Fishing Theme -2yr- Tackle Box Favors

FISHING THEME:  For my son's 2nd birthday, we did a fishing theme, and it was really a blast!

For starters, I love to do handmade invitations using scrapbooking materials, so I made some for this party.  On the top of the invitation it said "GONE FISHING".  There were puffy/3D pictures of a fishing hat and 2 fish which I bought from the scrapbooking store.  I made a mini-fishing pole on each invitation using a twig tied with hemp string.  I made my own mini hook by bending silver wire into a hook shape.  I also used some burlap to give a rustic effect. The invitation read "Ben is REELING in a party, and it's sure to be a WHOPPER.  He's FISHING for a few guests to help him celebrate his 2nd birthday.  HOOK UP on Saturday, May 22 at 3:30 p.m.  DOCKSIDE at Ben's cabin (Then our address).  You can drop us a LINE at 555-5555."  They turned out really cute!        

For party decorations, I ordered some corrugated paper that looked like wood and some gossamer that looked like water from Stumps.com.  We created a dock scene in our living room by shaping the corrugated paper into pillars and connecting them with roping on top of a long piece of the wood-looking paper.  We also purchased a large bookshelf that looked like a rowboat and some oars from Hobby Lobby.  I painted it to give it a distressed look and it was the perfect little fishing boat for the kids.  I put it next to the dock with the gossamer "water" all around. 

Using leftover wood corrugated paper, and white cut out letters, I made two signs: One said GONE FISHING, which I hung on the front door.  The other said THE FISHING HOLE, and I hung it near the dock scene in our living room. I bought several fishing nets from a party store, and I draped them from our balcony, windows, etc.  I used hunter green tablecloths on the table, and covered them with more fishing nets. 

As centerpieces, I found these birdhouses that looked like fishing hats on clearance at Kohls.  I stuck a large stick in the hole, tied with string, plastic lure and a bobber.  I also spread bobbers of various sizes around on the tables.  For more ambiance, I used 2 sleep machines at the party one played soothing water sounds, and the other had nature sounds, including croaking frogs.  It really helped set the mood!       

This party was mainly with family, so we served a pretty nice meal.  We had a country food theme, with mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, salad, rolls, fried chicken, and of course fried fish (from Captain D's).  Near the fish on the buffet was a sign that said "Catch of the Day".  It really set the theme.  I also had purchased a mini boat shelf from Hobby Lobby, and I used it to hold the plates, forks, and napkins ADORABLE! 

Again I spread bobbers around the buffet to keep with the theme.  We, of course, had a fish cake, which I ordered from the local bakery.  It was a big bass with an icing lure in it's mouth.        My boys were decked out to look like fishermen.  I found some cute vests at Gymboree, and I attached some lures (without hooks) to the vests and to fishing hats which they wore.  For the other kids, I purchased some inexpensive fishing hats and again decorated them with lures.  They got to wear them during the party, which made for adorable pictures. I dressed up too, with a vest and hat I found at Walmart.     

Games and activities included a water table filled with plastic fish, a pin the lure on the fish mouth (a game I made up, just like pin the tail on the donkey), and also magnet fishing.  For this, I made poles out of long twigs/reeds which I bought at the craft section at Walmart.  I tied string to the poles and added a bobber and a magnet at the end of the string.  The kids took turns fishing on the play dock.  I had cut out pictures of fish and attached paper clips to the mouths.  On the back I taped small candy treats and the kids fished for treats.  To be fair, I allowed each child to catch five fish.  The only advice I have for this is to get strong magnets, because some of my fish kept falling off due to the treats weighing too much.  It was a cute game though, and the kids really looked like they were fishing!       

I did favors out of real tackle boxes (since we only had a few kids).  I filled them with candy lures (gummy worms, gummy fish, etc.) and also goldfish crackers.  In the bottom of the boxes I added a few other treats from the dollar store.  Using my computer, I printed out little signs which I attached to the front of the boxes which read "Ben's Tackle", "Hailey's Tackle", etc.  That way we knew whose box was whose!  I also did souvenier photos using my poloroid camera.  I took a pic of each child in the fishing boat, wearing a fishing hat and holding a pole.  I double stick-taped it into a card which I made on the computer.  It said, "We reeled in some fun at Ben's 2nd birthday party!"  Each child got to take home their own photo from the party.    

At our parties we like to get the adults involved too, so I did a "Name That Fish" game for them.  It was basically a poster with pics of various river and lake fish.  I found the pics on a nature site online and printed them out.  The adults had to guess the fish by filling out a paper of answers, and the winner won a bag of gummy worms.  Then I did souvenier photos with them as well..basically each couple took a poloroid pic wearing fishing hats and holding a large fish pillow.  I found this at Bass Pro Shops, and it looked like they really caught a big one in the pics.  They turned out great.     

I have to admit that I am a party fanatic.  I really enjoy doing it and I spend a lot of time on it.  I started planning and collecting decorations and ideas way in advance.  I love this site, and I hope that maybe these ideas can help someone else as well!  Happy Fishing!!!!!!!