Games and Activities
Greet the guests as they arrive by welcoming them to “The Barbie® Dream House®” and hand each guest a Dreamtime Barbie™ Tiara or another pink accessory from the Dream Dazzlers collection. (Boys may prefer a king’s crown.)
Also, give each guest a Barbie party name and call them by this name throughout the party. If boys are attending, you can call them Ken 1, Ken 2, etc.
Direct the guests to a party area that has pencils, crayons, and activity books (with mazes, letter-number searches and dot-to-dot) to keep them busy until everyone arrives.
Fill a jar with pink jellybeans and have the guests guess how many are in it. The guest with the closest guess may take the jellybean jar home.
Create a Fashion Design Mural. Trace the outlines of the dolls onto white butcher paper. Try to make a couple of doll tracings for each expected guest. Write the initials of each guest next to the doll tracings. Tell the guests to find their initials, and design the outfits for their princesses using the markers, crayons and glitter. This mural makes a great keepsake. You can also cut the mural with a scissors and mail each guest’s design creations with thank you cards.
Barbie® Fashion Show. Have guests dress up their Barbie dolls. Each guest describes her Barbie doll’s clothes while she walks her Barbie™ doll down the runway, stops and turns around, and then walks back up the runway while fashion show music plays. If the guests are particularly creative, suggest they put on a Broadway Show with their Barbie dolls. Let them rehearse for a while, and then watch the show.
Play Queen and King of the Castle. Arrange the group: birthday child standing on one side of the room, facing the wall; guests line up on the other side of the room. Guests are to sneak up and touch the birthday child on the shoulder. Caution everyone: the birthday child is to turn around on hearing a sound or movement. That person must go back to the starting line and start over. The guest who succeeds in tapping the birthday child on the shoulder is the new queen (or king) of the castle. Begin the game again.
Call from “Barbie.” Hide party treat bags in various locations near the party area. Make a list of the party favor locations, and give the list to a female helper. Tell the female helper to disappear at some point during the party, turn on the music, and use a cell phone to call the birthday child’s house.
The female helper calls the child’s house (background princess music playing). You answer and announce to everyone that “Barbie” has called and wants to speak to the birthday child. “Barbie” extends her best wishes to the child, and gives the location of a hidden present. Then, give every guest a quick chance to talk to “Barbie” on the phone. When referring to the list and checking off the locations, “Barbie” tells each guest where the hidden presents are located.
Play Pass the Princess Wand. Tell the children to sit in a circle and explain that when the music starts they must pass the wand as quickly as possible. When the music stops, the child holding the wand must leave the game. Let that child keep the wand. Hand the group another wand, and turn the music back on to continue. The game ends when everyone is out, and everyone has a wand.
Lily Pad Moat Crossing. Cut out four large lily pads (approx. 12" x 15") from green cardboard or foam board. Divide guests into two equal lines; give two lily pads to the head of each line. Explain that the lily pads are the only things they can step on as they travel from the front of the line, around a chair, and back to the line again. Begin the game by having the children place one lily pad on the ground and step on it; then place the other lily pad on the ground in front and step on it. They then pick up the first lily pad and place it on the ground in front of the other. When they cross the moat, they hand the two lily pads to the next player in line. The team to make it all the way across the moat first is the winner.
Jellybean Toss. Wrap a small quantity of jellybeans in plastic wrap. Wrap tissue paper around the plastic wrap, and tie closed with a ribbon. Repeat this until there are four jellybean bags per child. Line up the guests, and hand each person four jellybean bags. Explain that they should toss the jellybean bags from various distances into the bowl.
What’s Barbie® Missing? Create a tray with 10-15 items of Barbie dolls favorite things: lipstick, perfume, hair clips, hairbrush, compact mirror, etc. Let the kids have 2 minutes to look at all of the items on the tray. Then remove a few of the items. See if they can determine what Barbie is missing!
