Pool Party 4yr - Beach Ball Invitations

POOL PARTY for 4YR OLDS   My daughter turned 4 in June and a pool party was her wish for the party theme.  Since we live in Florida, it was quite appropriate for a June party to be at a pool its hot!  

I made INVITATIONS by writing the invite on a beach ball (not inflated) with a sharpie pen the beach ball was purchased at the Dollar Store.  The invitation message said, It’s a pool party celebrating Katherine's 4th birthday, date, time, place and RSVP phone number.  Then mailed the uninflated beach ball in oversized white envelopes (purchased at Michaels), put balloon stickers on the back flap of the envelope and used Happy Birthday postage stamps.  We used the subdivision pool for our location, which was a perfect area as it was covered from the sun for the eating/gift time.  Balloons, of all colors, were tied everywhere in the covered area to give it a party atmosphere.  Also a Happy Birthday banner tied up for all to see. 

For table DECORATIONS we used beach towels for the table clothes and plastic beach watering cans (purchased from the Dollar Tree) with sand weights (purchased from the Dollar Tree) inside for balloon bouquets to be tied to.  Plates and napkins were in colorful Happy Birthday design.  Cups and silverware were in both the color blue (water) and yellow (sun), which were two of the colors in the Happy Birthday plate. 

For FOOD we had PBJ sandwiches (without the crust and cut into triangles) and chips for the kids.  For the adults were lavish rolled sandwiches (purchased from the grocery and I was able to chose my meat and cheese), tortilla chips and homemade black bean salsa.  Other foods to munch on during the party were goldfish, grapes and Swedish fish.  I served both sandwiches on separate plastic platters and all the other foods in new small sand buckets (purchased at the Dollar Tree store, 2 buckets for $1) with shovels as spoons.  A cooler was full of kid pouch drinks of punch, lemonade and water.  Other drinks provided were a variety of soft drinks (liters) with cups in blue and yellow, with a separate cooler of just ice. 

For the CAKE we chose chocolate cupcakes with white frosting with various colors of airsprayed color on them purchased from the grocery requesting the variety of spray color.  What kid doesn't like chocolate and icing.   This was a great hit as each child got a cupcake and you didn't have to deal with plates and silverware. 

As each guest arrived they were welcomed and given their PARTY FAVORS & a noodle (from the Dollar Tree), a spray bottle (from Wal-Mart for $1) with their name on it  (using a permanent marker) and a foam visor with their name on it of foam letters glued on (from JoAnn Fabrics, the visors were on sale for 39 cents and a package of 700 foam letters in a variety of colors for $3).  Then it was in the pool for some pool fun for a while to build up an appetite. 

After all the guests arrived and they had time to swim we had lunch, sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes.  Then it was time for the GIFTS to be opened.  I had two chairs side by side and the birthday girl in one and the other was for the person who gave her the gift.  Each gift giving person sat in the chair while the birthday girl opened their gift then, she would say thank you after each gift.  I hope this gives you ideas for your party!