Mermaid Theme -5yr- Mermaid Costumes

For my daughter's fifth birthday she wanted a mermaid themed party.

So I made invites on the computer.  I just found Ariel clip art from the internet and wrote "Join us as we splash and dive to celebrate mermaid Maya turning five. Date  There will be games, art, and swimming fun under the sea starting at one.  Ariel and Maya hope to SEA you there."  I added a bit of glitter to Ariel's tail, after I printed them on cardstock and backed them in pretty blue papers.  I punched a hole in the bottom right hand corner and tied on a pair of goggles (2 for .99 @ walmart) they looked adorable, we mailed them in envelopes with fish confetti and stickers.      

We kept the decoration simple.  The big ticket item was our family room and foyer floor covered in balloons, all shades of blue with some green and dark purple.  It loked like the ocean. A good tip is buy one of those plastic hand pumps they work great.  The kids had a blast walking through them.  I also had a few clear ones floating on top of the blue balloons to look like the ocean foam.  My kids had made some paper plate fish (you cut a triangle out for a mouth,add an eye and glue the triangle back on for the tail), we then painted them and they looked cool.  Another easy sea creaure is to cut a pink paper plate in half and glue 10" pastel colored streamers to the straight half you get a cute jellyfish, my kids drew goofy eyes and they loooked totally kid made but great. We hung them from the ceiling and doorways.  We made crabs by tracing their hands on red construction paper, cutting them out and gluing them to an oval, add eyes and antenes and you have Sebastian. 

For the food tables I used blue plastic tablecloths with  light blue netting table toppers and an Ariel doll for a centerpiece.  I also used my leftover blue plastic tablecloth in a roll to make waves on my outside patio ceiling.  I weaved them through every 5th beam and let about 6" hang down before I went to the next beam, it was a lot off work on a ladder but it looked super.  My market happen to have a mermaid helium balloons that day so I bought it with a few blue latex ones to tie to the mailbox to welcome guests.     

As guests arrived we had them get into a mermaid costume, I took light green tall kitchen trash bags and had pre slit the bottom open and cut it to look like the end shape of a mermaid fin. We used packing tape to gather it around their waist and a looser gather around their knees, make sure they can walk.  We had sealife beads to make tiny braids in the girls hair.  We had crowns and septures for the boys. Ariel arrived 20 minutes after the guests arrived (I had coloring books I had made from the internet and crayons), for the kids to color in case she was late but she wasn't.  Ariel played ocean parachute with the kids, they listened as she read the story of "Little Mermaid", they made collage sea creatures (easy pre-cut shapes brought from Lakeshore Learning Store, then the kids added glitter, sequins and cut up tissue paper squares tip- use glue sticks they are easier). 

Finally I had made a treasure chest out of a dollar store styrofoam cooler wrapped in a brown market bag, I used a marker to add details and tin foil to make a pretend lock. ( Even easier durning the summer monthes Target has plastic treasure crests in the swim toy section, I just did not get there in time) The kids passed the cooler while we listened to the Little Mermaid CD, when the music stopped the kids got to pick a prize,  I had dollar store mermaid dolls and tubes of sea creatures.  It was a really fun game, and everyone loved Ariel.  I took lots of photos to use in the thank you cards. I also had a large plastic tub filled with water for a fishing game and my kids sandbox had hidden shells necklaces for the kids to find with tiny shovels.  We also had a huge Ariel pinata, fun fun fun!     

After Ariel left the kids went swimming in our pool, we played water hose limbo, again to the Little Mermaid CD to get into the pool.  Another tip is do not open the pool or water actiivties until Ariel leaves if you are having a character because it is to hard to mange both areas.      

We served P&J sandwichs in a fish shape and chicken salad sandwichs on cresonts.  I made a pasta salad with shell pasta, served a fruit salad, and a vegetable platter.  ( I cut cute little fish shaped bell peppers with a tiny metal cookie cutter to garnish the plates) We served 3 different flavored gold fish in sand buckets and a bunch of finger foods, everyone nibbled all day.  We served blue Kool-aid and gatoraide,  For the cake I took 3 tired cake plates and had cupcakes frosted in blue with 3 goldfish crackers swimming in the frosting(Sam's Club 24 for $10) with an Ariel barbie sitting on blue netting on the top tier.      

As the kids left they all go an octpus bag, (my kids painted with thinned blue glitter paint all over a cheap white gift bag 13 for $5, then we added large paper white and black eyes and glued light blue streamers to the bottom of the bag for legs) They couldn't have come out better.  In the bag they got a Fish card game .50 @ walmart, watercolors 99cent store, a Little Mermaid book a true find from the dollar store, fish squiter toy 6 for $1 at Dollar Tree and the find of the party was a mermaid purse with tiny coloring book, stickers and jewelery which I found on EBAY 16 for $20, instead of the purse the boys got to take a fishing set home from the fishing game.  I love favors! I also had made personal Ariel bubbles for my daughter's class and had a few left so we threw those in there.        

My daughter could not have had a better time. For thank yous we sent a photo with a pack of fish gummy candy that said it was sweet to sea you at Maya's party.  Happy partying!