Any Ideas on How to Do a Co-ed Barbie Party?

T.-

As long as I tried to put it off my daughter (now 9) insisted on a Barbie party and we had one when she was 4. What to do with the boys??I thought about the GI Joe route, but that seemed to segregate the groups too much-- I like to have all the games themed related, too.

We decided to go a combo theme route. Barbie Goes to the Beach. All the girls had Barbie on their invites-- shovels and pails, and the boys did not. The games/decor were related more to the beach theme but incorporated Barbie, including pin-the-sunglasses-on the Barbie.(I can send you the details of teh party if you want. No need to reinvent the wheel)

There were a lot of other options we thought of: Barbie goes camping, Barbie on Safari, etc. Barbie can be a very adventurous gal-- once she leaves her dream house :).

2 moms found this helpful

you could do a castle theme and make barbie the princess and then do knights & horses for the boys

or you could do barbie & her convertible and do cars theme from Disney for the boys.

you could do barbie & ken as any guy figure and make up a theme...i.e.you could do barbie & ken as GI Joe and do camo for boys.

You can mix & match giftbags for girls and make up different giftbags for boys.

Have Fun!

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Hi T.,

You might think about making the favors, hats, and gift bags that would be for the boys, boy related, and depending on how many or if you do games, maybe a game or two related also to a boy theme, or "unisex"(Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Twister, toss rings, etc.). Of course, it won't matter to the boys if the pinata(if you have one) is Barbie or not, as long as they get treats from it too<wink>. :o)

In the past when I had boys over to my daughters' parties, I did Hotwheels, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and something else once or twice for the boys(I think had dinosaurs for the boys one year), and everything else(esp. the cake--kids(besides the bday child) rarely care what the cake is, they just want to eat it) was girl related.

One year, the boys sat on one side of the table with their "boy" stuff, and the girls on the other with their girl stuff, but the other times, they just sat wherever, so they could all interact together.

Anyhoo, I hope I've helped! Good luck, have fun, and I'm sure however you do it, everyone will have a great time!

Happy birthday to your little one! :o)

K. W

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Having 3 boys, i think they would care. The boy version of Barbie is GI Joe. My youngest boy is 4 and loves GI Joe, as did both his brothers! That's great of you to want it to be comfortable for all the kids. If you're doing some sort of dress up with it - you can get camouflage bandana's at Michael's or Walmart...little boys love being 'army guys'.

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T.,

I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet. My son is also 4 1/2 and is happy playing with his 14 month old sister's toys as well as his. When he was at daycare I'd come in to pick him up and he'd be playing with barbies, or dressed up in a princess costume. That was over a year ago. Now, when I drop him off at kids' area at the YMCA we go to, he occasionally will do the same thing.

I think that society puts too much gender specification on toys and who should play with what. Obviously, at this age, the kids don't care as long as they're having fun. We shouldn't care either. :)

Hope this helps,
M.

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If you do party favors, get the boys Hot Wheels-something boyish. Go forward with the girly plans, but make some concessions for the boys. They are still pretty young, so they won't care-as long as they don't go home with Barbie stuff.

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Kids are pretty resourceful. If your daughter wants a Barbie party and you're willing to do it for her, the boys are going to be fine. They might pretend that Barbies are GI Joes and make them fight with each other (I know I'm being painfully stereotypical here, so please forgive) but they'll have a great time. I'm all for letting girls be girly and boys be rowdy if that's what their really into (and at the age of 4, they are really into those gender roles) but, personally, I hate to really play up the differences. My daughter has a boy friend across the street who is her same age (5 1/2) and when they play it often involves the two of them as mother and father with their baby (a doll) that they have to protect from some evil bad guy that is trying to get them. So there is something for each of them and they came up with it entirely on their own. So I say, do the party without any special boy stuff, but hopefully some games that are gender neutral (pinata anyone?). Have fun!

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I just had a princess party for my girls. Boys were invited as well, so I had Speed Racer plates and napkins for the boys. I also had both princess and Speed Racer goodie bags with gender neutral items in them. The boys didn't seem to mind eating princess cake. Have fun!

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I kind of did this for my daughter's party. Our was the princess theme and we also had some boys attend. We wanted all the girls to dress up in their princess dresses, so we just told the boys to dress up in whatever they wanted. In the end, I don't think they really cared. I made sure to make the party bags boy or girl related. So, if you're doing games with prizes, just either pick some prizes that they both would enjoy.

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Since the party is in a month you could do a barbie pool party. include ken dollsa as well for the boys along with barbie boats for the pool the boys would love to drive the boats in the pool and both girls and boys would be happy.

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We once had a "Barbie/Beanie Baby/stuffed animal" party. I know it doesn't sound quite like what you may have seen in women's magazines, but it worked for us. I did set up the table all cute like I had seen in magazines, however. I made cupcakes with a little pair of Barbie (or Ken) shoes on each one, and a little cupcake with a Kelly doll in it for my daughter, (like the Barbie cakes that used to be popular years back, where the cake is her skirt.) I was so proud of myself. Then, right before all of the guests came, my daughter took out the Kelly doll and washed her off so she could play with her, (like I had told her she could do AFTER the party...) Then, I remembered that it was not about everyone else thinking about what an amazing woman I am for putting on such a party, but about making my daughter feel special and loved. And, as a fellow Jesus-lover, that was an excellent thing for me to remember. :)

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I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I really like the ideas about having it be a Barbie at the Beach or Safari or other fun place just in case! My little brother actually loved playing Barbies with me until he was almost 6 years old (at that point I was almost 11 and losing interest myself).

I think it's a little silly and very limiting that our culture is so constraining based on gender. There's nothing wrong with boys playing with dolls (my friend's boys have several and they have no sisters - they also play with all sorts of "boy" toys) and both my girls love trucks/trains/etc in addition to their baby dolls.

Best wishes having an enjoyable party!
~B.

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