Beach Glam Barbie Party - 2yr - Glamourous Necklace Making

My two daughters have recently discovered Barbie (they're 3 & just turning 2) and everything has to be Barbie so it seemed a natural transition to have my youngest’s birthday party Barbie themed!  Our parties are usually mixed with adults and kids, so we try to cater to all (this party had 13 adults and 9 kids). 

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL WORE: I was stuck on what to do theme related on the kids' outfits.  So on one trip to Wal-Mart, I was inspired.  I bought 2 Theresa dolls (the brunette Barbie, as my kids are brunette!) that are Beach Glam (in a cute trendy bathing suit) and headed to the fabric department.  I found almost the same exact fabric for $1 a yard, a pattern I could alter to match, and the same accents (her bathing suit had a white trim, and she had a flower in her hair so I got buttons to match!).  I made the exact same outfit for both of my girls and they got the Barbie’s as a gift that morning after they got dressed.  I put the flower buttons on some of my bobby pins and clipped them into their hair.  They both ran around showing their guests that they're dressed like Theresa -- very cute!  My 3 year old explained to everyone that they looked like the doll except we didn't buy a blue bracelet"! 

INVITATIONS: we had her picture taken professionally.  She was dressed up in a frilly pink ballerina dress a big pink picture hat playing with Barbie dolls and had the Barbie doll of her birth year and her Zodiac sign in the background.  I went on to VistaPrint.com and had an invitation printed.  I wrote over the photo "Constant  as the stars above always know that you are loved. -Barbie as Rapunzel" and the number 2 in the background.  Then on the inside of the invitation I found online a clipart of a Barbie dressed up with the phrase "Something Grand is Being Planned!" and I put the information on the other half of the card. 

DECORATIONS: My 3 year old wanted to be very involved in planning her sister's party so many of the decorations were designed and made by her!  We had some pink & purple butterflies (as Barbie is known for flowers and butterflies this was a big theme carried throughout the party) that were made of tulle and wire with glitter (Bombay company had them on the clearance rack).  We hung them off the (broken) ceiling fan that hung above the dining room table.  My 3 year old made small multi colored bookmarks and decorated them with pretty colored buttons.  Those hung in the middle of the fan - it was a nice splash of color and she was proud to show all of the guests that she made them!  We had a Barbie "Happy Birthday" banner from Fairytopia.   I had random butterflies hanging throughout the house.  I had a photo of the birthday girl (the invitation photo) enlarged and framed and put it with a Happy Birthday Barbie over the mantle with her birth photo.  We had multi-colored heart flower and butterfly Mylar balloons (Dollar tree has them for $1 a piece!) at every door and spread across the back yard.

I bought 12 Dancing Princesses table cloths from Wal-Mart and found Fairytopia paper plates from the Dollar Store and Mermaidia cups from the supermarket clearance rack.  I wrapped the silverware in Fairytopia napkins that had a butterfly and said "Barbie Fairytopia" - I wrapped the napkin so that the words were showing and wrapped it with a small bow with an elastic (it was actually from Build A Bear for the ears but we had so many!)  The sign at the driveway had a picture of the Theresa doll and said "Evanthea's 2nd Birthday!".  The picture of the Theresa doll made it through every label.  I had all of the food labeled Barbie specific some things you had to think about ( "Shiver's Chili" "Pauper's Hummos" "How Can I Refuse the Rice?" "Cosmopolitan Barbie" for the adult cosmos and "Urbane Barbie" for the kiddie cocktail etc).  My 2 kids also made a centerpiece each -- I gave them each a pink bucket a ball of Styrofoam and a bunch of flowers and leaves.  They each made their own and it was so neat to see because their true personalities came out! 

I made a little sign and asked guests to guess who made which one!  It was funny to hear people's reasoning’s!!  Those two arrangements and a giant dancing Genoveve doll (from 12 Dancing Princesses - she plays the music and dances) were the centerpiece for one table.  Other Barbies decorated the house as splashes of festivities.  My daughter also made some tissue paper flowers to decorate the walls.  Of course we had the Barbie Princess CD playing in the background.  The cake (see below) was the centerpiece of the food table.   

THE CAKE: The birthday girl is allergic to soy wheat dairy & bananas so buying a cake is completely out of the question!  I didn't want to do the typical "Barbie cake" with the cake as the dress because I feel that everyone does that!  I had to be different!  So I made a Barbie swimming pool!  I made 2 9x13 cakes (I used an allergen free vanilla cake mix but you can use any cake mix).  I left one intact and upside down (as you would take out of the pan).  The other one I cut one strip off the long side of about 2" wide did the same on the other side.  Then I cut smaller 2" strips off the short ends.  I made a "paste" of a modified royal icing (3 egg whites 1/2 t cream of tartar and as much powdered sugar it takes to get the consistency you need) and "glued" the 2" strips to the top to make a "frame" of cake.  I then took some extra cake and made little steps on one of the short ends.  I then made Jell-O (2 packages of blue jell-o add 2 cups boiling hot water dissolve then add 4 cups ice until thickens.  Throw away left over ice) and poured the thickened Jell=O into the center of the cake.  Put it in the fridge to set. 

I bought (from the Dollar Store) 2 small fake Barbie dolls that came with hot tub sets.  I put one of the ladders and a slide in the jell-o before it set so it can gel around it.  Once the Jell-o set I frosted the cake with more modified royal icing and had a blast decorating!  The outside border was Swedish fish "swimming" with chocolate chips as the "gravel" bottom.  Inside the pool was a small toothpick Barbie doll (the ones that are put in cupcakes) with a bathing suit top.  She was holding a super ball (which was a beach ball for her!) I had that resting against her hands and the side of the pool.  I stuck a Swedish fish coming out of the pool just to be silly!  Then I had one of the dollar store dolls coming down the slide.  I had another doll in a chair and I put suntan lotion and a cocktail next to her.  I also had a couple of plastic birds sitting next to plastic trees and plants.  I had a tray with a salad and pitcher sitting off to another side.  Then standing above the pool was a Kelly doll (Barbie's little sister) taking a picture with a Barbie camera.  And on the other side I had I Beach Glam Barbie sitting on stone steps under an umbrella with a sign that said "Life Guard".  The cake was the biggest hit because the adults were happy to get Jell-o instead of frosting!  The kids were happy to get some Swedish fish (and then asked for Jell-o)!  I made the cake on Saturday afternoon the party was Sunday and Monday after dinner I noticed that the Jell=O was starting to settle into the cake. 

FOOD: Again because of our restrictions I try to make the party allergen safe.  We served "Barbie-Q" pork (yes it's a stretch but it was pretty funny!) Magic Crystal chips Carlita's Spanish Dance Salsa Odiel's "What am I a Salad?" "How Can I refuse the Rice?".  A little silly I know but the kids went crazy over it as many of the girls know the videos. 

GOODY BAGS: I found pastel butterflies & flower cellophane bags at the dollar store (30 for $1!) and stuffed it with party hats (princess for the girls and blue for the boys) Barbie blow outs plastic necklaces plastic bracelets small watercolor sets (Rapunzel paints) candy necklaces and bracelets and each girl got a small Barbie makeup (lip gloss or nail polish).  I put in my kids' bags small hairbrushes and mirrors that I wrote "Constant as the stars above always know that you are loved" on the back (Rapunzel found a magical brush that her parents wrote that phrase on) -- I got them at the dollar store (brush & mirror for $1). 

ACTIVITIES: We usually don't have structured parties just let the kids have the opportunity to hit different stations.  One station was color a Barbie (coloring books and print outs with crayons) another was Penelope's Mighty Bubbles (ok so it was Ariel but close!  She was an automatic bubble blower) another was Kelly's What Should I Paint chalk (sidewalk chalk we live on a very slow street so there was a wonderful art work on our road!) Butterfly & Flower Bean Bag Toss (we all made bean bags out of old kids socks - fill with beans and stich closed - and painted an old mattress topper box- big and narrow.  I drew an outline of a butterfly and flower and my 3year old painted them they looked great!  I then cut out random holes) Glamorous Necklace Making (left a basket of dried fruit and embroidery thread and let the kids make their own yummy necklaces!) Play With Barbie (left out our Barbies with the car and pool and clothes) Dress up like Barbie (or Ken) (We left out a basket of dress up clothes) Pretend you're Barbie (Boxes of pretend makeup and hair supplies I found on clearance at TJ Maxx.  They were all Barbie and some came with the makeup we gave in the goody bags). 

We have a collapsible Barbie tent and a collapsible tunnel so I connected them and put them out as the "Secret passage way to the village" - the kids had a blast!   I wanted to have Barbie call but I discovered that service (it's on barbie.com) the morning of the party so it was too late!  But for $1.99 Barbie will call you kids with a message it's really cool!  It was really fun to observe the kids expressing themselves at each of the stations and this way they could go at their own speed. 

THANK YOU CARDS: I'm working on them now!  But they are the birthday girl in her outfit with her Theresa doll and saying Evanthea & Theresa say Thank You...unless I get inspired by something else!  But that's my thought!  It was really a fun day and even the 5 year old boys grudgingly admitted they had fun at a Barbie party!  We even got more Barbies as gifts!"