A Barbie theme party is similar to a princess theme party. This type of party is more attractive to smaller girls, in the pre-school through early elementary school years. As they get older, most girls outgrow their interest in Barbie dolls and gravitate towards more sophisticated types of toys such as Bratz Dolls.
Many party supply stores, such as Oriental Trading Company, have put together Barbie theme packs. Buying a complete party theme package is more economical than purchasing individual items. It is also more convenient as you don’t have to go to multiple stores trying to find all the items you need. These are complete party packages that contain official Barbie merchandise items such as:
Invitations
Cups
Plates
Napkins
Utensils
Confetti
Balloons
Streamers
Table cover
Their deluxe and ultimate Barbie theme party packs include additional items such as a table center piece, banners, craft kits, filled treat bags, piñata and more.
Although the Barbie theme party packs are more convenient, for one stop shopping, you can save money by purchasing many of your party supplies from your local dollar store. Princess theme colors that are popular include purple, pink and silver. If you purchase your basic items from the discount stores this will leave you more money to splurge on Barbie specific items such as the birthday cake, Mylar balloons and the party invitations.
Dollar store items you may want to purchase for your Barbie theme birthday party include:
Crowns
Princess wands
Rhinestone jewelry
Solid color balloons
Bubble wands
Streamers and confetti
Candy bracelets
Put together a bunch of inexpensive craft and art supplies and let each guest create one or more Barbie theme scrapbook pages. This is an activity which kids and adults both enjoy participating in. Your party guests can take their pages home with them and use them like a poster to decorate the walls of their bedroom.
Again, many of these items can be found at dollar stores. If you are like our family, you will already have many art supplies on hand which will save you money as you will not have to buy all new craft items. We always setup a separate craft supply table either on our porch, which has a concrete floor, or on the tile floor of the dinning room. That way any spills and messes can be easily cleaned up without you having to worry about staining your carpet. We use a plastic folding table which we cover with old newspapers before placing all the craft supplies on top of it.
Craft items to have on hand include:
Solid color cardstock – to use as the page base
Solid and patterned Papers
Safety scissors
Stickers
Glitter glue
Gel pens
Silk, fabric and paper flowers
Glue sticks and glue dots
Rhinestone jewels
Sequins
Ribbons
Water colors
Paint brushes
Entertainment
When writing out your party invitations, ask all you guests to come dressed up as their favorite Barbie or princess character. Get a large trunk or basket and fill it up with a variety of dress up clothes, shoes and costume jewelry. That way the kids can have fun trying on different outfits throughout the duration of the party. You can place your daughters extra dress up clothes in the trunk or you can check out your local thrift stores.
One year my mother purchased a couple of old prom dresses from her local thrift store and brought them with her when she came down for the holidays. My daughter enjoyed playing with those dresses for a number of years before finally giving them away to one of our neighbors young daughters.
If you have a digital camera, you can take pictures of your guests in their costumes during the party. And if you have the time to print out a few pictures while the party is going on, your guests can use these pictures to embellish their scrapbook pages.
Party Supply Stores
Party City has stores located all over the country. Visit their website at www.partycity.com to find the store nearest you. Other party supply businesses, such as Oriental Trading and Party Supplies World, don’t have retail stores so your only option is to purchase your party supplies through their website.
