Littler Mermaid Party - Treasure of Beads for a Craft

Little Mermaid Party - I got both of my girls involved in the party planning about 2 weeks before the event. 

We put blue tissue paper on some of the living room walls and then colored tropical fish to tape on the  tissue paper.  I made photocopy enlargements of Ariel, Melody, Flounder & Undertow. They were the size of the children.  Then I had fun painting them while the girls were asleep.  Each morning they looked forward to seeing what I had done the night before. 

We have a long window in our living room so I used two colors of streamers like twisted vertical blinds and then hung Ariel there. Our living room looked like an undersea world when we were finished. We also added a few blue and turquoise balloons for ocean color. 

We made a starfish piñata from balloons and paper mache.  The invitations had Little Mermaid pictures I had downloaded.  The children were advised that they could wear a costume and everyone did.  My birthday girl wore a Little Mermaid costume. 

We started the party with a treasure hunt.  I put a small paper clue inside a balloon and grouped it with 3 other balloons.  The kids had to break the balloons to find the clue.  They loved that.  Then they were off to find the next group of balloons.  They eventually found a small treasure chest full of beads (jewels).  They were so excited and beads were all over they carpet as they ran their fingers through them.  That was fine as they ended up picking up the beads as they strung necklaces to take home.  This was a great activity.  It kept their attention for almost 1/2 hour and they were very quiet. 

For lunch we had fish shaped sandwiches and fish shaped jelly cutouts, etc. 

After this we had a couple rounds of musical chairs with Little Mermaid music( great for a laugh), opened presents, ate Little Mermaid cake, then they each took turns hitting the starfish piñata.  I found gift bags with fish on them at the local Dollar store and used those for treat bags.  It was lots of fun! 

The party was a hit and it was fun having my girls involved for over a week making decorations.