Spongebob Party 8yr - Jellyfishing Game

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob Squarepants!!!! We had a SpongBob Squarepants party for my son's 8th birthday. I started preparing 2 months before his actual party. It was a 4-hour party and we had 21 kids! I had a neighbor to help me. Everyone had a grand time, myself included (I'm a closet SpongeBob fan)!

INVITATIONS: I did a message-in-a-bottle theme for the invitations. I saved small clear empty spring water bottles, removed the labels, added about 4T. Of playsand, added small sea creature beads from Oriental Trading (OT), and then the invitaion. I was able to fit the wording for 2 invitations on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Included: "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea….etc.", where: Bikini Bottom (plus real address), Lunch: Krusty Krab Pizza, and then the activities we would be doing. Added SpongeBob stickers and had color copies made. Cut in half, folded, and rolled the invitation to fit in the bottle. Closed the paper invitation with a SB sticker and sealed the bottle cap with hot glue (for transport in kids backpacks). Tied green curling ribbon around the bottle top to look like seaweed along with a "child's name, You're Invited" tag (so they would know it was a party invitation).

INDOOR DÉCOR: Hung blue and aqua streamers from ceiling to look like waves. Added a boat with a fishing pole above the "water". Hung sea creature beanie babies and stuffed animals from ceiling and cabinets with fishing line (had to duck a lot for a week). Hung craft foam fish (from OT) from fishing line from ceiling. Used clear balloons (from OT) to look like bubbles with green seaweed ribbon. Used SB tablecloths, plates, cups, etc. Layed seashells on the table. Filled a large fish bowl (never been used for fish) with goldfish crackers and used an unused fishnet to scoop.

OUTDOOR DÉCOR: Made a large cardboard pineapple cutout around my backdoor. Taped a blow-up SB on the outside of the door. Had a blow-up Sandy Cheeks and Patrick I tied elsewhere on the deck railing. Made a Plankton from an old green pool noodle (hand-drew the face, used white-out for the teeth and chenilles for the arms, legs, and antennae). Poured the remainder of the playsand that I didn't use in the invitations into a shallow box on the deck. Put a clear plastic treasure box on top of the pile of sand to look like a sunken treasure (I got this at Costco last year. It was filled with chocolate coins. We used this for a Harry Potter party last year). Added bubblegum coins and mardigras necklaces from OT as the treasure. Had some of the necklaces hanging out of the treasure box. Added a gold plastic crown (OT) and a treasure map and sea shells in the sand.

Tied helium filled clear (bubble) balloons all around the deck railing with green seaweed ribbon. Had a handmade "Welcome to Bikini Bottom" sign over steps of deck. Had a bubble blower (from OT) going. Hung a fish net with large plastic sea creatures (OT) on the front of the deck. Taped those little craft foam fish to the house. Made a Giant SB from a cardboard box and poster board with a hole cut out where the nose goes big enough for the kids to stick their faces through. Used my hiking boots for SB's shoes, real socks for socks and upper shirt sleeves, spray painted dowels for arms and legs, used yellow felt for hands, etc. Had a blue sheet background behind giant SB on deck. Used this giant SB to take polaroid pics of kids as SB. Made a "Pin the Squarepants on SB" out of poster board and construction paper and markers. Made a Krusty Krab poster. Set up tables for the Krusty Krab.

ACTIVITIES: When the kids arrived we sang the SB theme and I put fish tatoos (OT) on their cheeks. They had to be fish if they were going to swim under the sea with SB. My son and I wore SB t-shirts. Then we went inside for lunch; Krusty Krab pizza (pre-ordered) and Dr. Kelp (green punch with my own homemade SB labels). After lunch we went jellyfishing. I had sewn netting (toulle) to 4 badmitton racquets to make them look like jellyfish nets. The jellyfish were different color balloons with the same color yarn strings (8) taped onto them. There were 4 teams. Each team had to hit their jellyfish across the water (blue tarp) into another net I had set up on the lawn to capture them. When they did they each got a small 4oz. Gladware container with jellyfish jelly in it (strawberry jelly with my own label) to put in their tropical fish party favor bag (OT).

Then we went indoors to make the pineapple picture frames for their polaroid picture of themselves as SB. I precut the pineapple shapes from tan foam board and drew the diamond-shaped lines on them. I also cut out the opening for the polaroid-size picture. I had some 7 inch lengths of wood cut with a groove in it to use as the base. I spray painted them aqua and hot-glued large plastic sea creatures on the base. The kids had to stick different lengths of green chenille's into the top of the pineapple and bend them for the top of the pineapple. Then they used white glue to glue gold sequins on, one each in the center of each diamond shape to make it look like those little pit marks on a pineapple (I used gold thumbtacks for this on my giant outdoor pineapple that went around the door). They then glued it, with their picture taped to the back, into the base. They actually looked like SB in his pineapple house.

Then we went outdoors to The Krusty Krab to make krabby patties. Again we had 4 teams. I premade the patties to be like bean bags with pink material on one side (the raw side) and brown on the other (the cooked side). I made 2x as many buns with gold and white material and stuffed these with stuffing. The fixings were all made from felt I cut into the appropriate shapes and the ketchup and mustard were strings of red and gold yarn. I printed copies of the recipe for each child and had a large picture recipe at each condiment table. I picked up 4 spatulas from the $ store. To be a chef at the Krusty Krab, just like SB, one kid from each team had to go to the "BBQ grill" (table), flip their bean bag patty from the raw side to the cooked side, then go to the condiments table to fix their patty, buns and all. They then served it to the customer who checked it to see if they built it right. If not they had to go back and do it again until they got it right. If okay we bagged the entire patty in a baggie with the recipe and they got to add this to their party favor bag. What fun! The kids loved it! Then we went back inside for cake and presents. After cake and presents we played "Pin the Squarepants on SB".

FOOD: I made the SB cake from the nickjr.com website. It wasn't that hard and the kids loved it! I also made and served individual aquariums (blue jello with gummy fish in it in a clear platic cup) and served more Dr. Kelp.

PARTY FAVORS: Their SB picture in the pineapple picture frame, their Krabby Patty, their jellyfish jelly, a bottle of bubbles (I replaced the label with my own SB label), SB cheese crackers in clear SB cellophane bags, a Burger King sunken treasure crown and the following all from OT: fish pencils, a growing sea creature when you add it to water, a fish puzzle, a treasure necklace and bubblegum treasure coins, and fish stickers. It's now 3 weeks after the party and I'm still getting compliments from the kids and parents alike!