Dolphin Party -6yr- Dolphin Nose Ring Toss

For my daughter's 6th birthday we decided on a Dolphin Theme (since we had visted Winter" in FL and she loved the movie Dolphin Tale. I could not find a lot of ideas on-line that just focused on dolphins. All others incorporate mermaids or all sea creatures and I wanted the focus to be dolphins as much as possible. 

INVITATIONS:  Usually I handmake 3D paper invitations but this year I only had 2 weeks to prepare so I ordered adorable dolphin invitations on Etsy and printed them off myself and purchased turquoise envelopes. You're invited to Celebrate Jillienne Turning 6. All needed information ending with It's goiung to be a Splash. Done in shades of blue with a dolphin and a sun. 

DECORATIONS:  I went with all shades of blue (also my daughters favorite color). I stuck with aqua turquoise and a darker shade of blue. All 4 tables had different color blue table cloths. In the center of each I filled mason jars with sand and then added aqua blue stones (found at $store or Michael's) and then added a votive. Around the jar I tied 4 ballons (all shades of blue plus swirled blue ballons found at a local dollar store. The jars kept the balloons in place.

Around the mason jars I purchased beach glass and spread it around. Hanging from the ceiling (this took place on the patio below our balcony). I hung blue swirly decorations (michael's) and a dozen small blue blow up dolphins (walmart on line). In front of the doorwall (leading inside for food) I hung tons of blue streamers.

The coffee table I have with the outdoor living space was decorated with a green fishing net & a basket with a mason jar inside. The mason jar had blue tropical flowers stuck in blue glass beads. Around the jar in the basket was blue "Krinkly" shredded paper and a blue tropical hand fan for guest if they got hot.

There was a dolphin mylar balloon (ordered on line). Out in our pond I weighted down two large dolphins to look as if they were swimming in the ocean (the large pool dolphins you can ride). There was also a large blue inflatable dolphin purchased at Garden Ridge. When you came down the steps you saw an "ocean of blue and dolphins everywhere".

ACTIVITIES:  Throw the rings on the dolphin's nose (Oriental Trading) and a table set up with blue foam frisbees and buckets and a large bag offoam stick-on ocean creatures(JoAnn Fabric's craft area). The kids loved decorating with the sparkly all blue and green ocean creatures. We also had the movie Dolphin Tale playing in the walk-out for those children that wanted to relax. The BIG activity was a 25' inflatable water slide with 4 huge dolphins on top that we rented for the day. Everyone had a blast on this! We also had a blue inflatable pool for they little kids. We also had a blue dolphin pinata (purchased on line). 

COSTUMES:  I always dress myself and kids for the theme. No costumes but we all wore shades of blue. I had dolphin earrings and the majority of party goers came in blue knowing how my parties usually are :) The party girl wore a blue shirt with a aqua 6 on it) I wanted to play dolphin noises "clicks" in the background but ran out of time.  Food: The main food was a huge sandwich with SHELL pasta salad and a variety of basic foods. I used dolphin shape cut-outs found at a local teacher store and used clothes pins to clip labels to serving trays.

I made octopus hotdogs for the kids and shell mac and cheese. I also made blue jello in clear plastic cups and put whip cream on top with gummy octopi on top.  I made 3 colors of chocolate covered popcorn (blue green and peach color). I labeled it "Ocean Coral". The entire treat table was all in blue. There were blue m & m's "Dolphin Pellets"  blue taffy skewers I made ocean gummy candy ocean shaped crackers (like goldfish) mounds bars and any blue candy I could find at the bulk food store. Everything was either in blue or clear dishes or in mason jars.

DESSERT: I pre-scooped Blue Moon ice cream into large cupcake liners and placed in a cupcake tin and refroze (SO much easier than scooping at the party). The kids grabbed a scoop of  blue ice cream along with their dolphin cupcake (variety of blue frosting shades and edible dolphins on top) They were placed on a cupcake tower with blue shredded krinkle paper that looked like waves. (Adults got prescooped adult flavor icecream and adult flavor cake):)

For drinks I had blue punch labeled "Aquarium water" one with lemonade labeled "ocean water" and ice water labeled "salt water." I used decorative dispensers and tied rafia around them with dolphin labels. There was a blue snowcone machine we rented and of course that was a huge hit!  I also had blue kool-aid bottles (Meijer or Kroger) with rafia tied around each with the child's name on it. Blue cups shades of blue plates and napkins. Aqua blue translucent forks spoons and knives were each in their own mason jar filled with blue glass stones and a rafia bow.

FAVORS:  I made ocean looking bags. Take a dark blue bag and fold in half. Cut the top off like waves open up and put a full size aqua bag inside the dark blue one. I put all the favors inside and then folded over the top hole punched and tied with blue rafia and put a dolphin name tag. They were cute!  Inside was a stuffed dolphin (from dollar store) shark fruit snacks blue swirl pencils "grow a dolphin" (Target) blue glow stick bracelets blue dolphin wood shapes (JoAnn Fabrics) that I added a strip of magnet to the back so they could hang later.

For 3 older girls I did blue water bottles (metal and plastic) blue nail polish and blue pencils. Younger kids I also added blue bubbles and blue squishy balls. They also took home their crafts (buckets or frisbee).  I also purchased a variety of ocean life shape bracelets from Michaels and they could choose 3-4 of those to wear home.

GIFT: To top it off we "adopted a dolphin" from a website in the Florida Keys. My daughter was thrilled to have her own dolphin. I picked out one of their many choices of dolphins and she recieved a large photo a certificate of adoption etc. Of course this is to help save the dolphins. She can't wait until we go to FL again one day and interact/swim with her adopted dolphin "Luna" born on the night of the blue moon. This party lasted from 3-10PM and was a huge success.     "