The Doll Party

Emily celebrated her birthday with some neighbor friends the 

Saturday before her actual birthday. Of all the various celebrations 

at each birthday, the neighbor party is probably the one to which 

she looks forward the most -  there is a theme, fancy invitations to 

hand-deliver, fun food, activities, games, presents, and, best of all, 

participants who are just her size. Last year she wanted a princess 

party, and she had in mind Disney princesses. I am not a big fan 

of these character-type toys, especially those that are plasticky, 

so we did a bit of a medieval princess party with goblets, beaded 

necklaces and (for the one brave boy who came) knights. Emily got 

to wear her favorite and very pretty Cinderella dress and have 

Disney serviettes, so it was a nice compromise.  

Making her little Princess cake reminded me of one of my own 

childhood birthdays at which Auntie Laura made a similar doll 

cake - a plastic Barbie-like doll stuck in the middle of a 

dome-shaped cake with icing for her clothes. 

This year, Emily decided she wanted a Barbie party. 

Barbie! Help.

Managed to convince her that, as Barbie was a doll, what she really 

wanted was a doll party. Like soft rag dolls and old-fashioned wooden

 dolls and dolls with a normal and healthy body image:

Sadly, when I went shopping for doll-themed tableware and favors, 

I found none. So decided we had to custom-design the party. 

So with Emily helping, we did just that:

Doll blowouts

Doll goodie-bags 

(the one Emily drew was too precious to give away!)

Doll cake

which was made from a Betty Crocker box mix, baked in a 9" x 13" pan, 

cut to shape and then iced with the little star piping nozzle - easy! 

Because I am so dreadfully awkward at ice-breaker games, we always 

do crafty things instead. So when the kids arrived, they made little 

wooden peg dolls with fabric scraps, ribbon and markers out on the 

deck. It was something the kids could do at their own pace, which is 

helpful since Emily's guests have ages ranging from 12 years 

to 22 months

Then we headed indoors for a pizza lunch (not doll-shaped)

and doll sugar cookies.

After lunch, we played Dress The Dolly, a variation of 

pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey

with hilarious results.

The big brown gingerbread dolly went home with the winner 

and everyone else got a mini version.

Then it was back outdoors to beat the life (and candy) out of the pinata

and collect the spoils

We sang birthday wishes to Emily and ate cake and ice cream.

And finally, it was time for Emily to open her presents, 

none of which was a doll, ironically

and enjoy a quiet moment after the guests had left, 

to enjoy her new toys.