mermaid pool party!

 

I can’t believe Lauren is FIVE! Crazy! I had so much fun planning her birthday party this year - I knew for a long time that we would be having a “pool party” to go with a mermaid theme. Last year it was SO HOT at her birthday that I decided that the next one absolutely needed to be a water party to embrace the heat and keep the kids cool while having fun. So - “DIVE INTO FIVE” became the theme for this year’s bash!

We hosted the party at my in-laws backyard that happens to be on a small lake! The location was perfect for a swimming-focused party! For a little water fun within the backyard, I obviously chose the Blushing Palms Minnidip pool and that pretty much set the scene for the rest of the fun pink decor and colour scheme for the party. (once again - I chose a colour scheme a little different from the usual purple+aqua mermaid colours!) I also let the girls toss in a bunch of white ball pit balls for “pearls”, and found a variety of fun pool floats - a few pink mermaid tail ones from SunnyLife, this enormous white clamshell one (that doubled as a fun place for the girls to sit during the party!), and a few other inexpensive seashell ones that I used as part of the decor as well!

For the table decor - I layered these pretty pink plates, pink cutlery, straws and shell napkins from A Little Confetti, and set up a little picnic table for the girls on the lawn, with a sweet fringed umbrella to add some shade! I hung this sweet scalloped tissue garland, and obviously had a pink number 5 balloon on display as well!

Little Chic Parties did such an amazing job designing the balloon garland! I really wanted to incorporate the clear bubble balloons and it turned out exactly how I pictured it!

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You can download a customized DIVE INTO FIVE invitation in my digital shop here!

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This little “lets be mermaids” sign made the cutest addition to the place setting. I got it printed on transparency film and then cut them out. They turned out so cute! I rented this sweet picnic table, white fringe umbrella and fringed grass placemats from Little Chic Parties and it was the perfect spot for the girls to sit and have a snack + do a little craft during the party! Having a designated “kids table” at parties is a must!

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Of course I had to make some magic wands for the party! I made these starfish ones with a wooden starfish shape I found at the dollar store, and glued felt to either side in the same shape, and attached pretty ribbons+yarn in between the layers with a dowel. I finished the front with pearl stickers in varying sizes. So sweet!

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I filled these pink bags with ripple/wavy chips and clipped the top with a seashell clothespin. I liked that it gave guests an individual bag for snacking instead of a communal bowl!

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For the girl’s party bags, I used these adorable pink fabric baskets and filled them with some fun summer things that also had a mermaid theme: pearl headbands + clips, a pink glitter beach ball, strawberry madegood granola bar, mermaid rainbow pencil crayons, mermaid stickers, a hair scrunchie, and of course their mermaid tail towels that I made for each of them!

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I attached these little iridescent confetti seashell cut-outs to each of the bags along with their nam tags. You can download your own custom tags like these with all of your party guests names on them here!

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They also got to take home a little wooden treasure chest that they got to decorate. I put a tray together with an assortment of markers, gem stickers, pearl stickers and a few seashell foam stickers that the kids could easily (and relatively mess-free!) use to make their treasure chest special. I tucked the pearl hair clips and seashell mirrors inside each chest as a fun surprise. The girls also had fun collecting the little seashells that I had scattered around the party tables as well and tucking them in their treasure chests.

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One of my favourite things I made for this party were the mermaid tail towels for each of the girls! I just used 1 pink towel and half of a beige towel for each one, and sewed them up using a pattern I made up! I added the little crocheted seashell to the front, (thanks to my mom for making those!) and sewed in a name tag on each one using these iron-on letters. The girls loved them - they all curled up in the clamshell floatie to warm up and it was so cute!

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For food + snacks, I made pink rice crispie treats cut into mermaid tail and #5 shapes (I froze them individually a few days before the party and took them out as we needed them - it worked so well!), watermelon + cantaloupe cut into fish shapes, and a little snack mix that included pink mini marshmallows + cupcake goldfish graham crackers. I also made seashell graham cracker cookies to top the vanilla cupcakes with - I topped each one with a blush buttercream frosting and a seashell - and placed them in these adorable blush tulip baking cups from Fiona Lane. For the cake toppers, I printed out the mermaid tail and #5 on transparency paper, and then sewed them onto coral + blush coloured felt. I really liked how the transparency gave it a shiny look! (want to make your own? click here for the files!)

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Contributors:

TABLEWARES + DECOR : A Little Confetti

BALLOONS : Little Chic Parties

PLANNING + PHOTOGRAPHY : emelbe design

STATIONERY + TAGS : emelbe design

CORAL HAIR BOW : GenBow Club