As I sit down to write this blog post, my heart is filled with a mix of emotions – joy, gratitude, and a touch of nostalgia. Today marks a truly special milestone for us: the 3-year anniversary of Auntie's Accessories. What an incredible journey it has been, and I'm beyond excited to share this moment with you, our Auntie's family. 

Three years ago, I decided to share Auntie's with the world. After making bows & bummies as a hobby for a few months in 2020 I chose to start the journey of creating a business. I launched Auntie's September 1st, 2020 with the hopes of sharing my creations with others. Little did I know that this endeavor would lead me to you – a community of wonderful moms, caregivers, and friends who have not only embraced my handmade creations but also become an integral part of our story. To celebrate this important milestone I've created a pictorial journey of Auntie's over the last three years!

The Birth of a Dream (Year 1)

Three years ago, I took my first steps into the world of handmade clothing and accessories. Back then, my focus was on bows. I was nannying two bow obsessed little ladies that loved to model for me. I started with leather bows and slowly ventured into other materials. Then came Jojo. Once Jojo was here I dived into the world of clothing! Starting mostly with bummies and joggers. 

For the first little while Jojo was my only model (a pretty cute one too) so most of the photos from the first year feature Jojo. However, I'm blessed with the most amazing & supportive friends so I do have some photos of their little ones too! 

My friend Hannah has been one of my biggest supporters from day one! I started making things for her daughters (pictured above) and dressing them up for photos when Phina was only a couple weeks old! 

In November of 2020 we did our first ever holiday collection for Christmas! I remember seriously over buying/making for this collection and having tons of left over inventory. I was still selling some of the bows from this collection last year in 2022 😅. 

With Auntie's still being so new, I was mostly selling to friends at this point. They were all so supportive and sent me lots of photos to use on my social media & website. 

We ended 2020 with, what would become an annual tradition, Jojo's first photo with Santa in her Santa dress.

March of 2021 I made bunny tail bummies for Easter! They were such a hit and I sold more of these than anything before (probably like 6 or 7 pairs). 

That same month I made Jojo's 1/2 birthday outfit! My sister, Jamie, posted about it on facebook and people loved it! I vividly remember having strangers message me asking to recreate this outfit for their kiddos 1/2 birthday. I happily obliged and ended up making several of these outfits! This was the first time I remember ever selling something I made to a stranger. 

Around April 2021, I started experimenting with new clothing styles. This is the first lounge set I ever made! Before making the lounge top I hadn't realized it was a crop top, so baby Jojo ended up with a crop lounge set. Still cute as ever! When I started offering lounge tops as an Auntie's style I extended the top to be regular length to accommodate others (though you can still request the crop length). 

 

In May of 2021 I sold my first custom order! I was so excited to make this order and am still obsessed with how it turned out. This would be just the beginning of customs for Auntie's.

As the year went on I kept testing out new styles and adding them to our everyday styles. From bloomies & skirts, to dresses and swing tops our style collection grew and grew. 

As a small business owner you are thrown into the world of small businesses on facebook that I never knew existed. There are hundreds and hundreds of groups on facebook dedicated to repping small businesses. A common practice among small business is to do collabs with other small businesses. In June of 2021, I did my first ever collab. I made bows and T-shirts to match Lili's Tutus! As my first ever collab, I'm sure I was very inexperienced, but from what I remember it went well!

In July of 2021, I did my first vendor market. It was a learning experience for sure! My sister and I chose the cheapest market we could find, since we were both new business owners who didn't have a lot to invest in a vendor market.  That was my first mistake and not preplanning was my second mistake. As you can see from the photo above, my display was... lacking at best. Despite not knowing what I was doing I made some sales and enjoyed sharing my business with others.

To wrap up my first year in business I created my first ever rep team! This was probably my biggest adventure to date. Having a rep team is more challenging and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. It required so much forethought (which I'm very bad at) and so much communication. I for sure didn't know what I was doing and I appreciate my reps for sticking through it! 

 From Inspiration to Innovation (Year 2)

We've made it into year two of Auntie's and the last few months of 2021. One of my favorite memories from this time was starting to upcycle clothing! I loved to find shirts that I didn't wear anymore and turnt them into outfits for Jojo.  

In September of 2021, we celebrated Jojo's first birthday and started our tradition of birthday sweater rompers! 

In October of 2021 we went viral on Tiktok for the first time! My sister decided to do 31 days of halloween with Jojo and I dressed her up as an emo kid and made a video. That video currently sits at 731.9K views 🤯. The funny part about that video going viral is that the only Auntie's item is the tulle bows. However, most of the following 30 days of halloween included Auntie's items. Like this piñata costume I made (pictured above)!

The following months of 2021 we dived deeper into the rep & collab world. This will always be one of my favorite parts of running a business. You get to meet so many new people through repping!

We ended 2021 with our first ever professional Auntie's photoshoot! This was such a surreal moment for me. I invited all my close friends and was so honored that all of them agreed to participate! I loved every minute of this experience and hope to do another professional shoot soon!

Oh! We can't end 2021 without our second annual Santa dress photo! 

We welcomed 2022 with lots more collabing. Finding people to collab with has easily become my favorite aspect of being a business owner. Getting to send someone my products and receiving amazing photos like these back is thrilling. 

In March of 2022 I made this adorable bunny romper for Jojo. I posted a silly little 10 second video about it on tiktok one night and woke up to 15+ orders and tons of DMs/emails asking me to restock them. 

I quickly added more to my website, got more fabric, and ended up selling 35 of them! This was the most of one item that I have ever sold. I remember being so so excited to have so many strangers want my handmade items. I spent weeks and weeks doing nothing but making bunny rompers. 

The summer of 2022 I attended tons of vendor markets! I loved adding to my display and slowly making it look better and better. 

That summer we also made swimsuits for the first time! I loved these swimsuits, but quickly decided making swimsuits wasn't my passion. Its such a different ball game than clothing. Trying to make something stay up when wet is harder than it sounds 😂.

June of 2022 I made my favorite outfit to date! I LOVED this fourth of July romper and was convinced it was going to be a best seller. I ordered tons of fabric in preparation. Unfortunately, when I launched it on my website I only sold 2. I remember being so disappointed. But, seeing photos of the two kiddos who did get the romper quickly cheered me up. 

August of 2022 I took inspiration from our bunny rompers and made our bat romper! This one wasn't as popular as the bunny romper, but was still a fan favorite!

I ended my second year in business with Jojo's second annual birthday sweater romper!

Building a Community (Year 3)

Towards the end of 2022 is when I felt like we really started building a community. Our Auntie's family was growing & growing and we finally had a solid group of moms who all interacted with Auntie's and each other. 

During this time I also met so many people at our vendor markets who loved Auntie's. I started really enjoying doing markets and getting to interact with you mamas in person. 

We ended 2022 with the birth of my first male model (a.k.a my nephew, top photo) and lots of Christmas memories.

And, of course, Jojo's 3rd annual Santa picture!

March of 2023 we brought back our bunny rompers with a new addition of what was dubbed the "emo" romper. This romper went viral in the alt community on tiktok growing our tiktok community past 10K.

These bunny rompers helped contribute to my largest order I ever got! I remember seeing this order pop up on my phone for over $300 and running to tell my mom. We spent the next hour trying to decide if it was a scam or not 😂. Luckily it wasn't! A super sweet mama ordered rompers and bows for her kiddos and even sent me photos of her kiddos in them (pictures below)!

I will never be able to fully explain how much it means to me to get photos of your kiddos in their Auntie's. Sending out handmade products is so daunting and you're often left wondering if the customer liked their product or not. Receiving pictures like these is the reminder I need that people love their Auntie's! 

2023 has been a BIG year for one of my favorite things, birthday customs!! I love getting to make your kiddos birthday outfits! Running a mainly online business has introduced me to so many people that I'll never meet in real life. I get to love you and your kiddos from afar, but being able to make outfits for your big life moments makes me feel like I'm part of the memories even when I can't be there in real life. 

We added even more new styles to our collection this year. Like these pictured above; overalls, T-shirt dress, and ollie romper. 

This year I refreshed my vendor setup again. Adding mannequins, loads more handmade clothing, and wholesale products like sunglasses & hats. Continuing to change and add to my setup led me to tripling my sales from my markets in 2022. 

That pretty much brings us to now! Our second year of bat rompers are here (if you haven't bought yours yet, you should). They aren't the viral sensation that they were last year, but we've still got a couple months to sell them!

We just celebrated Jojo's third birthday and the arrival of her twin sisters! These little cuties decided to come a wee bit early and had to celebrate Jo's birthday from the NICU. Jojo's annual sweater romper got an upgrade this year to accommodate her dino themed party!

Future Dreams: A Look Ahead

That's quite the run down of the last three years. However, we wouldn't be here today without all those moments and memories that got us here. To celebrate 3 years I wanted to do something special. Something that would last longer than a quick sale. 

To commemorate the occasion I created The Vivienne bow. Named after one of my sweet nieces. However, I didn't think a new bow style was enough to mark this milestone. 

So, I created The Vivienne Bow subscription box! Starting today, September 1st, 2023 you can subscribe to our bow box and get 3 Vivienne bows sent to you monthly! This is such a monumental moment for me! I've been wanting to create a subscription box for over a year, but every time I think about it I convince myself that Auntie's isn't big enough yet for that. We may not be big, but we'll never get big if I keep holding us back. So, if you're a mom to a bow loving kiddo, go sign up for our subscription box to get your 3 pack of halloween bows! 

Thank You for Three Incredible Years

This journey has been nothing short of a labor of love, and I'm profoundly thankful to all of you who have supported and embraced my creations along the way. It's a journey that has allowed me to transform my dreams into reality and start building my dream life. To my incredible customers, supporters, and well-wishers, you have been the driving energy behind my journey and the heartbeat of this endeavor. Together, we've created something truly magical, and I can't wait to see where the next chapter takes us. From the depths of my heart, thank you for making these three years extraordinary.🌟🖤💕

Love you 3000,

Auntie Kacie