Adventure Nemo 2yr - Gummy Fish Jello

We just had a Finding Nemo party for my 2 year old.  At first I wasn’t too sure about it because there weren’t too many decorations or party favors and I like to go all out.  But thanks to this site and a lot of thinking, the birthday boy and everyone else had a great time.  We used a community building for free.  

INVITATIONS:  the invitations were made on the computer with the birthday boy’s picture on front along with lots of Nemo characters that looked like he was sitting on the reef with all the fish. 

DECORATIONS:  I bought the Nemo plates (both sizes) and Nemo table cloths.  I also bought a couple of the Nemo souvenir cups (.50 cents at Wal-Mart) to put the blue plastic ware and straws in.   I used the colors orange, lime green, yellow, bright blue, and light blue.  I bought 3 packs of each color for balloons, and streamers in those colors.  You can never have too many balloons or decorations!  I put the streamers and balloons everywhere.  I also bought curling ribbon in those colors and put it wherever I could.  On top of that I printed off 12 Nemo characters (two of each, one mirror image) and glued them to bright blue tag board.  I also used the poster printing option to make a huge Nemo that went in the middle of the room.  I used curling ribbon to hang them all.  After the party some people asked to take a character home. I ended up giving them all away.

For a photo op I bought a foil fringe curtain in blue from orientaltrading.com  and hung it against a wall.  I put a few of the Nemo characters I made on the curtain and hanging from the ceiling was a 4 foot inflatable shark.  I bought it from Ebay and it was a real Bruce the shark.  I also bought 9 Nemo Mylar balloons from balloons123.com.  It’s the cheapest place I’ve found to buy Mylar balloons.  We had two jumbo Nemo shaped balloons, two see-through Dory balloons, and five regular Nemo birthday Mylar balloons.  I had them filled with helium at the dollar store.  They only charged .50 cents to fill the round ones and a dollar to fill the big ones.  For balloon weights I bought a dozen fish shaped boxes from orientaltrading.com.  People took home the fish boxes too.  I got many compliments on the decorations.  When kids got there they were stunned, including the birthday boy. 

ACTIVITIES:  1.when the kids got there they had a Nemo tattoo put on.  I got 6 dozen from orientaltrading.com for $10. 2. There was a table with color sheets printed off the internet, some sea life stickers, and some foam sea life stickers.  The kids colored their picture and decorated with the stickers. They were really cute.  Originally I planned to do a craft where you take a blue piece of tag board and cut it the size to fit in a baggy, decorate the blue piece with foam stickers and sea life stickers, then put it in the baggy and add sand and small sea shells in it and slap a sticky magnet on the back.  I didn’t get to do this because I wasn’t able to do this because it was rainy all week long before the party and I couldn’t find dry beach sand and because I wasn’t able to find small sea shells.  You could also use this craft for the invites.  3.  In the building we used, there’s a hallway out to the side door and a long ramp outside the door.  This was perfect for the nemo adventure. 

In the hallway I made tons of pink jelly fish with filters, crepe paper, and curling ribbon.  I hung them kid level or lower and the kids had to crawl under them without getting stung or touched by the jelly fishes tentacles. Out the door on the ramp they had to jump from turtle shell to turtle shell. I made the turtle shell with green construction paper and taped them down on the ramp.  When they finished they had to search for their very own Nemo (clown fish bubble guns) which were hidden outside.  I lucked out at the dollar store after I couldn’t buy the flashing clown fish necklaces I originally wanted.  I think the kids liked these better anyway.  After that we turned on the bubble machine.  This kept the kids busy for quite a while.  It was only $15 at Wal-Mart and I’ll be using it for many more parties. 

We then had cake, opened presents, and did the last activity: fishing for goody bags.  In the kitchen area there’s a half sized door which was perfect for the kids.  They used a kid sized fishing rod and my sister sat on the other side and hooked on the bags.  The treat bags did not have a place to write names on them so I made some myself.  I made a rounded rectangle shape with the colors blue and lime green.  In the corner I put a Nemo image (the same as on the cake plates)  and in the other corner I put a space to write the kids’ names.  On the bottom in orange letters I wrote ____________’s Nemo Birthday Party.  Then I used a hole punch and attached it with some orange and blue curling ribbon. 

FAVORS:  in the favor bags the kids got big Nemo stickers (I bought a roll of 100 from orientaltrading.com for $5) more Nemo tattoos, a crazy straw, M&M’s, Nemo fruit snacks, tropical fish bubbles (orientaltrading.com) a small squirt gun, and their clown fish bubble gun.  The kids also took home their coloring sheets and balloons.  I handed out more of the tropical fish bubbles to the adults.  They’re tiny bottles with a fish on top in bright colors.

CAKE & FOOD: we had lots of picnic food, salads, hot dogs, sloppy joes etc.  And to fit the theme we had blue Jell-O with gummy fish in it and bowls of gold fish crackers at each table.  Drinks for the kids were rainbow drinks.  I got a 24 pack for $2.75 at family dollar.  They’re so much easier than pouring the kids drinks and having them spilled!  The cake was a sheet cake from the bakery. It had Nemo on it and was decorated like the bottom of the ocean.  I decorated the cake with some Nemo character toys to add to it. 

THANK YOUS: thank yous will be a picture from the photo op.  They party was great.  Everyone had fun (especially the kids). I got so many compliments and a lot of great pictures!  I like to go all out to make sure the birthday kid will have some great memories from their special day. 

I really didn’t spend that much money.  I started buying things early (which was a good idea because Wal-Mart suddenly stopped selling Nemo party supply) and buying things in bulk and at dollar stores.  Hope this gives someone some ideas!  Can’t wait to see what he’ll want next year!