hazel and company: pretty in pink dance bag {with tutorial link}

We gave one of the best Christmas gifts ever this year.

Zoe, who is five, loves to dance. LOVES it. She's participated in a couple dance summer day camps in the past.

But I knew she would adore dance lessons. Every week.

And I thought maybe....just maybe....if we could afford it, we could give her dance lessons for Christmas.

Now you have to understand that Zoe's three older siblings are all boys. I'm still learning about this girly pink world of dolls, princess and twirling.

I didn't know how much dance lessons would cost, what I would need to buy....I was completely clueless. Luckily, I have a sweet friend, Jenny, who owns a brilliant dance company here in town. I picked her brain and learned all the details.

Now I'd been talking to my husband about this idea and he told me to figure out how much it would all cost. But when I learned the ballpark cost from now until the end of the school year for the lessons, tap shoes, ballet shoes and the recital costume, I was pretty sure my wonderful (yet very frugal) husband wouldn't think it was such a good idea. I called him at work, fully expecting the worst.

But I underestimated how much this daddy loves his little girl and how well he understands what dance lessons would mean to her.

"Go ahead. I'm fine with it," he said. And...I got a bit weepy. In fact, I'm getting weepy now!

He knew the opportunity to attend dance classes would send his sweet girl straight over the moon. And he didn't care that it would cost more than we were expecting. Awesome daddy, right?

For Christmas we wrapped up the dance shoes, costume, leotards, lace leggings and a bright purple tutu. Oh! This girl was beyond thrilled! She tried everything on and we were fortunate enough to be the audience in many very exciting impromptu dance shows.

It was awesome.

But there was one thing I'd wanted to make and include in Zoe's present, but I ran out of time since I was working on this Big Project.

Last week Zoe had her first day of class. And I spent most of the morning whipping up this fun pink surprise for her....

The second I saw the tutorial for this pretty dance bag at Make it Cozee, I knew I wanted to make one like it for Zoe. The tutorial is very well written and I'm so pleased with the results!

I took this next picture right before we headed into the dance studio. Can you tell how excited she is?? I'm surprised I was able to get a picture of her standing still!