Barbie Tea Party - 5yr - Jewerly Galore

This past weekend we celebrated my daughters 5th birthday.  As soon as we had her 4th birthday party, she announced she wanted a BARBIE TEA PARTY for her next birthday.  So, needless to say, I've had a year to prepare for this.  I started by reading every entry on tea parties that is on this site.  I got so many wonderful ideas. 

The invitations started with decorative note cards that I bought in packs of 10 for only $1.00 at Dollar General.  I added vellum with the words You're cordially invited to Jaci's Tea Party" to the top of the note cards and tied a bow made of sheer ribbon.  On the inside I had this little poem which I got in part from a few of the ideas found on this site.  The poem read WE'VE INVITED A REAL BARBIE, JOIN US AND SEE JUST HOW MUCH FUN A BARBIE TEA PARTY CAN BE.  COME DRESSED IN YOU'RE TEA TIME BEST WITH JEWELRY GALORE, WE'LL PLAY GAMES, EAT SNACKS AND SO MUCH MORE.  WELL COUNT OUR TEA CUPS ONE BY ONE, SO LET US KNOW IF YOU'LL JOIN THE FUN.  Then I had all the important info…address, time, and RSVP number.  These had to be hand delivered because with the invitation we gave wicker tea cup (spray painted pink) filled with candy in a 4 x 4 white box with iridescence paper shreds. On the outside of the boxes, my daughter put Barbie Tea Party stickers to help it fit the theme.  Each box was tied with a satin ribbon. 

Party City carries a BARBIE TEA PARTY theme that I had been looking at all year.  Well, to my luck, they discontinued the line about 3 months before my daughter's party and everything went on clearance.  I bought so many items for only 50 cents each.  Packs of stickers, Barbie cookie cutters (which I used for prizes for one of the games), place cards, yard sign, banners, etc.  We were having the party at our house under the patio.  I wanted to transform it into a beautiful banquet hall.  We rented a helium tank from a local welding supply company (25.00 - it was a little pricy, but it blew up over 100 balloons) I bought at Party City for 59 cents, plastic table cloths in lavender, pink and yellow and had my husband hang them from the ceiling to form a draping effect.  We hung iridescence stars from the ceiling also. 

I rented child's sized tables ($5.00 each) and I bought 16 white child's sized plastic chairs when they went on clearance at the end of last summer.  ($1.00 each)  I found at Wal-Mart for only $1.00 a yard, bright pink satin that I used for the table cloth.  I found, again on clearance, white damask linen napkins.  I made my own napkin rings by cutting 1 1/2 inch rings from empty paper towel rolls and covering them in a light pink colored satin.  This satin was also used to tie bows to the back of each child’s chair.  On the tables, we had white paper doily place mats.  At each child’s place setting we put 2 sheets of stickers (1 Barbie and 1 flower).  Also on the tables were small bud vases (bought at the dollar store) with 4 or 5 fresh flowers and a little greenery in each. I bought bottles of bubbles and wrapped them in colored tissue paper to use as weights for the bunches of balloons that were all over.  I purchased clear plastic plates and tea cups from WWW.PARTYETC.COM.  The table looked beautiful with the flowers, balloons and each of the place settings. 

When each girl arrived, they were directed to a hat making table.  Actually I had bought the straw hats and put satin bows on each, but the girls got to pick out flowers that they wanted my sister to hot glue on the hat for them.  They got to pick out a boa ($1.00 at Big Lots) and a pair of gloves (77 cents at the end of last summer from JC Penney).  They signed their name to a place card and put it where ever they wanted to sit.  They decorated their placemats with the stickers while waiting for the others to arrive. 

After everyone arrived, we got a phone call that "BARBIE" was on her way.  Playing Barbie was my sister's sister-in-law.  The girls were so excited.  Since "Barbie" had about a 20 minute drive to get to our house, we decided to have the girls eat.  Lunch was sandwiches, chicken nuggets, cheese cubes, grapes, apple slices, chips, cheese crackers and a tray of cookies.  I only wanted finger foods so the girls wouldn't get messy.  I also had a big pot of jambalaya for the adults. 

When Barbie arrived, she gave the girls each a "Barbie" kite (25 cents on clearance from Wal-Mart) and took a picture with each girl in both color and black and white.  Then we took a group picture.  We then started our games.  We played our version of HOT POTATO.  After each girl got out, she got to pick an Easter egg out of a basket.  In each egg was a Barbie bracelet (20 cents each from off of eBay).  The last 2 playing got a bottle of Barbie shampoo, bought from the dollar store.  Then the girls got to guess how many M & M's were in the jar.  The winner received the jar filled with the candy and a Barbie Little Golden Book. (25 cents on clearance at Hudson's). 

Next we played "Pin the tea cup on Barbie".  I bought a poster of Barbie.  Her hands were folded in front of her, so the girls had to place the home-made paper tea cups in her hands.  The 2 girls who came the closest won Barbie beach balls, again from the dollar store.  The last game was a balloon bust game.  I had purchased 8 packs of Barbie cookie cutters from Party City and didn't know what I would do with them. So I came up with this game.  I put a piece of paper in each balloon, but only 8 had stickers on them.  Each child popped a balloon and if the paper inside had a sticker on it, they received a prize (a pack of cookie cutters).  Even though they were little ladies in their good dresses, they loved getting on the ground and popping the balloons. The last thing to do before going inside was the piñata pull.  We purchased the pull string piñata from Party City. 

After the games, we went inside for the cake and present part of the party.  I purchased the cake from a local bakery that does wonderful graphics.  It was a sheet cake with a picture of a fancy tea pot and cups on it. 

After we sang "Happy Birthday", we went into the living room where we had our wicker bench from outside brought in and we decorated it with satin and silk flower garland.  We had balloons tied to it also.  It was a beautiful backdrop for pictures.  The birthday girl sat on the bench and each child brought her their present and Jaci (my daughter) gave them a present also.  The present my daughter gave each girl was a Barbie doll ($2.50 from Toys-R-Us).  A picture was taken of my daughter and each of her guests. 

After the presents were opened, the girls went back outside where they ate their cake and ice cream and jumped on my daughter birthday present from Mom and Dad (a trampoline).  They got to take home the hat they made, the boa, the gloves, the kite, their place card which is also a picture frame, and their loot bag filled with candy from the piñata.  I had little purses filled with Barbie crayons, a Barbie journal, Barbie pens, a Barbie necklace and a Barbie pencil case to give to each girl, but I forgot!  After all of this, I couldn't believe it.  So, we had to hand-deliver the loot bags. :)  Most of the items for this party were bought during the year when I found things on clearance or at the dollar store.

The Thank-you notes will be a group picture with the "REAL" Barbie in a cute frame I found again on clearance. I didn't feel like I had to come up with a lot of money all at one time.  I got so many compliments and it was really so easy to host.  I hope you get some ideas from my party because I've gotten tons of ideas from this site!