Mermaid Swim Party -5yr- Pail & Shovel Favors

Mermaid Swim Party  For my daughter's 5th Birthday, we had a mermaid swim party at the local swim club. Invitations with a mermaid and her face scanned onto the top of the body which read "Join us as we splash and dive and celebrate Mermaid Camille turning 5!". I found great ideas on wording and party ideas on the web.

For goodie bags, we used plastic pails and shovels which I personalized with a paintpen with each child's name, a fish, shark, mermaid, or crab painted on the shovel and front of the bucket. I used a book to get ideas on decorating the buckets. We filled them with great goodies from Oriental Trading in a tropical theme: pearl necklaces, swim masks, mermaid dolls, stickers, tatoos, a treasure chest and ring pop. We gave out inflatable dolphins and tropical fish for the kids to play with in the pool.

The tables were decorated with the grass table skirts, plastic fish animals were scattered over the table with gold coins and shells. Using the theme, we put drinks in ice in large buckets I bought at a local discount store, salad in a large shell serving dish, sandwhiches cut in the shape of fish and crabs, and fruit kabobs. I used umbrella toothpicks to dress up the serving dishes and placed orchids on the serving table.

The main tables had buckets filled with shredded blue paper and plastic crabs and lobsters hanging out the sides. We then filled with a balloon bouquet in our colors. I found wonderful plates, cups and napkins through birthdayexpress.com and supplemented with solid color aqua, blue, and purple plasticware.

The cake was a beautiful double-stacked Treasure Chest decorated with pearls, plastic jewel rings, necklaces, and chocolate foil coins. The kids all got to pick something off the cake when it was time to cut.

As an additional activity, I bought colored sand and plastic bottles for the kids to do sand-art or put together a tropical fish watch kit that I also purchased from oriental trading.

Our thank you notes had the same mermaid graphic with my child's face photo scanned on top of the mermaid which said "It was a splash".

The kids loved the party and I received so many compliments on the buckets, cake, and decorations. Even the lifeguards at the pool wanted to join us. It truly was a "tidal wave" of fun!