22444

American Girl Party -7yr- Decorate Purses

February 2011

Kristi in Michigan City, Indiana USA

Honorable Mention

For our daughters 7th birthday, she wanted to have an American Girl theme for her class friends party. I thought Great ! That will be a lot of fun !! And it was in the end, but found the planning a bit challenging for us on a budget. Unfortunately, there isn't a AG section of party supplies at any retail store, so the need to be creative was high. Luckily kids are pretty easy to please LOL

So, we first got started on invitations. For these, I just used my Word program on our computer. First, I created a red background with one large white star, added a picture of my daughters favorite doll at the time (her newest, Mia) and simply added all party info, adding for the girls to each bring their favorite doll or stuffed animalwith them to the party. Didn't want it to seem that they HAD to have an AG doll to bring, as some did not own one. Those that did bring a stuffed animal had just as much fun as those that brought their doll, which was fabulous !

My daughters birthday is in June, so luckily most stores have 4th of July decos out at this time and we found perfect plates, napkins, cups and cello goodie bags that were red with white stars, the girls all thought that was great ! Also got red plastic star shaped serving dishes that we used for pretzels and chips, shiney red star cut-outs for decos to hang about and red balloons with white stars blown up as well ~ it looked fantastic !

For food, all these girls are big hot dog fans - so that is what we had to eat, along with the chips and such.

For the dolls, my daughter wanted them to have their own table so we brought in their Little Tykes picnic table ! Set it up with a white plastic table cover, party hats (that we cut down to fit the dolls and animals - just about half of the hats original size and simply reattach the elastic string), dollies and the perfect doll size crochet cupcakes that my wonderful Mom made for all the dolls !! They were so perfect and adorable ! She crocheted and stuffed them ~ bottom cake part was yellow, frosting was white with teeny tiny colorful beads she added as the sprinkles and finally a larger red bead on top for the cherry ! The girls LOVED these and they just looked way too cute in front of each doll who was wearing her party hat !! Awesome !

For the girls, we made funfetti cupcakes (daughters favorite) frosted white and put a red plastic star on top. Shaped them into a #7 on the tray, added a candle to hers and the girls happily dug in, with ice-cream also served of course.

For a game, I had found a personalized AG bingo game on ebay for a very reasonable price ($5.00) and was it ever cute ! Each square had an actual picture of an AG doll or animal/pet girls all had a lot of fun playing this ! We used Smarties candies as the markers. A few that did not have a doll did not know all their names as I called them out, but boy the others who did know quickly helped them fill their squares ! It was great.

For an actitivy, I found little white cardboard purses to decorate at Hobby Lobby for just a couple of dollars ~ Perfect doll size ! Got a few packages of different foam shape stickers (stars, flowers, buterflies, ladybugs etc) from the dollar store and also got out our markers and let 'em have at it. They all had a ball making these for their dolls, everyones was different and all looked amazing ! As my daughter opened her gifts, we had each friend and her doll sit with her and took a picture of them together and added that along with the thank-you note we later sent.

For goodie bags, I hit the jackpot at the clearance section of our Walmart, party store and dollar store ! We found small little cameras with actual tiny pictures inside-perfect doll size, too cute ! Got a package of really cute plastic hair barrettes and gave each girl 4 - a set for her and a matching set for her doll. Added in a small party sz red bottle of bubbles with a star sticker added on, a star pencil, tiny gel pen, a dum-dum sucker, smarties, and a small pet" for the doll (which were actually Happy Meal Ty beanies from McDonalds) again perfect size for the dolls ! My daughters thought of this as they had so many at the time and I loved the idea as well ~ great as a doll pet AND it gets these extras out of here - Bonus !! LOL

All in all everything was perfect and the girls all had a wonderful time ! Even had Mom's later tell me that their daughters just raved on and on at how much fun our party was. What a terrific feeling that was hearing that ! It was simple budget friendly and well enjoyed by all. Don't always feel you have to go overboard spend a fortune and stress yourself out. Sometimes less is actually better :) Just get creative and shop the deals ! Hope this can help someone else can get a few ideas for their childs American Girl party ! But most of all ~ Have fun and enjoy the moment ! God Bless        "

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