American Girl -9yr- Cakes for the Dolls

American Girl Birthday Sleepover  My daughter loves the American Girl book series and dolls.  For her 9th birthday she wanted an American Girl themed sleepover.  We both had a lot of fun planning it & used many resources to achieve the party she dreamed of.  We used American Girl themed invitations & told the girl's to bring their favorite 18" doll for a fun filled party.  We made sure that they knew we would be making doll size crafts, so their dolls just HAD to come. 

FOOD & DÉCOR:  I took a picture of each guest as she arrived.  We had her kneel with my daughter behind a doll sized bench.  My daughter & her friend posed their dolls on the bench for the picture.  They made nice enclosures with the Thank you cards. We served cake, ice cream, chips & various snacks at the party.  The cake was decorated with 9 flowers (since it was her 9th Bday).  I used an 11x13 sheet cake I made & frosted it white.  We then put varying sizes of cupcakes cut in half horizontally on the sheet cake & frosted them.  My daughter decorated the flowers with candies like Mike & Ikes, Jujubes, Lifesaver Gummies, & M&M's to resemble flower petals.  I finished it off with green icing piped on for stems & grass.  It turned out really cute & went well with her "girly" theme. 

We decorated the tables with her American Girl ornaments, books & accessories.  The dolls didn't want to be left out so we made a cake for each doll.  I bought silver plated trays in the wedding section of a craft store & used them as fancy cake plates.  We stacked & frosted two Oreos with chocolate frosting & decorated them with tiny flower & butterfly cake decors.  They were a huge hit & looked very sweet.  We used an overturned platic tote as a table for the dolls to stand around & have their cake. 

GAMES:  My daughter loves the historical American Girl dolls so we planned a game from each time period.  I first read the girl's a brief history of the character & if the doll was present had someone hold her up to be seen.  I had notecards with each character to show them as well. 

Kaya, 1764: We played a Native American game in which you have the girls line up their shoes & leave the room.  I hid a stone & they had to come back & guess which shoe had the stone in it. 

Felicity, 1774: The girls sat in a circle with one person in the center.  The circle of girls would pass a ring behind their backs until the girl in the middle (who had her eyes closed) said, "Stop!".  She would then have to guess who had the ring. 

Josefina, 1824: We played Rainbow Angel.  A game Josefina might have played with her sisters in 1824.  One player is the angel & the rest think of & pick a rainbow color (they keep it to themselves).  The angel will call out a color.  If it is the one you are thinking of you have to run & tag a predetermined base to be safe. If she catches you, you become the angel & guess the colors.  If no one is caught or is thinking of the angel's color, then the game continues with another guess as the players think of a new color. 

Kirsten, 1854:  We played a fun pioneer game. The girls stood in a circle &  one began with, "I have a basket", to which the other's replied, "What's in your basket?" The 1st girl has to think of something that starts with the leter A, the next B, & so on.  If you can not think of an item that starts with your letter, you are out.  The game continues until only one is standing. 

Addy, 1864:  "Hot boiled beans & bacon for supper, come & eat it while it's hot!" is what the girl's would call out to the one girl they had sent out the room.  They would hide a small object (we used a spool since Addy's mother worked as a seamstress) & then call the girl who was "it" to come find it.  They would call out colder & warmer as she moved farther away or closer until she found the spool. 

Samantha, 1904:  We played a silly parlor game.  I had the girls get in groups of threes.  The first girl would draw a picture of a head.  I would then fold the paper down so it could not be seen.  The next girl drew a picture of a torso.  Again, I folded this under & then passed it to the 3rd girl.  She drew a picture of legs.  When they were done we opened the papers to see what creatures had been made. 

Kit, 1934:  Kit has one story that centered around the Hobo life.  I found common Hobo signs online & printed them.  I then had them guess between two answers what each symbol stood for. 

Molly, 1944:  We played a patriotic themed game since her time period is WW2.  I had the girls leave the room & then I hid small flag stickers.  They then had 30 seconds to gather as many as they could.  They kept what they found.  All the games were played for fun with no prizes, other than the stickers.  The girls didn't mind at all.  

CRAFTS: The girl's made crafts for their dolls.  I bought three shades of brown Sculpey clay on sale at a local craft store.  They made doll size cookies & whatever else they could imagine!  They made ice cream cones with dribbles down the side, chocolate bars, cookies with (doll size) bites out of them, pancakes, waffles, lollipops, and even a pair of glasses.  They had so much fun & were very creative.  You can but lots of other colors & make any food you desire.  I baked the clay at 275 degrees for 15 minutes, let it cool & then put them in baggies for the girl's with their silver cake trays (from the real mini cakes served earlier in the party).  They also made sleeping sacks/bags for their dolls to sleep in for the night.  I bought fleece on clearance (all the same color to avoid fighting) and made it 12" wide x 22" long.  I folded it over & it was open on three sides.  The fold was on the left. I cut 3" out of the lower right corner & cut 3" deep slits 1 inch apart around the bottom & half way up the right side.  On the upper right I rounded the corners.  I pinned the fabric so it would not slip.  The girls then tied the slits of fabric to each other (top one to bottom one make sure they stay lined up).  When they were done they had a sleeping spot for their doll for the night. 

SLEEPOVER FUN:  The girl's had a wall sized piece of paper to sign, doodle, color on throughout the party.  I taped it to the wall.  They watched two movies.  Samantha: An American Girl Holiday, and Felicity: An American Girl Adventure.  They loved them!  I fixed huge trays of sweet & salty snacks (popcorn, pretzels, raisins, m&m's, sweet cereal, graham cracker mini's, etc.) & they picked what they wanted & filled up pint size ziplocs to eat out of. 

TREAT BAGS:  The girls took home their Sculpey clay food on their silver trays, doll sleep sacks they made, a mini doll size radio that actually played (found at our Dollar Tree Store), mini doll size magazine (they came free with American Girl orders & I put them together ahead of time), and a doll size popcorn bowls.  I bought condiment bowls & glued styrofoam bits in them, then lightly painted the styrofoam yellow.    It was a very successful, fun party. I hope this will help you get some ideas for your next American Girl Bash.