Cami’s mermaid birthday party was a few weeks ago and I am still finding shells from the party randomly around our house! Camilla has been talking about her 6th birthday probably since her 5th birthday (a lack-luster pandemic lock-down, no gathering celebration in our kitchen). Needless to say this one has been a long time in the woks.With her birthday in the heat of June, Cami has always wanted a pool party and in our new home, we have a great pool. A mermaid birthday theme was a must and all he rage among 6 years olds.
THE DECORATIONS
I chose the have the bulk of the decor in our formal dining room. Goal: turn the dining room into a mermaid grotto for as cheap as possible!
Some of my favorite decorative elements of the party included making it truly feel like we were underwater. For a grand total of $5 I was able to use 2 plastic table covers and black poster board to create the look of sea life swimming above us. Taping the table covers to the ceiling with painter’s tape and inserting the sea life shapes on top was an awesome effect that worked well with our lighting.
I DIYed 8 jelly fish with items purchased at the dollar store. I simply cut paper lanterns in half that served as the top of the jelly fish. For the tentacles I deconstructed loofas from the dollar store (they came in a pack of 4) and taped the ends inside the cut lantern tops. I added iridescent dollar store ribbon and made them hang by tying clear fishing wire to the tops of the lanterns. I also found hanging bubble garland and iridescent jelly fish that were fantastic hanging elements for the party decor.
Making coral was a fun project that again involved the dollar store and a little creativity with pool noodles. To make the spiral shaped coral simply use a cerated knife and cut through to the center of the pool noodle. Twist the noodle as you cut until the end. Pick another spot on the noodle and follow the cut line you just made. For the round coral, cut the noodles in several sections.
The coral was then adhered to a box that was covered in brown paper by low heat glue gun glue and wooden dowels. To give the coral some movement, the circular noodle pieces were fashioned by floral wire. When the coral was sturdy, Cami and I had fun glueing dollar store shells to the box. I also found gift wrap bows that looked a lot like sea urchins at the dollar store to decorate our boxes.
THE FOOD
Themed food for a party may be my favorite thing ever. Conceptualizing the food for this mermaid party was a lot of fun and I was glad to have Cami help.
Oh my word the chicken salad sandwiches made to look like crabs were the CUTEST! My mom makes the best chicken salad on the planet and hooked us up for the party. Cami glued google eyes onto wooden skewers and that was about it!
The kids loved the starfish sandwiches. I made two sets (pb&j and ham and cheese) and cut them out with a star cookie cutter. They were all gone in about a minute after the kids came in from the pool. I would highly recommend 4 loaves of bread and not two. To separate the two types I used strawberry wafers and called them “drift wood”.
Did ya’ll know that pink goldfish existed?! Maybe my favorite find food-wise, I mixed them in with ruffles “wavy” chips and just like that we had fish and chips.
I was able to order pinwheels from Sam’s and called them “seaweed spirals”. The adults loved them! For the “sea water” punch I mixed blue Hawaiian punch, pineapple juice, and 7up together and it made for a delicious drink with tropical vibes.
THE SWEETS
The best part about planning this party was that Cami was old enough this year to actually help with the execution. Mimi helped make the rice crispy star fish and Cami dipped them in turquoise and pink candy melts and sprinkled them with mermaid sprinkles. While they worked on that I made “clams” out of Nilla Wafers, piped in icing, and pearl candy.
A few other fun additions to the sweets table were blueberry and strawberry sour candy belts that I weaved through skewers and called it “coral”, gummy sharks, and the yummiest cotton candy flavored saltwater taffy.
And of course there was cake! Lots and lots of cake.
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