11770

Barbie Beach Party - 4yr - Barbie Look-a-like Surprise

August 2005

Joanie in Cordova, TN USA

Special Mention

Barbie Backyard Beach Party

My daughter was turning 4 and requested a Barbie party; I wanted to do something unique that took advantage of her summer birthday.

I started with an invitation that showed a picture of a beach, the print shop (www.acreativecard.com ) took a snap shot of my daughter in her Barbie bathing suit and a picture of Barbie and put them on the beach. It gave the illusion that my daughter and Barbie were having a day at the beach. The invitation asked children to wear their swimsuit, to bring a towel, and to join us for some Barbie birthday fun on "our last name" beach. I hand stamped the envelope with phrases such as: gone to the beach or fun in the sun. I booked an inflatable water slide for the day of the party for our main activity; we also had a medium size inflatable pool for the younger children. The ages ranged from 2 - 8 years old.

We used an assortment of bright primary colors in our decorations. On the day of her party, we tied a Barbie balloon on the mailbox, I covered our front door with flip flop streamers and put up a sign that said join us on our last name” Beach. The sign was bordered in flip flop paper and I accented the sign with 3-D beach stickers of sand castles, umbrella, beach balls, etc.  I scattered sand along the walk that led to our backyard. We placed a 6 ft. sign, that my husband put together and painted, in the front yard. It had three arrows with the names of 2 popular FL beaches with actual miles away and then our Jackson Beach 15 steps. Sand was scattered along the gate as you entered the backyard and a basket with beach toys set beside the gate. I tied different colored balloons along the top of the fence and hung plastic fish and sea creatures along the fence.

When the children entered the backyard the inflatable slide was the first thing they saw, we also had a net set up for beach volleyball with Barbie beach balls, the medium size inflatable pool, and a sand table with toys. I scattered beach mats, umbrellas, and lawn chairs around the yard for seating. We also set up an open air tent with a covered table for gifts, I covered the floor with a quilt and beach towels for the children to sit on later. We set up an 8 ft. portable table, picnic style with blue checked table cloths using sand toys as the centerpieces, we had a child - size picnic table with umbrella and our patio table where guests could enjoy lunch. I wrote ‘Happy Birthday’ on one section of our fence with sidewalk chalk and left it where the children could play.

When the guest arrived, we had water slide time, followed by lunch. I served grilled hotdogs, Seven Seas pasta salad, fresh fruit, Barbie Jell-O mold, fish & chips trail mix, chips for the children and added Bratwurst with toppings, pita chips and spinach dip for the adults. I hung a Barbie Happy Birthday sign behind the food table. The food table had an orange checked table cloth with a large hot pink metal bucket full of orange and purple flowers. I scattered small sand toys around as well. I served the chips out of new sand pails with shovels and used fish or flip flop shaped platters. We used plates and napkins that showed a beach chair, umbrella, and ball on the beach. Outside the back door, I had a small plastic swimming pool with drinks iced down. We served a Barbie cake (with the actual Barbie doll - my daughter's choice), brownies, and homemade strawberry ice cream.

After the children had played on the slide and eaten lunch, we had a surprise visitor. A Barbie look a like drove up in her convertible complete with a little crown and brought my daughter some balloons and a Barbie doll. All the little girls thought she was great! She took a group picture with them and sat with my daughter as she opened presents and had cake. We opened presents in the shade of the open air tent, where my daughter sat on a Barbie double beach chair along with the friend, whose present she was opening at that time. It really helped to cut down on the confusion and made each child feel included in the celebration! After cake the children had more time to play on the water slide. The party lasted about 2 ½ hours, the time of the party was 10:30 am - 1:00 pm.

I sent the boys home with beach pails full of sand toys, dolphin shaped rubber stamps, and a little candy. The girls took home pink plastic beach bags with an outfit for a Barbie doll, Barbie bracelet & necklace, multi colored hair scrunchies, Barbie stickers, and a little candy. It was an awesome party! All of the children had a blast (there were about 17 children at this party) and my daughter has asked to do the same thing again next year! She loved that our Barbie look a like came to her party. For the thank you, I have ordered copies of the group picture with "Barbie" and will tape them on some bright colored notecards that have hand stamped sea shells and other beach decor. This party was a lot of work on the actual day of the party because most of the set-up had to be done that morning but it was well worth it. Who knows, we might just do it again next year!

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