My daughter is turning 4 in a month and the only party she wants is a Barbie party. There will be 4 or 5 little boys there who are around the same age. Any ideas on how to make it fun for both girls and boys. I just don't know if the boys will care yet or not, but in case they do I want them to enjoy it too. Thanks Moms!
Hi Tracie,
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
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)
Kat W
I think the only thing that the boys might really care about being too girly are the favors. Either make all the favors pretty gender-neutral or customize them for the boys and girls. The only problem with customizing them is that you could very well have girls that want the "boyish" items and boys who want the "girlish" items. (I know I was always one who would have rather had the toy car over the Barbie doll at that age.) Party favors like: bubbles, mini or golden books, stickers, balls, a slinky, funny glasses, etc. are all great for boys or girls. Our little girl will only be 3 this fall, but I always make the favors the same and appropriate for everyone so no one is upset that they didn't get an item. I'm sure that won't last forever, but so far it's been great! :-) Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. It's her party, so her/your theme. I think the other kids understand that and have fun no matter what. Happy Birthday to your little girl!!! :-D -donna-
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!
Maybe you could ask her if it would be okay to incorporate another gender-neutral character she likes into the party as well. Or maybe have Spiderman or Batman party favors for the boys.
make it a barbie and ken party, or GI Joe, since no boy wants to be the guy driving barbies pink car. Thank-you to you and your husband for their service to their country
Hi Tracie,
My suggestion for a co-ed party would be to do either a Barbie/Ken party or a Barbie/GI Joe party. Both of them go together pretty well and you can find most party supplies. At least that way, the boys won't feel totally left out.
I hope that helps and you have a wonderful party! :)
What type of work do you do from home? I would love to be able to do the same, and I'm always looking for legitimate from home work!
As for the party, I usually do two themes, just buy some boyish stuff for the boys (party favors, etc.) but still keep the main theme as Barbie!
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.
Tracie,
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,
Melissa
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'.
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!
How about adding dragons & knights? My daughter & I just watched "Barbie Rupunzel" and there are dragons and it is set in midieval time period. If you are doing party hats you can do crowns for the boys and the cone with scarf or ribbon hanging from the top for the girls. Think horses, swords & shields, coats of arms, castles etc. Have fun!
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.
Tracie,
The only suggesting I can make is to talk with the parents. Many parents today would not mind the theme, but may have a suggestion as to GI Joe, Ken,...other male doll figures to help incorporate for play. Maybe they would even help decorate or provide toys as needed.
Good luck. Let us know how the party is.
tara
What about Barbie and GI Joe?
Tracie-
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 :).
Hi Tracie-
I think it depends on the little boys. When my son was 4 he definitely would not have enjoyed a Barbie party. Do you have to invite the boys? I know we want to include everyone, but at some point the parties turn into all boy or all girl parties. We're not doing same sex until this year for his 6th birhtday, but girls are always more advanced. If you have to have the boys, I might suggest doing GI Joe things for them. It's still a doll, but a very masculine doll. Good luck.
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.
Some young boys like girl dress up. But you can make them into Ken and get ties out, dads big shoes, cheap sunglasses and such. Make them feel special and put a bit old spice on there neck so they are ready for work.
You can also do a combo of whatever and get GI joe green face paint and deal with that too. 4-5 year old boys really are not that picky. GI joe figures are sold cheap at walmart in the small bags that are hanging up on the wall with tons of other ideas like hotwheel cars and so on =) good luck