My daughter, Karen, loves Barbie and also all things pink. She has many different kinds of Barbie Doll and tons of the accessories. So for her ninth birthday celebration it seemed apt to hold a Barbie theme party.

We decided to be creative and make our own invitations. Karen cut out pictures from her Barbie magazines. We made a collage of these on the covers of pink card. We folded them in half and wrote all the party information inside: Location, date and time as well as to bring their own Barbies.

Karen helped me decorate the house on the morning of the party. Think Pink! Karen told me - without question, pink is Barbie's favourite colour. I bought a lot of pink artificial flowers and twenty sheets of pink poster board at the craft shop. I cut a couple of the poster boards into rectangles and sellotaped them on to the living room wall. Karen and I drew lines around the edges of the rectangles of poster board to make them look like windows. We then drew pictures of the view outside: forests, fields of cows and castles. We cut houses out of the poster board and created a miniature, two dimensional town on our living room floor. Karen and I also made miniature plant pots out of the last of the poster board, put the artificial flowers in them and placed them in front of the miniature town.

We bought a set of Barbie themed paper party goods. I put the paper tablecloth over our dining room table and set it with the matching paper plates, cups and napkins.

Every girl we invited arrived with her Barbie, though one girl's mother made her bring two in case someone else forgot hers. There must have been over twenty Barbies at the party. I thought we'd get them mixed up, but I was amazed. Apparently nine year old girls have no trouble telling their Barbies apart from the others. I took many photos of the fashion show they put on with their dolls.

The girls also had the idea to put on a play with their Barbies. They rehearsed for about a half-hour, and then put on a very cute show.

Lunch was hot dogs, strawberries and cherries (which Karen said are Barbie's favourite fruits). I think the girls giggled more during the meal than they did while playing. You can probably guess that we had a Barbie cake. The cake was made like a beautiful ball gown with the Barbie inserted into the top looking like a princess. "Happy Birthday Karen!" was written in pink gel icing across the middle of the cake dress. The girls thought that the pink bubble gum ice-cream I served with it was fantastic.

After the meal Karen opened her gifts and I took more photos. The girls looked so nice sitting around Karen in their party dresses. My daughter was very happy about the two Barbies she received (as if she doesn’t have enough, apparently a nine year old girl can never have enough Barbie dolls). She immediately ripped them out of the boxes and started playing with the dolls and all the accessories that came with them. When was a girl I don't remember my Barbie dolls coming with that much stuff?

After the presents, the make-up artist arrived and the girls got their hair and make-up done like any Barbie of their choice. I took more pictures to record the results.

The party was a big hit. Every girl went home with their own Barbies and happy memories. Karen cuddled up in her bed that night with her new Barbies next to her.