ok well it’s actually been 6 months since izzy’s barbie themed birthday party, but better late than never!!! this has to be one of the cutest parties i’ve ever thrown, i got so obsessed with making every detail pink that i actually started seeing pink when i closed my eyes haha.

the best part is, izzy LOVED her party. she was not only obsessed with the details, but actually enjoyed the party and all the attention she got all day, she loved hanging out with her real life barbie and it was such a magical day! arlo’s 2nd birthday party was not such a success (he was pretty overwhelmed and i realized a 2 year old may not need such a big party until i had another kid and all lessons went out the window!)

izzy spent a year exclusively watching the barbie movie (yes the adult movie) and listening to the soundtrack. she was OBSESSED. everything had to be barbie and even the color pink was called “barbie”. so obviously i had to do it for her birthday theme. my brother made her the cutest birthday video and included a little montage of her love of BAHHHHBIE.

as if you had any doubts, i did obviously make the dress code pink as well!

read on for tons of photos and all the details of how i put on this (dare i say) epic barbie party!

the decorations

the most fun (and overwhelming) part of throwing a barbie party is that more really is more, so you really can’t overdo it.

first things first, if you’re throwing a barbie party — you’ll want to download the barbie font (it’s free!) i made lots of signs with dollar store foam core, iridescent paper i’ve been using for years for the lights, and vinyl lettering with my cricut. they looked pretty homemade but i loved how they turned out.

just like in the barbie movie, i wanted it to feel like you were leaving the real world and entering barbieland! i had balloon arches professionally done and they added soooo much life and magic to the backyard. we did a combo of light, medium and hot pinks along with some fun balloons i got to enhance the vibes — the disco balls and bows were so perfect!

i picked up every pink flower i could find from the grocery store and made simple little arrangements to sprinkle around every table and used izzy’s actual barbies as decorations along with pink disco balls.

we haaaad to make a nod to kendom — so we made some saloon doors from cardboard and then i made a fun pink condemned property sign hahah, it was hard to create it exactly from the movie because i had a lot of trouble finding a high res version of what the saloon doors looked like, but i was able to scale up one i found, printed it out on regular paper and glued right onto the cardboard. this was one of my favorite details for sure!

the barbie box

obviously we needed a barbie box and i debated making it adult size so anyone could fit inside, but ultimately realized it would be so much cuter and more special if it was izzy sized! she LOVED it and so did every other kid who came to the party!

here’s a little video of some of the process of making the box, but we built it out of large foam core and then wrapped it in dollar store pink gift wrap, it was super tedious and hard to make it perfect but it turned out pretty great.

we found a pink foam core that was perfect for izzy’s name, so i printed out IZZY really large with my cricut and then stuck it onto the foam core and cut around it. we glue that right onto the box and then finished it off with some cute foil curtain in the back to give it a little glitz since we were obviously not putting plastic on the front.

i loved putting it on it’s on wall with a balloon arch for a little MOMENT it deserved!

the pink food

i had the party catered because i’ve sworn off trying to setup an elaborate party the day of while also making food (once we have a big house and i can setup the party INSIDE in advance, things might feel more chill!)

we went with really simple food i knew the kids would enjoy : gorgeous red fruit, pigs in blankets, chicken tenders and cucumber & carrot crudite cups. but the best part is the pink hummus and the pink ranch!! SO CUTE AND FUN!

i also filled dollar store pink bowls with pink snacks and scattered them around the party.

and the little izzy garland above– i cut out some of my favorite faces of hers and made little party hats using barbie box packaging!

the pink drinks

at this point in the party planning, my brain was exploding. i went and picked up all the pink beverages i could find at the grocery store, because everything had to be pink or … i would die? who knows! i got a pink tablecloth from the dollar store and even lined the drink bucket haha.

i made cute barbie movie style labels our drink dispensers — pink drink (lemonade) and woman water (the best i could do lol)

i couldn’t find cute simple barbie cups i liked, so i made these ones with my cricut again! and how cute is the little coupe tower?!

the kids table

now my go-to for any kids party is this little long table made from three mini camping tables put together (i use two regular size tablecloths and tuck in underneath). here i set a little tablescape for them and scattered some sunglasses around to barbie it up.

the glam bar

i thought a little station for temporary tattoos would be so fun and arlo insisted on doing face paint at the party (that didn’t really happen and the face paint palette just got trashed by the little kids within seconds, but the idea was cute!) we got the cutest little heart sponges, fun barbie tattoos and i got a big pack of cute little pink bows that everyone put in their hair.

the real life barbie

when i was little, my mom threw me a barbie birthday too! but it was a barbie-QUE. is that not the cutest? i wanted to do it myself but she’s not super into BBQ so i skipped it, but who knows maybe i’ll do it when she’s older! my mom had a real life barbie come (a coworker of hers) and it was so magical so i knew i needed one.

i happen to know the most lovely woman with the most warm barbie-esque personality and luckily she said yes! i got her the costume and her energy seriously made the day. all the little kids were attached to her. thank you betsy!!!

and of course, poppy (my dad) requested to dress up like ken so how could i say no?

the moon bounce

we are lucky enough to own this adorable bounce house, and i thought it would be so cute to fill it with the balls we already had but added in some pink beach balls too!

our homemade weird barbie stayed here all day.

the giant blowout party with all the barbies, and planned choreography, and a bespoke song

we didn’t do much for entertainment beyond what i already listed (it’s nice when they’re little and you don’t need to worry about filling all the time with activities and games) but i did make a good long 4 hour playlist because izzy loves to dance so we did a lot of that!

here is the link for my party playlist if you want to throw your own! (its a 4 hour long playlist!)

we also had our bubble machine going too, which is really all you need for a 2 year old to stay entertained!

the dessert table

of course the key to any great party is an amazing dessert table!!

I MEAN HOW EPIC IS THAT CAKE?! we really went with the more is more theme and i added in not one, not two, but three cake toppers i made (i just printed the words on my regular printed, then glued them to more of that iridescent paper and stuck onto a cake pop stick)

i also had the cutest cookies and cake pops made by some local moms so the prices were incredibly reasonable and i couldn’t resist! (found some similar ones on etsy here and here)

the barbie box favors

again, i knew the party favors had to be in little barbie boxes as well! i made each kid’s name with vinyl and my cricut and they came out SO CUTE. i hope the kids kept their boxes! i always aim to fill the goodie bags with things that will actually get used versus a bunch of little plastic crap that will get tossed right away, i would honestly rather have 2-3 items only!

i filled each favor box with either a strawberry pouch or strawberry pocky (depending on their age), a pair of sunglasses, poppy & pout birthday lip balm, and threw in a couple of barbie stickers!