Vintage Barbie Inspired Birthday Party

Vintage Barbie Inspired Birthday Party

When this party showed up in our submissions box, I was head over heels in LOVE. I was quite a Barbie lover as a child and this party takes me back to the pink + pearls days. One of my dear “party” friends, Gwynn of Gwynn Wasson Designs is just brilliantly creative. Everything she touches is instantly transformed into magazine level fabulousness! Check out her new Facebook Fan Page!

Gwynn shared, “I tried to think about what makes Barbie so special to little girls and I realized that it is that wonderful element of make believe. You can pretend that you really are Barbie and be transported to a world full of fun adventures and fabulous fashion! I wanted the dessert table to help capture the children’s imagination just a Barbie does so I tried to design it as though it was actually a place in Barbie’s house.” <— And she did a GREAT job at that!

THE BACKDROP

Creating a neat backdrop can take a children’s party from cute to FABULOUS. It helps “transform” the room into that make believe wonderland. Gwynn shared how she designed this backdrop. “For the background I found the perfect black and white striped fabric which called back to Barbie’s original bathing suit. I chose a dressing table to display the sweets and used it as inspiration for many of the other elements.” <– we love how she used a dressing table instead of a regular dining table! Creative!

THE BARBIE SILHOUETTE

Gwynn shared, “I created a silhouette, inspired by the classic vintage Barbie silhouette, and used it as one of the icons for the party as I designed the paper goods. It was used on everything from the invitation to the framed picture above the dessert table, all the way to the thank you tags. (All the party printables are available in my Etsy shop.)”

THE SWEETS

She tells us all about the sweets! “Trying to find even more ways to pull the silhouette into the decor, I contacted Angela at Queen of Tarts Cakes and asked her if she could make cookies which looked like little portraits. On the day of the party I displayed them on picture easels as if they were real pictures.”

“I found the most beautiful corset cookies in an Etsy shop called Lori’s Place. And, inspired, I contacted Lori to see if she could use the same detailed icing work but create little dresses for me instead of corsets! Knowing, that if she pulled it off, each dress would look like a beautiful little doll dress and I didn’t just want to just line them up on tray. So when they showed up and were just as lovely as I had imagined, I chose to stand them up like a wardrobe of gorgeous Barbie dresses and displayed them in and around a jewelry box.”

“Renee at Bees Knees Creative made the most beautiful monogram cake pops which looked just gorgeous popping out of a makeup bag. Just like a yummy, sparkly lipgloss! And I was lucky enough to find the perfect marshmallow roller pops to create a “floral” centerpiece for the dressing table. Then I rounded out the table with miniature candy jars arranged as if they held beautiful perfumes or bath salts.”

THE FAVORS

“For the favor table, we found the perfect accessories in the Target dollars bins… pearl necklaces, bracelets, flower headbands, gloves and even little purses to hold all the goodies! Everything was displayed on beautiful fashion themed hat boxes which I was lucky enough to find at Michaels.”

WOW Gwynn, we have to say you took definitely whisked us back to our Barbie childhood with this darling party!

Vendors & Credits