Molly's Mermaid Party

This isn't the first mermaid party Miss Molly has ever had.  Back when she was turning three, she was in love with Dora the Explorer, particularly with Dora's movie "Dora Saves the Mermaids". 

But at age seven, another mermaid movie has captured her fancy.

She LOVES the Barbie movies, and frankly, so do I.  As much as I dislike the body image represented by the unattainable proportions of The Barbie Doll (I didn't allow Molly to own one until just last year) I have to say that the movies portray smart characters and fun plots, with music that keeps you singing long after the credits roll.

I'll even admit to shedding a few tears, so poignant are some of the storylines (maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a musical, I dunno).  In contrast to Disney's princesses, who all lose their mothers to unfortunate fates and whose happiness depends on their prince coming...Barbie is a pretty strong role model for all girls. 

Particularly girls who are or strive to be...

- shipwrecked on deserted islands

- living in magic castles

- searching for magic castles

- friends with unicorns and pegasus' (pegasii?)

- part mermaid

In "Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2", we are reunited with Barbie, a world champion surfing phenom, who recently learned that while her father is human, her mother is actually the Queen of the Mermaids.  Barbie used her newfound mermaid powers to free her mother from the evil Eris, who has imprisoned her and taken over her kingdom.

In this newest movie, Barbie surfs some MORE, and saves her mother some MORE, and sings some MORE, and once MORE turns all her enemies into friends.

And Molly is head over heels for ALL of that, and MORE, please.

The tricky part of making a party out of a movie that has no merchandise with the major party goods vendors, is coming up with themed things all on your own.

Added to that, this is the first birthday that our NEW FAMILY BIRTHDAY RULES are in effect. 

NEW FAMILY BIRTHDAY RULES:

Odd birthdays will be celebrated with small parties or outings costing less than $50 total.

Even birthdays will be more expensive parties celebrated at an all-inclusive, outside vendor

(i.e. Lasertag, Water Park, Pet Shop)

Last year it was really important to me, with the kids being new in town, that they be able to invite all of their classmates to their parties.  Since we don't have a big backyard to host these in at our new house, we went to outside vendors who could take care of all the details.

But doing two of them within a month's time (Molly and Jack have birthdays 33 days apart) was a big strain on the wallet, and on Mommy's mental health.)

The *new* rules ensure that everyone will get big bashes every other year (which is great for 'big' birthdays like TEN and SIXTEEN, dare I even think that far ahead), and most importantly, it ensures that Molly and Jack's big bashes will never fall on the same year (this ensures Mom's sanity).

But Molly was NOT pleased that she was the first one to get the short end of the stick.  And in a departure from her usual, easygoing ways, she refused to budge on having her party "her" way.  Her demands were as follows...

- Invite ALL her friends

- Watch Barbie's new movie

- Have a special mermaid cake

- Serve Lunch

The goal was to manage this on a $50 budget.  Thank goodness Little Ceasar's only charges $5 a pizza!

Okay, so back to the planning.  To start with, I created the invitation myself, taking questionable license with the art from the DVD cover, and using paper and envelopes I already had on hand, complete with labels printed in  a "Barbie" font.

I printed them out on my home printer and that was that!

I even delivered them on bicycle to save on postage - now that's thrifty!

We kept the food simple:

Little Ceasar's Pizza

Juice boxes (that I already had)

Smart Pop Popcorn (that I already had)

And THE CAKE.

Nannie sent Molly a Barbie doll for her birthday, but not just ANY Barbie doll, it was a mermaid doll from THE MOVIE.  Molly made it clear that this doll was going to be the centerpiece of the cake.  But there was no WAY I was going to be able to repeat the cake from her third birthday party, so we had to use some smoke and mirrors to bling this one up.

MOLLY'S 3rd BIRTHDAY CAKE

A domed 'bowl' cake on top of a 24" round two layer cake.

With elaborate, extravegant, "I had no idea what I was getting into when I

started this" frosting.  This bad boy took nine boxes of cake mix, plus gobs and gobs and GOBS

of buttercream.  It fed 60 people.  It was breathtaking.  And so was the MESS, lol!

Luckily I posted it for posterity on

Coolest Birthday Cakes.com

This time around, we went with a regular old cake made in my 10" springform pan with one box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake mix (because that's what I had on hand).  I cut it into two layers  and whipped up a double batch of buttercream in my trusty Kitchen Aid.  I went a little rogue with the food coloring just letting the creativity (desperation?) flow.

When the mermaid wouldn't sit up straight, I grabbed a plastic cup and turned it into a 'rock'.  And when I ran out of frosting, I busted out some brown sugar 'sand', which turned out to be the 'must have' part of the cake - every girl wanted some! 

The infamous third birthday cake took about seven hours over two days to bake and decorate.  This one took less than one hour start to finish.  Thankfully I have learned a few tricks in the last four years, and I will GLADLY enjoy that kind of economizing!

MOLLY'S 7th BIRTHDAY CAKE 

Party decorations were courtesy of the Target Dollar Spot.  I scored a host of surf-themed items; cups, straws, plates, napkins and favors, for just a dollar apiece!

When our guests started to arrive, we greeted them with an ALOHA and a flower lei.

(2/$1 at where else? Target!)

front row: Alexa, Amelie, Ben, Sophia, and Kayden
back row: Madeleine, Avery, Molly and Kate
not pictured: Meera and Eesha

First, we ate...

Then we made personalized surfboards out of posterboard cut into surfboard shapes, using letters cut out on my Cricut (from old carstock I had on hand), a pack of flower shaped paper ($3 at Michaels), and colored duct tape ($3.99 at Target).

Don't ask me why poor Madeleine's name had an F instead of an E.  Cricut hiccup?  I fixed it with marker before she left :)

Then we embellished flip flops with ribbon

I got the flip flops from Michael's for $1 each, and was more than happy to dive into my ribbon scraps for this project!
 Many thanks to Auntie Frani and Auntie Ulia for helping get this project ready!

And finally, the moment all the girls had been waiting for - the MOVIE!!

I wanted to get those cool 'movie theater popcorn' cups, but those cost money, and these white lunch sacks were FREE, so they won!  We cut them down a smidge and they worked great at keeping the popcorn contained.

Molly asked for a blanket, and then everybody wanted one.  They all felt like queen for a day I think!

Christine, do you see your handiwork?

They went through FIVE bags of microwave popcorn,

barely let a crumb hit the floor,

and did not move a MUSCLE until the end of the movie.

I'm telling you, that Barbie is riveting!

After the movie we opened gifts and sang happy birthday to our favorite girl :)

She was SOOOO HAPPY!!!

 It was the best $50 we ever spent!

Happy birthday to our

sweet

shy

sensitive

smiley

silly

SEVEN

year old girl!!