Come on Barbie, Let’s Go Party!
Barbie Birthday Party
After a two week delay due to the volcano eruption in Iceland, I finally made it to Helsinki, Finland. The flights leaving from JFK airport usually fly directly over Iceland en-route to Scandinavia. However, all flights were re-routed way north of Iceland to avoid any smoldering and spewing from the now active volcano. Apparently, it was a pretty bad eruption and the Helsinki airport was one of the last to open in Europe due to the enormous ash cloud the eruption caused.
The weather in Helsinki when I arrived was very much the same as the weather we were having in New York City. It was actually sunny low 40’s and not snowing! This is just the way I like Helsinki, you get the feel of being way north, and you can enjoy the briskness of early spring in Northern Europe without snow and the bitter cold.
Needless to say, after regrouping this Barbie birthday party twice we had it on Friday, May 7th. The weather even became nicer as the days passed and on this day it was a beautiful sunny day in the low 50’s.
We rented the recreational center at my daughter’s school and decorated it with a Barbie theme. Games such as pin the sunglasses on Barbie, Barbie balloon volleyball, Barbie plates, cups, and yes, birthday hats!
sandcastle cake
My daughter and I made a Barbie sandcastle cake and vanilla cupcakes topped with a Philadelphia cream cheese and white chocolate icing!
Mom was the game coordinator. I brought a donkey piñata filled it with candy and little prizes once I arrived in Helsinki and the kids LOVED it!
Donkey Piñata
Out of the 12 little girls, there was only one other besides my own daughter that knew what a piñata was, that was only because she was fortunate enough to have taken a trip to Mexico with her parents the previous summer. So, the rest of the children actually learned something about a different culture. Therefore making the piñata game exciting and new!
Since it was a beautiful day we eventually moved the party outside to the playground. Now, it was time for me to learn about a game from their culture. They had their version of “kick the can” a game we played sometimes as children and a definite game of my parent’s generation. Here they played with a small soccer ball but the game was more or less the same. These kids played and played outside until one by one their parents came to pick them up.
However nothing though could have been any nicer “party topper” than on our walk home, long after everyone was gone and we tidied up the mess we had made in the recreation center, my daughter said, “Thank you, Mommy and Daddy, that was the best birthday party ever!
