The Barbie doll, which will be 50 years old in 2009, has what seems to be an infinite number of lines, including American Idol Barbie, Barbie Magic of Pegasus, and Happy Birthday Barbie. It's incredible to believe that Ruth Handler created the doll in the early 1950s simply to satisfy her daughter's desire to play with an adult-looking doll as opposed to a baby. Her husband and Mattel, his employer at the time, did not initially like the idea, but after Handler's redesign of a German doll, introduced it at a New York City toy fair in 1959. Today, Mattel sells 1.5 million Barbie dolls each week. With the remarkable popularity of Barbie, a party themed after her can be a great afternoon shindig for a young girl.A Barbie theme party is actually very common. If your daughter wants to have a Barbie party with her friends, but wants to do something unique, an afternoon tea party and fashion show is an idea. The tea party doesn't have to be extravagant. Whether you use real dishes or not is up to you. However, you might not want to use your best china if the girls are very young. There are plenty of inexpensive tea sets on the market. Your daughter could play host and serve her guests or you could do the honors. Instead of cake and cookies, offering the guests scones, which are perfect with tea, or some other light confection is a good plan. Check with parents to see if there are any special diets that you need to take into consideration.
