Styling a Floral Skirt with the Thrifty Six: Summer Birthday Party

I have been welcomed into a wonderful group of fashion and lifestyle bloggers that focuses on styling preloved clothing and accessories in themed monthly posts (third Monday of the month). I hope that this showcase of secondhand items and outfits provides some shopping and style inspiration for anyone who is interested in creating great looks in a way that is sustainable for our planet and our pocketbooks.

Today's topic is Summer Birthday Party...and I knew I wanted to "celebrate" with a colorful skirt-based outfit.

Skirts, especially those with an A-line/flared shape, are one of my easiest things to thrift shop because there are fewer fit points than other pieces of clothing. Currently, 56% of my skirts were bought secondhand, which is my third most thrift-intense category after scarves (66%) and, surprisingly, jackets (57%).

For the summer birthday party theme, I selected this thrifted Lane Bryant skirt that I love and that has a lot of different color options. I thought the floral print was perfect because I was imagining a stylized outdoor English garden as the venue for the party. (Looking at the $4.49 price I paid at Goodwill back in 2019 makes me nostalgic for that time when items were so reasonably priced there.)

OK, this is not an English garden, but these purple impatiens at the Missouri Botanical Gardens would be a lovely backdrop to a summer birthday party for someone wearing this skirt!

Missouri Botanical Gardens, October 2017

I immediately thought of my thrifted Woman Within emerald green short-sleeved cardigan as a possible pairing with the skirt, and a look at my outfit spreadsheet confirmed that I hadn't worn this combination before. By crazy coincidence, I bought a new emerald green tank top (retail CJ Banks) a couple years ago that happened to match the cardigan extremely well, creating a fun little colorful "modern twin set" in this cool, light shade of green. I love it when I get a second coordinating piece in a color because it makes it so much easier to put outfits together. I know I'll get more wear from the cardigan now that I have a tank top to wear with it.

OOTD 7/15/26

I'll be the first to admit that this particular variety of green doesn't actually exist in the skirt's print, but it's one of those "in the span" of the print colors because the skirt has a range from warm greens to cool teals that the emerald green fits into.

I had a lot of choices when it came to shoe color, but between the black outlining the flower print on the skirt and my feeling of wanting to add some Alice in Wonderland tea party energy to my outfit, I settled on my black polka dot Rockstud flats to bookend the black DIY braided Alice band in my hair.

Continuing my festive and whimsical vibe, I put on a bunch of different necklaces in a fun layered style:

(1) Short black and white enamel flower necklace (retail Kohls);

(2) DIY seed bead wrap necklace made specifically to coordinate with this skirt;

(3) DIY gold paper clip chain necklace with a hinge clasp that allows me to use different charm for different outfits; for this one, I added an Alice-in-a-black-dress charm;

(4) DIY paper pendant of a grey cat and floral background that I made for this skirt (close up below) that I attached to the paper clip chain using a paper clip bail - this is the first time I've tried this with a paper pendant and I loved the way it looked and how easy it was to put on;

(5) Thrifted long black "pseudo-floral" pendant and chain necklace.

The cat side of the paper pendant was made from a magazine page. The abstract side of the paper pendant was made from a greeting card with a Matisse painting on it.

My all-DIY daily bracelet stack was based on a paper bead bracelet set I made in shades of green, teal, and purple with gold metallic that I made for a long-sleeved floral T in my wardrobe (see the inspiration top and page to bead images here), but which I thought would also look great with this skirt. I filled out the stack with DIY beaded bracelets in teal AB glass, dark green quartz, and bright purple glass. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}

I decide on the colors/motifs in my handmade earrings using four main approaches: Start with...

(1) A print garment or scarf or a multi-color necklace;

(2) A multi-color paper bead bracelet set (which may itself be inspired by a print garment or scarf);

(3) A necklace I have made;

(4) A color in my wardrobe.

This pair of green and gold beads-with-bead-dangle earrings (see earring design #7 in this post) was based on approach 4: a color in my wardrobe. I picked out beads that shared a deep emerald color, using faceted glass for the stack and a pair of fun gold-drizzled shell (I think) beads for the dangle. As you can see, the deep emerald color doesn't match the lighter green of my twin set, but it coordinates.

Outfit details:

-Emerald green tank (retail CJ Banks), $13.19, 8/2024, 2 wears, current CPW $6.60

-White/pink/purple/teal floral skirt (thrifted Lane Bryant), $4.49, 3/2019, 12 wears, current CPW $0.41

-Emerald green short-sleeved cardigan (thrifted Woman Within), $4.49, 10/2018, 8 wears, current CPW $0.56

-Black and white floral necklace (retail Kohls), $10.00, 12/2014, 19 wears, current CPW $0.53

-Black pseudo-floral drop necklace (thrifted), $4.20, 12/2019, 24 wears, current CPW $0.18

The cost per wear for this outfit (excluding the earrings and bracelets, which I do not track) was $8.75. This is higher than my typical CPW because the emerald tank has only been worn twice (but is on deck for 3 more outfits this summer, at least once with the matching cardigan). But the other pieces are all below both my $1 CPW goal and my $0.65 CPW goal.

Now let's review the outfits for a summer birthday party that my thrifty friends have styled...

The Thrifty Six:

• Emma of Style Splash

• Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

• Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

• Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

• Sally of Within a World of My Own [me]

• Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

Emma of Style Splash

"This outfit makes me so happy! I bought the shirt and trousers separately, after waiting patiently for them to pop up on Vinted. I've featured the shirt before with jeans. When I finally managed to find the trousers, I actually wondered if I'd wear them together. Why did I even doubt that! If you can't dress up head to toe in pink ruffles on your birthday, when can you?"

Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

"‘Summer Birthday Party’…

…is the T6 theme for July so here I am looking like a big pink birthday cake! 🤣

This outfit is a marriage of two unwearable pieces styled together to create an ultra-feminine party dress.

The completely sheer net underskirt adds length to the pure silk high/low slip dress which provides coverage at the rear – individually they’d both far too risqué.

Not sure I’d wear this outfit, but I can’t help loving how pretty it is…"

Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

"I couldn't just do one photo, because there are so many types of birthday celebrations. So here is my collage of 3.

All of those outfits are thrifted or preloved. I included a 4th outfit on the blog too."

Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

“Now you might think: mmm, black? For a party? In the summer? Yes!

Because that is me. I actually wore this two years ago on my birthday at the end of August. We had a bbq and all the family and friends together and it was such good fun! Only the skirt is pre-loved from Vinted. I haven't bought anything lately there. It all seems very boring and plain. Actually, that would interest plain Jane me right.......lol. That tee is one of my favourites, it fits perfectly with my tattoo!”

Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

“This is the outfit I wore to our friends' house on the 4th of July to celebrate our nation's birthday. Everything I am wearing, except for my hat and sandals, was purchased from either a thrift store or a flea market. I wanted to wear something red, white, and blue for our Independence Day but I didn't want to look like an American flag. The peach and yellow tiers on my preloved dress helped me accomplish my goal of creating a festive outfit with just a touch of patriotism!”

And me...

“For the summer birthday theme party chosen by Emma, I played a bit into an English garden / Alice in Wonderland tea party vibe with color and whimsy. I paired a thrifted floral skirt with a thrifted green cardigan (and serendipitously matching top) and added fun details like a DIY Alice band and a mix of bought/handmade jewelry with floral and Alice details. I did not attend a summer birthday party in this outfit, but I did wear it on the birthday of someone I care a lot about who lives 2000 miles (3,200 km) from me. I just realized that I wore it for my own unbirthday! Was July 15 your unbirthday too??”

Next month's topic is Summer Sparkle...and I think there must be some sparkly jewelry in my look!

In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers for the details of their thrifted summer birthday party outfits and more style inspiration:

• Emma of Style Splash

• Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

• Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

• Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

• Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

What comes to mind for you with a summer birthday party theme? What would you wear for a fantasy summer birthday party? What would you wear to an actual summer birthday party? Are you layering necklaces this summer? Have you ever bought something that turned out to perfectly match the color of something you already had in your closet?

Blogs I link up with are listed here.