Has your daughter fallen head over heels for Barbie movies? My daughter loves them all, but particularly A Mermaid’s Tale. She couldn’t wait to share the excitement with her friends, so we planned a Barbie Mermaid Adventure for them to share. Here are the activities we included, and a few more we wish we’d had time for.
Invitations:
Cut starfish shapes out of orange cardstock. Write the part information on one side, and coat the other side with sparkly glitter. Instruct the guests to wear bathing suits or “surf-wear” like tank tops and board shorts.
Decorations:
Create an underwater atmosphere with blue and green streamers and Christmas lights. Add clusters of blue balloon “bubbles” and fish shaped cut-outs. You can buy the cut-outs at party stores or make your own from shiny orange paper. You can also hang some bright colored beach towels and lay some on the floor for lounging on.
Crafts:
Make surfboards for Barbie dolls! Cut a surfboard shapes from white craft foam or thick poster board. Let the girls decorate them with glitter glue, foam stickers, and rhinestone stickers.
Create sea shell picture frames. Buy unfinished wooden picture frames from your local craft store or Oriental Trading. Have the kids paint them with acrylic paints then glue sea shells on with ultra-strong tacky glue. (For little kids, washable tempera paints may be a better choice than acrylics.) Add a dusting of glitter if desired. For an extra special touch, take a picture of the party group and print copiesoon your home computer during the party. Then the girls can take home their frames with a picture of friends already inside!
Activities:
Learn the “Queen of the Waves” dance from the movie! There are instructions and a video are available online at http://www.barbie.com/mermaid-tale. Make sure to videotape the final performance and play it back for the girls!
Style hair mermaid-style. This activity works best for sleepovers, as the waves take a while to set. Dampen hair, add styling cream, and braid into several braids. Allow to dry overnight, then finger comb hair for lovely mermaid-worthy waves. Add washable pink hair streaks and sea shell hair clips made from sea shells hot glued to simple hair barrettes.
Games:
Play Pin the Tale on the Mermaid. Find a picture of Merliah online, print it out, and enlarge it on a copy machine. Draw a mermaid tale large enough to cover Merliah’s legs and make photocopies for each child. Play the game the same way Pin the Tail on the Donkey is played.
Food:
Kids love to eat Sand! Fill a clean plastic beach pail with vanilla pudding and crumble vanilla wafers on top. Serve with a plastic sand shovel.
Additional Ideas for Outdoor Parties:
Add water any way you can! Pull out the sprinkler, water table, or Slip ‘n’ Slide. Add a few beach Barbies to the water table. Use a motorized bubble maker to add ambiance.
Pool Party Games:
Hold a surfing contest! Have a few children at a time try to push kick boards under the water and stand on them. It’s harder than it sounds! Give a prize to the one who balances the longest.
Goody Bags:
Fill goody bags with items like lip gloss, bubbles, Barbie outfits or accessories, sea shell jewelry, and Barbie stickers.
