selling hair accessories for almost 6 years now. I can't promise that I will be able to post all the time but I will do my best! So here goes... ( this is only my opinion and advice! If you don't agree that is perfectly ok ;) So you found out you are having a GIRL! Congratulations! You start to think of all the fun you will have dolling your little princess all up! All the fun frilly dresses, bows etc. And then you go out to shop, or go on line and all the sudden you realize you have no idea exactly what to buy??? What size? What colors etc! So you buy a bunch of ginormus flowers on clips that are not lined, and crochet headbands that you have no idea if they will fit. Or maybe you decided you are going to make them all your self only to go out and buy a bunch of supplies that cost you way more than you would have ever spent just buying one, not to mention when you make something yourself you are way more critical of it than if you bought it. So in the long run you really ended up frustrated when your beautiful bundle arrived and you have a huge headband with a huge flower that was far bigger on her tiny head than you ever thought it would be, and also it was so heavy on the headband that it pulled forward and drooped totally showing the clip it was on, and the color does not match anything you have for her.... Any of this sound familiar??? I had four boys before I had my little girl! So to say I was excited to have the chance to doll her all up was an understatement! I remember the first experience of buying her headbands.I actually did not do to terribly bad but I did buy her a black newborn headband that I never really used because I did not really consider that newborns really rarely wear black. So I will start with newborns. You have no idea how big or small your baby will be. And when they arrive you had no idea that their tiny little head would be so tiny. So here are some tips for buying bows for a newborn. 1. They are only tiny tiny for a short while. In my opinion it is best to not go to over board on newborn headbands. If you buy a bunch of newborn headbands you might be frustrated after that you spent so much money on headbands you only used for a short time. 2- Using a head band with a clip attached so you can inter change flowers is great... for older babies. With a newborn most likely the clip will be too heavy for their little head and it will slouch forward and not lay flat on their head. So for the first few months it is best to have headbands with the flowers attached directly to the headband, not on a clip that you attach to a headband. You will find that the older a baby gets the less this is a problem. 3-Look through your babies clothes and take inventory of the colors you need. You might be surprised to realize that you want to buy a cute bow or headband you love even if it matches nothing in your babies wardrobe. So make a list of the colors you will need most before buying anything. You can always buy an outfit to go with the headband too if you like :) 4-Try and do a headband with different colors that will go with a lot of different outfits. For example if you have a lot of baby pink and hot pink you could do a bow with both pinks that would go with a lot more than if you had one that was only baby pink, or one that was only hot pink. P.S. Before having a girl I had no idea how many shades of pink there are! So you could do a headband with a bunch of different pinks combined. 5-Comfort is so important. I always add felt to the inside of my headbands to insure that they are soft for the baby to wear. Also you will notice that they leave an indention on the babies head when they are newborn! Don't fret it is because a babies head is still soft because the bones have not fused. Obviously you dont want it too tight! And usually your baby will let you know. Also it is a good idea to take your babies headband off while in the car. With a rear facing car seat it can be really hard to keep supervision and sometimes your baby will have the headband go over their eyes like a blind fold and start crying and you cant really get to them while driving. I had that experience with Ava. She started freaking out. I had no idea why until I got home and went to get her out only to see that her headband had been over her eyes for the last 5 min! So what should you buy??? For me I would say buy soft fold over elastic,thin soft elastic, or stretch lace for the headband. Have the flower or bow attached to the headband (not on a clip). Use a smaller bow or flower probably 1-3" any bigger will drown your poor babies head. Make sure you have felt on the inside. So here is what I would buy if I were having a newborn baby girl. 1- A cream and white combo cluster on a soft white lace, or fold over elastic headband. 2-A soft pink and bright pink combo cluster or layered flower on a light or bright pink headband. 3- A multicolored cluster (pink, turquoise,yellow, coral,mint Etc.)look through wardrobe to decide what colors you will use most and will look good together. 4-A custom headband to match your going home outfit, unless one of the above headbands would work. 5- A few fun little bit bigger or frillier headbands for newborn photo shoot. 6-A solid white or cream headband if you are blessing or christening your baby. You might want to get that in 3 month size if you are waiting a few months 7-Maybe 1 or 2 custom headbands for special outing outfits. So there you have it! My advice for using and buying your baby girls first headbands! Hope this info helped! Good luck! Feel free to ask any questions.