Under the Sea Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated my youngest son’s first birthday party! A few weeks before the party, I took to Pinterest of course for some inspiration and settled on an under the sea theme which I thought would be super cute!

We weren’t looking to do anything super fancy, since it was only a small party with close family attending. Of course it’s always fun to go all-out for the first few birthday parties…which some may argue is mostly for the parents because kids under 2 won’t remember the party anyway.

Since I already got the “big 1st birthday” out of the way for my oldest son’s party with a dinosaur-birthday theme, a somewhat low-key party this time around was fine with me. Plus the party was indoors, so it meant most of the prep involved deep cleaning the house…and thanks to my mom the house got party ready overnight!

Related: First Birthday Party Games

Party Backdrop and Decor

For creating an ocean-like atmosphere, we decorated the house with an array of blue and green streamers. My sisters helped me create a simple backdrop in the kitchen and living room.

My initial plan was to have a row of balloons across the top, but when I realized I could only blow so many in the few hours we had before the party, I focused on the corners. Yes, very last minute planning on my part, but it turned out great!

The large picture window in the living room worked well to display ocean coral! We hung the streamers there and added fish made from card stock paper. Unfortunately this was the best shot I could get with all the running around to clean:

Here’s another shot with the party guests :).

One of my favorite things we did to create a real “under the sea” vibe were the fish balloons we hung from the ceiling. We added a tail and fins using the orange card stock which holds better than standard construction paper. (Note: I added the big fish eyes and smile just for fun here, but it sure does make it look more fishy!)

I found a really cool octopus idea on Pinterest and decided to add that as a “center piece”.

To make the octopus piece I just used a party shade and added matching streamers for the eight tentacles. You can use construction paper for the eyes.

For the under the sea party decorations, we kept it cute and simple with balloons and streamers throughout the house. Also, it was pretty inexpensive considering no helium was needed.

To keep with the ocean theme, we had a number of food snacks including:

• Fish & Chips: Goldfish and Lay’s Potato Chips
• Fish Food: Swedish Fish & Gummy Worms
• Beach Balls: Cheese balls
• Ocean Water: V8 Blue Raspberry Juice
• Giant Sea Turtle: Cake [image below]
• Fish & Bubbles: Cupcakes [image below]

Party Food and Cake

I made vanilla/confetti cupcakes and covered them in cream cheese frosting which I dyed blue. I topped each cupcake with a goldfish and added pearl sprinkles to create the bubbles. I thought this was such a fun and easy way to keep with the ocean theme.

I almost didn’t make a birthday cake, but then realized it was a must! I found an easy way to create a sea turtle by using a 9″ pan for the shell and added a small cupcake for the head. The initial idea was to add the feet and tails…but time was of essence. I used vanilla cream cheese frosting and dyed green. I tried to create the turtle shell with the small amount of decorating gel I had handy, so did the best I could!

Regardless of how it looked, it was so yummy!!

Even the birthday boy thought so :).

If you’re planning a birthday party for your kids, I hope you found these easy ideas helpful.

Be sure to connect with me on Facebook and Pinterest to see what I’m planning for my son’s 3rd birthday!

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