The Little Mermaid

10:00 PM Angela Haythorpe 3 Comments


My youngest daughter went through a Mermaid phase for YEARS! It started just before her birthday so we did a Little Mermaid theme for her 3rd Birthday (2008). We utilized the whole backyard for her party as it was spring. We turned it into a "lagoon" with streamers outlining the yard so the kids knew when they were out of water (aerial pics below). Here are some ideas... 
INVITATION:




I found this image so long ago and I can't remember where it originated from. I just basically found the image and placed the poem over it just the way I wanted. Easy Peasy.


DECOR:

This was an outdoor party so my goal was to make it look as much like an ocean as I could with my minimal resources. We had steaks in the ground spaced about 3' or 4' across and we put up dark and light blue steamers in layers to look like waves. By the end it looked like a big fish bowl.



I also let the kids color some Little Mermaid coloring pages the week before. We cut them out and places them along the top of the steaks to complete the ocean look. If you are indoors you can hang them from the ceiling with ribbon for effect.

We also had 2 clam shell sand boxes out for some of the games. I always have one area in the party where I can take pictures with all the guests so that we can keep it as the kids' special birthday picture for that year.  I made a large Ariel out of cardboard holding a cupcake and a large Sebastian the crab and Flounder the fish. If you are not artistic, you can download a picture and blow it up at the print shop and hang it up. This is a more personal touch than a regular banner.  I drew these but I let my kids paint them the weekend before as a fun activity.

The main colors I used were OCEAN COLORS. Dark Blue, Light Blue and Teal. I also added small portions of pink to break up the color. You can also partner green and purple streamers together like Ariel's outfit... or if you are indoors you can hang green streamers from the ceiling to create a seaweed effect in the room.



I didn't really have a backdrop so I quickly grabbed an old sheet and took some spray paint cans out of the garage and whipped up the backdrop. This is something I wish i would have thought of earlier but did it about 10 min before the guests arrive. 


GAMES:

For games we had the sand boxes where we had a sandcastle and dig for shells competitions. Other games we played follow the leader as a school of fish. We also played chase and the person who was it was a shark!


FOOD:


Because this was an afternoon party, we just prepared snacks for the children. Water, juice, popcorn and fruit were apart of the spread.
 
THE CAKE & PARTY FAVORS:

We didn't have a traditional cake as it was a very warm day. We had Jello/Jelly Cups with gummies inside for the kids. This was a lot of fun and an unexpected surprise for the kids. They all loved it! I also gave them toy ocean animals as their party favor which was a HUGE hit!








So, that was our Little Mermaid Party... Happy Partying to you!

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SOME PINTEREST IDEAS

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2015 at 8:43 AM

    Where did you find the dolphin gummies? I've been looking everywhere for some and thus far have failed to find any.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angela HaythorpeSeptember 21, 2015 at 5:28 PM

      When I did this party it was in Australia and I got them from a local Lolly Shop there. You can also replace them with Swedish fish or Shark Gummies if you have a hard time finding them.

      Delete
    2. Angela HaythorpeSeptember 21, 2015 at 5:29 PM

      And this particular dolphin was actually a TOY that my daughter wanted. It is not a gummy. The other cups had gummies in them.

      Delete

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