Claire's Mermaid Swim Party

Today is Claire's 6th Birthday! 

I can't believe she is 6. That seems so old! 

Claire requested a Mermaid Swim Party for her 6th birthday.
I totally loved the idea and had so much fun designing the invite.
Claire was very specific...this was not a "Little Mermaid" Party.
It was a Mermaid Party with a Mermaid that looked like her and pink had to be one of the colors.
This is what I came up with:

{Invite will be available in my Etsy Shop when I re-open this Fall}

Decorations:
Last year, for her Tangled Birthday Party, I strung yellow crepe paper throughout our house to look like Tangled's hair. Claire really loved that, so for this party, I decided to hang blue & aqua crepe paper throughout the downstairs to look like an Ocean. I loved how it turned out...and it was so easy! This was one of my favorite parts of the party!

Seriously. I was obsessed with making this "Ocean". Best $5 I have ever spent on crepe paper :)

Other decorations I had were some balloons around the pool fence. 

Claire loves balloons & it was a swim party, so balloons around the pool fence worked out perfectly.

Food:

The party was from 2:00-4:00, so I didn't need to serve a meal. 

I had a variety of snacks for the girls (and the mom's that stayed)

I let Claire pick the menu & all the snack items.

I made coordinating Food Labels that matched the invite!

Pink Goldfish, found at Target :)

Claire wanted Pirates Booty because she loves it and because "mermaids hide from Pirates"

Claire wanted Watermelon (her favorite) but I could not find any watermelon in our town. Summer must be officially over since watermelon isn't in season anymore. We made Fruit Kabobs instead.

And, of course I have to have a Dessert/Sweets Table at my parties. I toned it down for this party...there wasn't TOO many sweets ;)

The backdrop of the sweets table was this ombre tissue tassel banner:

Loved this tassel banner!

  Napkins & Plates (I had a bunch of starfish that I laid out on tables/platters/etc)

I made Sugar Cookie Fruit Puffs (but called them "shells")

 

I used just a raspberry since that looks like a sea shell and I added a bit of blue food dye to the mixture to make them look like the ocean:

I put some Brown Sugar on the platter to make it look like sand & added a starfish.

I loved how they turned out! And, I made the cupcake toppers that matched the food labels & the invitation.

I had some of Claire's favorite candies, which also have a Sea Theme.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Fondant Toppers:

And.....the cake. The amazing cake that my mother in law made:

She made it look like the mermaid I had on the invite/food labels/cupcake toppers which looks like Claire. She did an amazing job with the cake (as usual!)

I set up the Beverage Station outside near the pool:

Claire saw these juice boxes at Trader Joes & had to have them for her party :)

Activities:

It was a Mermaid Swim Party, so I didn't really have many activites planned. 

The main activity was swimming. I'm not going to lie.....It was a little crazy having a swim party with 14 girls who are 6 years old. For the first 20 minutes all of them were in the pool at the same time, that is  A LOT of girls to keep track of in the water.

Kevin was on life guard duty. A few of the mom's stayed, but it was mostly a drop off party.

Note to self: Next time I throw a swim party without parents, invite less than 10 kids.

Luckily, all the girls could swim, but that is still a lot to keep track of.  

(And, I purposely scheduled the party for Luke's nap time, I didn't want to have to deal with him during the swim party. That would have been WAY too hard.)

I also set up a Coloring Station so that if the girls took a break from swimming they would have something to do.

 We set the table up in the shade since it was 90 degrees the day of her party (perfect for a swim party!)

I printed out some Mermaid Coloring Page that I found online.

Favors:

My go-to favor is a cookie! I give these out for almost every party/shower that I host.

I get them at a local Bakery and I always describe/sketch out what I want and she always does them perfectly! 

Claire wanted Seahorses, Starfish & Shells. Loved how they turned out!

The Seahorse was my favorite :)

It was such a fun afternoon celebrating Claire that ended with cake!

 

I'm pretty sure she loved her party :)

I wasn't sure I was going to pull this party off.
Claire's birthday always sneaks up on me because it is right during the Back to School craziness.
And, it was just a couple weeks ago that I had Luke's 2nd Birthday Party!
So, I was majorly slacking with planning her party. I had a lot of ideas in my head that I wanted to do.
I came down with a sinus infection last week, so I had no energy to do the party prep I normally do the week before the party. We are also doing a little remodel in our house, so part of the downstairs is under construction.
Needless to say, it's been a crazy few weeks leading up to her party, butI stayed up until 3am the night before the party getting things cleaned and done for it. Good thing I am a night owl & good thing I love throwing parties.
It was actually therapeutic for me staying up late the night before getting things created & made for the party! Procrastinators unite! :)
The party was fun & I was happy with how it came out.
The most important thing was Claire had fun & felt loved!

Happy 6th Birthday, Claire Bear!

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Claire's Parties throughout the years:
5th Birthday - Claire's Tangled Party
4th Birthday - Claire's Candy Shoppe Party
3rd Birthday - Claire's Cowgirl Party
2nd Birthday - Claire's Ladybug Party
1st Birthday - Claire's Ice Cream Party