This past weekend we celebrated my little girl’s 6th birthday! I still can not believe that 6 years have gone by so quickly, but we have enjoyed every second! About a month before her party, she was still uncertain what type of party she wanted. Her two favorites things are art and swimming, so I suggested having a party based on one of those. She replied, ” Well, I KNOW that I would love a Barbie cake this year…the kind with the doll inside!!”. I showed her some traditional Barbie Party ideas, but she decided she wanted a Beach Barbie Luau instead. She informed me that a Beach Barbie Luau meant she could have a Barbie Cake AND a swim party!
We began with her invitation, full of my hand drawn elements (Available in the Graphics Shop – HERE). She didn’t want Barbie on the invite or party decor, just the cake and favors, so we went with traditional luau ideas in her girly, Barbie-style color scheme!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of the food table, where we had a Pink Lemonade Punch, Fruit Skewers, vegetables, water, and chips for snacks…but I made up for it with the other photos!
We set up two kids tables, which we didn’t add the base legs too, so they were the perfect height for sitting on the ground. There were grass beach mats around the tables for kids to sit on, and the tables were covered with pink fabric. At each seat was a small beach pail with some goodies including a sea shell bracelet craft for the girls to do.
I used paper fans, leis, and adorable cut outs from my Cricut Mini to decorate the table and fill it with color!
We popped up our 10×10 white tent on the lanai to provide shade and strung a lei garland around it! The garland was so simple to make, simply stringing the leis through each other in alternating colors! We also hung the “palm tree” pinata from the tent and the girls had a blast hitting it…after 3 rounds, we had to help a little and it finally bust open!
There were two places my little one wanted Barbies in her Beach Barbie Luau, the cake and the favors. I found a good deal on the Beach Barbies and the girls were all so excited that they were able to take one home!
One of the biggest changes in this party was that I shrunk the dessert table. With only 10 girls (and a mom or dad), I decided to keep it to a cake, cupcakes, and cookies. I used a 4 ft table to keep the porportions correct, and went for big impact with the elements. After ordering my weight in lei’s ($3 for a 12 pack from Oriental Trading) I used them to create Lei Chandeliers to adorn the table sides. This was probably one of the simplest party crafts I have done so far! I posted the DIY HERE on Craftaholics Anonymous. I then used more lei’s and Cricut cut outs to decorate the backdrop of the table. The backdrop and the table cloth were light blue, and I made certain to keep Barbie front and center!
The Barbie Cake was so amazing! I honestly became teary eyed when I picked it up because I knew my daughter would completely freak out…and she did! When I carried the cake outside all of the girls climbed out of the pool and followed me to the table to check it out! This was the first time I used the bakery at our local grocery store (Publix) for a cake and I was so happy with the results! They also did a dozen cupcakes to match, which I added our custom toppers to.
I went to one of my favorite cookie girls, Christine from Better Bit of Butter for the beautiful square cookies. These cookies are always a big hit at our parties, they are beautiful and taste wonderful!
I had crafts planned when the girls stopped swimming to eat, but they decided it was more fun to spend the whole party in the pool….after all, it was a pool party!! Only two things got them to come out of the pool, a Barbie Cake and a Piñata!
All in all, the party was a sucess and my princess ended the day telling me “Thank you for my beautiful party. It was so great to spend my birthday with my family and my BFF’s”! I ended my day with a cupcake and looking through old photos…my how time flies!
Kori I LOVE every bit of this sweet party! The lei’s are amazing and such a pretty color pallet. I love how your daughter came up with the theme…my kinda girl! 😉
Thank you Carla!
Everything turned out beautiful, Kori! Kate would have loved this party! Too bad we live so far! xoxo
Thank you Kim!! I know our girls love so many of the same things!
Great, girly summertime party Kori! Cute and different as usual! Great job! 🙂
Thanks Lauren! We paired down on the number of sweets, but made up for it with the abundance of lei’s! LOL xo
Beautiful as always Kori!
Thank you Latisha!!
Beautiful as always, Kori!!!! Love the colors and cookies the most!
Thank you Andrea!!
Amazing party Kori! You’re work is so beautiful and unique. Love it!
Thank you Elizabeth!!
Loved it Kori! So sweet, I want a Barbie Luau Party for myself. 🙂
Thank you Terra! Me too! Maybe for our birthday’s next year we will have ourselves a joint luau!
ADORABLE!!!! Such a sweet party! I use Publix for all of my cakes/cupcakes and occasionally add a unique fondant piece I order from fave Etsy ladies … people are always amazed! Love the colors and the bright C initial at the table. Always love the RSVP touch too!!
Thank you Nancy!! Everyone here was in shock that it was all Publix too! They did a beautiful job, the pics don’t do it justice!
It looks so fun and beachy. Lovely as usual!
Thanks Michele!
Kori, this is so pretty!! I am in LOVE with those chandeliers! It makes me nostalgic because I had one of those Barbie cakes for my 5th birthday!
Thank you Brittany!! I think that’s why I loved the Barbie cake so much…it seems like a “right of passage”! LOL
this is gorgeous!!! I must have missed this post while on vacation but so glad I am seeing it now! Love the scaled down dessert table – I need to start doing that! lol Great job as usual! 😉
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