AB has been talking about her “Barbie Birf-day Pawty” since shortly after her Tangled birthday party last year! 
I thought for certain the theme would change before December rolled around, but surprisingly our girl’s love for Barbie hasn’t fizzled one tiny bit and she was set on having a Barbie birthday. 
AB is also big time into dress up, so we called it a Barbie Fashionista party.
I knew I wanted to incorporate a fashion show into the mix, because AB is BIG on being “announced.” When she dresses up at home, she hides in the hallway and yells for us to “induce” (introduce) her.
I got a several ideas off of Pinterest for the party and kind of came up with the rest as we went along.
We let her invite 3 little friends, so that we would have an even four girls. 
AB knew exactly which three girls she wanted to invite, but she also insisted that she invite her cousins Warren & Willie. They’re such good sports and even wore their “Ken” buttons I made. 
WHAT do you do for boys at a Barbie birthday? Make a “Ken’s Cave,” of course. The boys were pretty entertained at their own table with Ken and his man toys. 
We sang Happy Birthday first…
Then everyone had some snacks…
The little girls helped themselves 
and had a big time sipping pink lemonade in their sparkly flutes. 
The first half of the party was the “Barbie Makeovers.” Since we had four girls, I made sure to plan four “stations” during this part.
AB is also crazy about “big girls” – she has lots of older cousins who she thinks are the greatest things ever. This summer, while we were at the river, she got to really know and love a few of them and she talks about them ALL.THE.TIME.
When I was thinking about who could be our “Glam Team” and run each “station” there was no question who I had to ask. Thankfully all the girls agreed to spend a Sunday afternoon at their four year old cousin’s birthday party. 
AB & her Glam Team – I bought a pack of black aprons (half off at HobLob, of course!) and did the freezer paper painting technique for the Barbie silhouette. The girls were such good sports and wore them proud! :)
They made AB’s day and did such a good job playing along with the whole makeover thing. AB’s Aunt “Nen” was the chief Glam Team member and is always fun with kids. 
She’s a teacher by trade, but also by heart. Those are the best kind, of course.
We got the Barbie Makeovers going and it was so fun to watch the girls at all the stations. 
Our four stations were:
The Barbie Salon- where the girls had their hair primped and pretend curled. Each one also got a bow headband. 
Since this station didn’t take very long, they also had their interview for the fashion show while they were at the “salon.” 
I had typed up a little script with three questions for the girls to answer that would be read during their walk down the “runway.” They answered what their favorite party food was and what their favorite thing about Barbie was. It was cute hearing all of their answers read during the fashion show!
Barbie’s Closet – was the boutique. 
I made the girls all a Barbie silhouette shirt. I saw them on Etsy and decided I could just make them myself. Finding shirts was the hardest part…I had looked everywhere and had Grammy & Nie-Nie searching high and low, too. I wanted black or white shirts, but the best we could find were these pink ones. They did have a cute ruffle trim around the wrist and waist, though. I just cut a Barbie silhouette out of black fabric and ironed it on. I also added a bow and tiny jewels for a necklace. 
Mom tied the tu-tus for me so that all the little girls had one. Accessories were rings, bracelets and Nie-Nie found the cutest necklaces and sunglasses that were BARBIE! 
They were perfect!
Once the girls were all dressed in their Barbie attire, we took their picture in the Barbie box. 
I got this idea off line, and had my Dad make a sturdy frame for a box that my FIL had under his barn. 
I was worried that the box was a slightly the wrong shape, but it ended up being the perfect size for our girls! 
Of course Pop had to cut it to scale and make sure that the cut outs hit at the right spot and all of that official business. 
Barbie’s Nail Studio – 
Nen ran the “studio” and painted all the girls’ nails pink. 
They were the cutest things walking around with their hands spread out waiting on their nails to dry! AB held her hands like that even while she opened her presents! Ha…
I found sparkles and tiny beads for their nails at the Dollar Tree, so they all got to pick a nail to be-dazzle, too! Nie-Nie found an old nail dryer of Kelsey’s that made the nail studio even more “official”- :)
The last station was Barbie’s Beauty Bar –
I raided all of Kelsey’s old Barbie stuff from the playroom at my in-law’s before the party and about fell out when I found all the teeny tiny Barbie make-up! It was adorable on the table at the “Beauty Bar”-
Of course pink eye shadow and pink face shimmer was a hit. 
Add lip gloss and these little girls were set! 
After the Barbie makeover rotations, we were ready for the fashion show!
I had typed up the script for Kaylee to read and the girls had all answered their questions, so she had those to fill in the blanks. DW had downloaded some songs from a few of the Barbie movies and we played that on the speakers during the show. We went “all out” and set up Pappy’s portable sound system. (I really wanted it for the microphone, because everyone knows that microphones are HUGE to little kids…) It was definitely a hit, and so was letting all of them say something into it after they did their walk down the runway. 
It was adorable because they all had something they wanted to say! So cute.
After all the girls had done their individual walks,
Sweet Maddie on the run-way
we had them all come back out together for one final spin. 
They were seriously the cutest things ever! The fashion show was by far my favorite part of the whole party. 
Kaylee did such a great job announcing the girls and it all sounded so “official” – it really made the party. AB LOVED it!
I don’t know how, but there was even more fun to be had… PRESENT time!
AB wore her Barbie shades to open most of her gifts! Hilarious. 
She finally did take them off. I loved having her sit in front of the tree… Here’s the story on the tree… I knew I wanted to have it set up on the sunroom for Mamie’s party, which was a week later, but I had just planned to rush and set it up after AB’s birthday, until my SIL, Lauren said that she had all of her Hallmark Barbie ornaments if we needed them for something for the party! PERFECT! I bought some pink mesh (half off at Hobby-Lobby, of course!) and we had a Barbie tree! Perfect for a December Barbie birthday! We even used Nen’s Holiday Barbies to put around the tree instead of a tree skirt. I could kick myself for not taking a good picture of it. I don’t know how we missed that…But it was the perfect spot for AB to sit to open her gifts and the kids all sat around her to watch. 
I did take a picture of the birthday with Grammy & Pop in front of the tree though – so you can kind of see the top…
AB was so excited about all of her new stuff. She got to the last present under the tree and you should have seen her face when it was a bag full of sticks, rocks and a container full of MUD. Her Pappy had been telling her that’s what he was getting her for her birthday! She laughed and laughed and every day since has told me she’s getting HIM that for Christmas! They are always picking on each other but she knows he’s crazy about her, too. It’s pretty obvious we all are! She thought she’d opened all of her gifts, but her Daddy went out to get one more… her Barbie bike from us! She has loved it and has ridden it everyday since the party! She has already told DW that she thinks she’s ready to take her training wheels off. Her plan is to get a trailer and “haul Mamie around” when she gets those off! Ha. 
Nie-Nie & Pappy with the birthday girl on her new bike!
AB has the sweetest little cousins and friends that came to help her celebrate. They were the perfect Barbie & Kens! 
We sent all the girls home with Barbie party favors,
which included their own Barbie doll and some Barbie chap-stick. 
The boys got “Ken’s Cool Car” – I thought of this one all on my own! I called them “Annabelle’s 4th birthday special edition” since we found Hot Wheels cars with the number 4 on them! It took a lot of digging to find matching ones! 
It was such a fun day for our girl, and all of us, too! I think it has been my favorite birthday of hers so far! 
I just can’t believe she is FOUR!
~amw~
