Crafty In The Chaos: Hannah's Mermaid Birthday Party

This weekend we celebrated my firstborn child's sixth birthday. She loves all things "The Little Mermaid" these days, so we went with a Mermaid theme. Because several of her close friends are little boys, we included them by making it a Mermaid and Pirate Party.

We had lots of goodies for both girls and boys!

The girls received "Mermaid Treats" with their goody bags: fairy wands and starfish headbands. I made these headbands with supplies I found at Hobby Lobby.

The boys received foam swords and pirate hats with their goody bags. I found these items at Hobby Lobby as well.

The children played games at the party including Pin the Starfish in Ariel's Hair. I drew a picture of Ariel and cut out pink starfish out of cardstock for the children to put in her hair. Other games we played included Pass the Seashell (like Hot Potato), Sea Shell Relay Race, and Mermaid Freeze Dance.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the party... My beautiful redheaded cousin dressed up as mermaid and read a story to the children and posed for pictures. She was a natural! I found this costume on Ebay. The book she read to the children was "Mermaid Sister" by Mary Ann Fraser. Such a cute story!

I used cardstock to make a birthday banner and cut up plastic table clothes into streamers to make a colorful backdrop. I hung the "streamers" to a shower curtain rod that we hung in the doorway.

This was an afternoon party that was not at a meal time. We served goldfish crackers, cupcakes cookies, ice-cream, and juice. The juice boxes were kept cool in the treasure chest which was actually a Styrofoam cooler that I painted to look like a treasure chest. I topped the homemade cupcakes with adorable Ariel and Flounder cupcake toppers that I found on Partycity.com.

I made sand dollar cookies by baking sugar cookies and then frosting them with white frosting and adding almond pieces. They turned out delicious!

Here is a closer shot of the treasure chest. I hung some plastic costume jewelry over the side to add to the look.

It was an unseasonably warm day for October, so I decided to set up a table on the back deck for overflow in case it got too crowded inside the house during the party. I decorated the table with a blue tablecloth and a silver platter that I picked up at Discount Dollar. I sprinkled on some sand from the kids' sand box and added a few shells that I picked up Hobby Lobby. I thought it added a nice touch!

I painted a sign that read, "Hannah's Mermaid Lagoon" that I placed by the front door. We set up a bubble machine by the door also to create a fun atmosphere as the children came to the door for the party and to set the mood for being "under the sea."

I created photo props for both the Pirates and the Mermaids. For the pirates, I drew a body and hat of a pirate on an Elmer's White Foam Board and cut out a space for the children to put their head and one hand. This is one of my son's posing as a pirate. Adorable!