American Girl Doll Birthday Party

[ Originally posted here. ]

We celebrated Zoey's birthday party with friends from school a little early this year...about a week early just due to something special we have planned for her later this month.  I started preparing for it last month here and there when I had some free moments and it turned out fabulously!!  It was so much fun seeing the girls and their dolls and their BIG smiles on their faces.  I've never braved having more than 5 girls and  it seems to be a good number so I'm not going to mess with that yet.  :)  Zoey has a couple of other special friends that don't go to her school so we're planning on some special gatherings with them on a separate occasion, which totally works for her of course!



When I started looking online for American Girl doll themed items for birthday parties, if I'm going to be completely honest, I was disappointed.  Pink, teal and green just didn't say American Girl to me so I started collecting pink and red paper and any star items that I could find.  It ended up being pretty easy!



I used a star image in my Silhouette Cameo gallery that was close to the American Girl doll logo (if you look closely you can see the star isn't exactly but it was close enough!) and went to town...I used it for my invitations, the gift bags, for decorating mini-journals and for creating decorations for the party.



I used the Silhouette again for the "Let's Party" cut out on the inside of the invite.





I had the red bags from when I was designing from Creative Imaginations, they are from the Creative Cafe line.



I made some American Girl Survival Kits which included life savors, gummy food items and band aides.





I covered the little journals with red star patterned paper found at my local scrapbook store and another cut image from my Silhouette gallery.  The little albums were found at my $ store for 3/$1.



I got a pack of pencils at the $ store too.

My mom picked up bandannas that were pink and had cupcakes on them and made bandannas for the dolls and then we gave one to each girl as well.





I found pink magnifying glasses at the $ store as well...we had a scavenger hunt so they came in handy.



Pink shot glasses work well for doll juice tumblers...



Pink frames found at the $ store too...



As well as the glow in the dark star wands which I added some ribbon to.



These were a last minute pick-up item, I found them in the wedding aisle in Wal-Mart and they had a star on the top and were pink so I had to get them.  :)



I found a free printable for American Girl bingo here and I printed 6 sheets and then matted them to make them sturdier with pink cardstock.



For our scavenger hunt I printed a list and then attached it to a bag for each girl to put their items in once they were found.  Each girl got to pick out a wrapped prize after finding their items.



One of our crafts was to decorate doll t-shirts which I found here...



Here is the loot all pictured together...everything is pictured except my binoculars that I made using toilet paper rolls which you can see in the photo below.



See my binoculars?  They are in front of the goodie gift bags...



I don't know why, but I love this photo of Zoey...it's just so unassuming and sweet.  Love her little tuft of hair that's gone free from her braids.



Here is her birthday banner.  For the red and pink banner I unrolled some packing tape and just stuck strips of crepe paper to it and I had a colorful banner.  Super easy and added a lot to the party.







Here are the girls after first arriving...



Decorating their doll t-shirts...





For lunch we had star shaped sandwiches or hot dogs fruit salad, star shaped jello jigglers, chips, celery and PB and pink lemon aide or fruit punch with star ice cubes in it.





After lunch they had some down time in the tent with their dolls looking at AG Magazines.





Next was our scavenger hunt...



The dolls had a chance to chat during this time...















After the scavenger hunt we had smore's...doll sized and regular sized of course!









The dolls just opted for a cracker...



Then it was time for gifts...










The one American Girl brand item that I did purchase and that the girls enjoyed making were the AG Cootie Catchers (also known as fortune tellers).





More playtime in the tent was in order next and some listening to some teeny bopper music.  Fun, fun, fun and LOUD!!





Before parents came to pick-up we settled down a bit and played some American Girl bingo using starburst candies as our play pieces.



What an awesome day!  Thank you mom for coming to help me with everything...



I am so happy that Zoey has such special little friends as this that she can share her birthday with.  I am beyond blessed to be her mother, it is truly a gift that I cherish daily.

And who says little girls are always proper, dainty and dignified...sometimes they just want to have FUN!