Girl’s Rule
Walking into It’s All About The Girl in Liberty Station in Point Loma, I had to ask, Why didn’t they have places like this when I was a little girl?
It’s All About The Girl is place that caters to little girls. They offer birthday parties or special occasion “girl time”. Located in the old Naval Training Center, the former barracks space has been transformed into girl heaven. There are five hair and make-up stations and four party rooms that can expand to hold up to twenty-four little girls. Each room is done in either pink or green or a combination of both. There’s a gift shop with jewelry, tee-shirts—everything a little girl could want to play dress up and make believe. The furniture is child size; it’s fun, colorful, and sleekly designed–truly a place to “celebrate being a girl”.
Next month, It’s All About the Girl will celebrate it’s one year anniversary. The reining girl is Mary Wilson, who owns the Merry-Go-Round Pre-school. Mary divides her time between the school and over-seeing the parties. She was widowed ten years ago and is the mother of two grown boys. As the mom of boys, the idea of hanging out with little girls all day seemed like a lot of fun. The creation of It’s All About The Girl, is the definition of girl power. Mary and her partners Rebecca Mashburn, Kelly Brehm and Suzie Wydra are best friends and educators that grew up in La Jolla. The four women put their heads and money together and created a place that is the only one of it’s kind in San Diego.
The parties offer a variety of themes: princess, rock star, cowgirl, hula or sweet sixteen. When you book a party everything is provided–gift bags, gift register, karaoke, cake, invites and thank you cards, salon services, crafts, pizza, a party hostess, and a keepsake photo.
The day I was visiting, a little girl named Ella was celebrating her seventh birthday. She had chosen the hula girl theme. I watched as she stared at herself raptly in the mirror while her hair was being brushed into a side-pony by one of the “party stylists”. The woman brushed and lacquered down her hair with what seemed like half a bottle of Aqua Net. Ella chose blue nail polish and a purple glitter blush for her cheeks. Her mom stood with camera in hand, trying in vain to shoot the moment, but Ella was afraid to smile, lest she smudge her freshly glossed lips. I said to Ella’s Mom that Ella looked like she was taking this pampering very seriously. “She’s believes she’s a princess, because she’s being treated like one,” said Karen Tyler, a Sempra Energy employee. “This feels like girl heaven for the little girls, but it’s really working mom heaven. I called up, gave them my credit card, and the rest was taken care of. These parties are usually a huge stress for me, but not this year. It’s All About The Girl took care of everything.”
Business has been very good in their first year. For the first time, they were able to donate a party for a group of twelve year old girls with cancer. An oncology nurse was at a party with her daughter and asked if the owners would consider doing a special party for some special girls. The party was adjusted a little and instead of doing their hair, these girls got their entire bald heads beautifully decorated with designs. They had their make-up done and sung karaoke, and for a little while they were just girls having fun, doing things girls like to do.
It’s All About The Girl is running a special. Normally the price for a party is $500.00. For summer only, the price is $295.00 during the week and, $395.00 on weekends. If you’re looking to get out of the sun and do something one-on-one with your little girl, there’s also a really fun “Girl on the Go” walk-in service for $35.00. It includes a fancy “up-do”, nail, glitter blush and gloss, gift bad and framed photo. The owners are even beginning to break into the party scene for big girls, offering to rent the space after hours.
The truth is that girls today can do everything boys can. They play on competitive sports teams, rock climb, surf and generally hang. But let’s face it, little girls and big girls really like spending time together and the friendships they have with each other, though rough at times, is something no one but other girls can ever understand. Deep down every one of us is a little girl at heart; we all want to be treated like princesses.