Pink Barbie Party Inspiration

The "Barbie" movie is now one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. With all the hype around the movie, I was experiencing a case of FOMO (major FOMO between Barbie and Taylor Swift). My neighbor and I were talking about how neither of us had seen the movie and decided it was a great excuse for a “pink” party! So last weekend, a lovely group of GenXers and Baby-Boomer tail enders from the neighborhood gathered at my home to reminisce about our Barbie-playing days and watch Barbie while wearing shades of pink, sipping rosé and partaking in popcorn and pink movie treats.

Come on, Barbie, Let’s go Party!

Pink decorations (and bubbly) required

I live in a small town on the Oregon Coast, which made procuring pink party items not that easy on short notice. Between my friend and I we found pink striped napkins and pink bowls at various dollar stores in the area. I didn’t get a pic of the pink popcorn boxes, but I found them online at Party City (that shipped in time). Later I came across some pink and white striped boxes that would’ve made a cute option.

I found the Barbie balloon pictured below on a trip to Eugene, only later to be challenged with finding helium! (Beware: Helium, pedicures and dentists are hard to come by on the central Oregon Coast.) The first store I called reported that they’d been out of helium “for months.” Life at the beach. Someone’s gotta live it. Luckily, I was able to find helium at the Dollar General about 35 minutes north.

And somehow (?) we ended up with no shortage of rosé wine and bubbling rosé varieties! (They have that at the beach.) I also had Trader Joe’s Organic Cranberry and Lime Juice Seltzer Water on hand from a previous trip to the big city, which was an apropos color of pink.

Popcorn and a pink snack bar

As you saw above, the popcorn was pretty fantastic in pink plastic—pink plastic bowls from Dollar General to be exact. Popped on the stovetop by my neighbor using a Whirley Pop popcorn maker. Now I want one of these that works on my induction stove! Salt is all you really need, maybe a little melted butter.

I was set on sticking to an all pink and white buffet of movie time treats. I ordered pink M&Ms and pink Hershey Kisses online. I went to the local candy store, Manzanita Sweets, and picked up strawberry Starburst and sour lips.

Homemade pink treats

Of course I wanted to make something pink as well. After much back and forth, I settled on a riff of Sarah Kieffer’s Neapolitan cookies from her 100 Cookies book. (If I were to recommend you buy ONE cookie book — this is the one!) I kept my “berry” cookies strawberry and vanilla but she also has a raspberry and white chocolate version. The prettiest look was pink/white/pink dipped in sparkling sugar before baking.

And then, just because I’ve been wanting to make marshmallows again, I made this recipe, also from the 100 Cookies book. Just one drop of pink gel food coloring gave them the pastel pink tint I was looking for. My movie goers agreed that these are sooo much better than homemade marshmallows. Of course I have about 450 left. Now I’m thinking of making pink-tinted Rice Krispie treats, having a s’mores bonfire on the beach or resorting to drinking lots of cocoa.

Malibu Barbie girl

Oh, and can we have a moment for my “Malibu Barbie” slippers? At least that’s what I decided to call them. (My toes are “Bon Voyage to Reality”from the OPI Barbie Collection). I found the slippers at Target. Regularly priced at $19.99, they rang up $5.99. Score. Actually they are quite comfortable and make me feel like a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world. Or a 1950’s California housewife.