Pearl Princess Barbie for our Reese ...

Yet another special party for our original baby Reese Llyora. Our Reese turned 7 and she had a blast with the party we prepared for her.

We originally planned for a grand celebration with a Princess Tea Party theme but she requested to have an intimate family gathering with a few of HH friends. Reese is a bit timid in front of other people, and she knows that if she's going for a big party, she might not enjoy the whole thing, since this is her birthday after all, she gets to decide and in terms of planning, Reese got to say Yes or No ...

With this party – we thought of the theme first as our birthday celebrant is fickle minded and picky at the same time… a bit of a difficult client I would say... So, I took into consideration all the things Reese liked at the moment, too many for a 7 year old by the way. She liked Equestria Girls, LPS (still), a little bit of Little Pony, Barbie, Palace pets, mermaids and anything about swimming. All these, and in such a little time to think. Good thing, I chanced upon Pinterest (follow me on Pinterest here) this new Barbie Pearl Princess theme put together by Tomkat Studio for Toys R Us… Light bulb and a big grin on my face, and a much bigger grin on Reese’s. We (all family) finally agreed on this theme.

TomKat Studio inspiration for Barbie Pearl Princess theme

Reese’s parents decided to check everyone in, originally at the Centro Al Manhal Hotel but the pool there is very deep for kids, to the rescue that day was the Majlis Grand Mercure Residences which confirmed ASAP can accommodate Reese’s guests. The 2-bedroom suites (all four of them) are clean and crisp, with own kitchen and a seating area, the sofa actually can turn into a double bed.

Majlis Grand Mercure Residences

The invitation template was also from TomKat and I just revised it with Reese’s birthday details.

Barbie Pearl Princess Invitation

The printables are free from TomKat Studio, I just had to tweak some of it to make it personalised using Adobe Photoshop. these printables were used to set the entire birthday theme and I used the same to style the venue.

Personalised Printable, Free from TomKat Studio

The party favours were personalised Loot Bags for kids which contains Loom Bands and sweet treats (Haribo Gummy Cola, lollipops, chocolates and eclairs), there were also Bubbles in fun colours!

One of the best traits of this humble cake artist is that she sends photos of her creations before delivering it, gives you a chance to have a sneak peak! :) She's very easy to deal with and provides suggestions on the designs if you're at lost. With this project, I just asked her to copy the designs of the cookies and cupcakes from my inspiration and she really did an amazing job. During the party, not only that her cookies were the main attraction on the cake table, but also guests (especially the mommies and daddies) loved the Pearl Choco Cupcakes, while kids adored the Double Pearl and Starfish Sugar Cookies !!! These amazing sweet treats were made by non other than Ms. Belle of How Sweets Cakes. Tel: 055-2647700.

How Sweets Cakes creations before delivery

Pearl and Starfish Sugar Cookies  and Choco Cupcakes with pearls

There was a bit of miscommunication about the cake itself so the Barbie Pearl Princess cake was M.I.A, good thing La Brioche was just at the hotel lobby and we were able to get the vanilla cake for Reese.

Reese's 7th Barbie Pearl Princess Birthday

The celebration was held during the next morning of October 11th in Suite 1604, traditional Pinoy breakfast were prepared for all the guests to enjoy. Reese also got to blow her birthday cake after breakfast.

Blowing of Birthday Candles

Breakfast feast

And of course, after the simple celebration the kids and parents headed to the pool and enjoyed the rest of the day swimming.

Barbie Pearl Princesses made it to the Pool Party!

Kids and Barbie mermaids enjoying the pool with the birthday girl

Some helpful tips here:

 - Barbie Pearl Princesses were purchased from ELC Al Wahda Mall, Princess Lumina 150AED, other Barbie mermaids 99AED...

- Instead of going for a one family - one room approach, try booking for bigger suites that can house 2 families (2bedroom suite, or junior suites with seating area - these could be additional sleeping areas)

- If suites have kitchenettes and you have a Chef in the family, you can skip the breakfast/dinner in the hotel and let your cheffy dad/hubby do the cooking

- The pool is not temperature-controlled, a good idea to swim in the afternoon (not so late) and in midday to get the much needed heat...

- Loot bags used here were actually sandwich bags (6.5")