A Mermaid Shellabration

This past weekend we celebrated, or I mean “shellabrated” (yea I know corny mom joke lol but I thought it was funny!) and it was a fun experience. This was the first year that our daughter had a birthday party with friends from school and not just a family shindig at the house.

Like every party I throw, I try to incorporate a lot of DIY’s. I do this for a couple of reasons. One it can be cheaper and two, I feel like decorating and put things together for parties or events is just like mental therapy for me. It’s my chance to escape and let my brain go nuts with creative ideas.

I thought I share some of the ideas I came up with, so if you’re thinking of a mermaid theme for your kiddo, you can gather some inspiration here. Our space at the community centre was on the smaller scale and having a bunch of tables and chairs would take up pretty much the whole room. We opted to have a bunch of chairs and two long rectangle tables so the kids could run around (let’s be real, what 5-6 year old do you know, sits their butts down in spot for more than 2 minutes?). We also hired a Litttle Mermaid character too, to entertain the kids for an hour during the party. If it’s in your budget I strongly recommend hiring a character. It gives you one less hour that you need to come up with something for kids entertainment AND gives the parents a break.

Here’s an overall look of our main table, the cake table, the balloon garland and backdrop were a fun DIY we did the night before the party. The cake table, OMG, was that a pain (lol all on my part). I like things to look a certain way and when I have a vision, I go through all kinds of lengths to try to make that happen. Within the last 3 days leading to the party I changed my mind about what was going on this table so many times, I lost count. Let’s break it down and I’ll tell you about each thing in this picture above.

1. The Balloon Garland: I bought a party décor pack off of amazon.ca and it included all the normal essentials for a basic party that you’ll need. I searched mermaid party supplies and it popped up. I also searched for balloon garland and I was able to order this long, clear garland that allows you to make the balloon garland. (Click the links and you will see the exact ones I ordered – these are also available on amazon.com).
2. The Backdrop: I bought a regular rectangle tablecloth from the dollar store and I chose the colour that best matched our underwater Mermaid theme. I picked all pastel colours that would offset the dark colours from the balloons. Green was not part of the scheme, but I decided to add some strands and twist them to mimic seaweed.

3. The Dessert Table:

• The main attraction of the table was the cake. It was so moist and delicious. I picked the design and the colours and told our baker what I wanted exactly, and she brought it to life. If you’re in the GTA and surrounding area, reach out to Cake It To Go for all your cake needs, you won’t be disappointed!
  
• The cupcakes, I’ll admit I semi cheated. I used a box cake BUT I’ll share a secret with you. If you go on Pinterest and search “box cake taste like bakery” you will get a recipe that will make you never want to make a regular old boxed cake again! It will come out super moist and delicious. You can also find any basic buttercream recipe to use on the cupcake. The cupcake toppers came with the Mermaid party supplies and the pearls around rthe cupcake I bought from party city (it comes in a bigger bag than you may think you need but I will be using them a few different times).
  
• The pearl clam shells came out sooo cute! I bought Nilla cookies from our local grocery store, used a basic butter cream recipe (that I tinted light pink) and those pearls I used on the cupcakes, I also used them as the pearl for the clam shells. I spread some crushed graham crackers on my platter to replicate sand and then laid out the clam shells.
• Finally, the only thing that was not scratched made but perfectly fit our theme are the chocolate seashells. I bought these at Walmart, they usually come out at this time of the year. I did the same thing as I did with the clam shells, I layered the bottom of the platter with the crushed graham cracker and laid out the chocolate seashells. We still had a lot of chocolate covered pearls left over so we sprinkled them through out for a special added touch.

4. Table Décor: I got lucky with the table décor. I bought the iridescent table cover from party city and it was perfect for ocean vibe I was going for. The net across the table and the little trinkets spread all over the table was awesomely donated by a friend who threw her daughter a mermaid party earlier this year (but you can find most of these accessories at your local party store.

I wanted to create some fun things for the kids to do when they weren’t running around so I set up a colouring station for those who need to sit back and relax for a few minutes. I just went on Pinterest again and printed a bunch free printables that were under the sea related.

I also went to our local bulk store and filled a jar with fish and had a fun game of “Guess how many fish are in the sea?” I made the sign myself on Microsoft Word and found the guessing ballots on Pinterest (Pinterest is clearly a saviour when party planning).

The party was mixed of boys and girls, so I wanted everyone to feel included and that it wasn’t just a girly party. So right beside our guessing game, I had two frames set up with a “What’s Your Mermaid Name” for the girls and a “What’s Your Pirate Name” for the boys (again, a free printable from Pinterest).

Lastly, on the way out the kiddo’s got a party bag fit for our Mermaids and Mermen. I purchased the brown paper bags from a site online and the cut-outs of the mermaids I found on Etsy.

And that’s it! Our family had a blast celebrating our sassy little girl. Finally, one last set of details about our outfits. Dad, Mom and brother’s shirts were all purchased on amazon.com and my daughter’s mermaid costume (which will also serve as a double purpose for Halloween, score!) was purchased on amazon.ca

That’s all of it, I had so much fun planning and decorating this party and could not get it done as quickly as I did without the help of my family. I love you guys and thanks for always being there. Don’t forget to like and follow my blog. For more daily Creative Boss Mom adventures follow my instagram page @creativebossmom.

xoxo