Watermelon Party -3yr- Watermelon Cake

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, I wanted to get away from the usual Disney and Dora themes.  So I did a watermelon birthday since she and seemingly everyone loves watermelon.  Also, One of her favorite colors is green.  She was very excited about it. I found cute invitations at Wal-mart that were watermelon shaped.    

The party was outside and everything was in pink and green.  The birthday girl wore a pink tank with a green ruffled skirt.  I used four picnic tables; three were set up in a crescent shape and had green table clothes.  Then I placed the fourth in the middle, perpendicular to the middle of the green tables.  This table had a bright pink table cloth and black rocks for seeds.  This set up represented a watermelon slice.  Pink and green candle holders (The Dollar Tree) filled with watermelon Jelly Belly jelly beans held the tablecloths down in the breeze.   

For snack food I used watermelon Jelly Belly jelly beans mixed with almonds.  The food tables had bright pink and green tablecloths as well.  I found cute watermelon plates as well as bright green and pink supplies online at a party warehouse store for very reasonable prices.  In the bathroom I placed 2 bright green napkin packs (the kind used for drying hands) with a pink one in the middle to represent a watermelon. 

For lunch the guests had pizza and watermelon.  I cut the watermelon and stacked it in a glass cake stand because I think watermelon is pretty.  It helped make the table decorations even better.

For drinks I always get juice boxes for the kids.  I placed some of the green table cloth (I bought a whole roll at Factory Card Outlet) in a wagon and put the juice boxes in it with some ice.  To decorate it I also placed a whole watermelon with them. I made pink lemonade for the adults, served in green cups. 

For games we had all the summer fun toys out; two baby pools (one for toddlers and one under the slide for the older ones), a Dora hopscotch sprinkler game, a princess tent for a place to get out of the sun, and a sand table.  The kids kept busy with these activities for the duration of the party. 

I filled pink and green water balloons also for a toss the water balloon game.  I also made a craft area.  I used a divided tupperware to hold pieces of pink and green cardstock, all kinds of glitter glue and the watermelon seeds from the watermelon I had cut for the party. 

The crafty kids made some great creations with them, and they dried quickly since the party was outside in July (this area was set up close to the house so the cards wouldn't get caught in the breeze). 

The cake was made in 2, 9-inch round cake pans.  I placed red food coloring in the cake mix so it would come out pink and added mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.  The frosting was white whipped frosting with green food coloring in half and red in the other half.  I decorated the sides with green and the top with pink, then put more chocolate chips on top for seeds.  Finally, I used jelly belly watermelon flavored jelly beans around the outside.  I kept one 9-inch cake whole and cut the other one into slices that I placed around the whole.  I used green and pink candles.  It looked great. 

At the end of the party I sent the girl guests home with great pink and green boxes.  In each of them was a green or pink mermaid doll that came with a brush and crown, green or pink bubbles and a watermelon sucker.  The boys received giant green dice, the green bubbles and a watermelon sucker wrapped in tissue paper and tied with green ribbon.  All of the gifts were purchased at The Dollar Tree.  I put them in a basket and they added to the decor. 

For thank you notes, I found three piece cards at Target.  They included a pink piece of scalloped edged paper that fit into a pink and green polka dotted semi-envelope.  Both pieces fit into a green envelope.  I took a picture of my daughter holding a watermelon with her princess crown on (that happened to have pink diamonds).  I glued it to the back of the pink scalloped paper and wrote the thank you note on back.   

Everyone loved the theme.  The pink and green really looked fresh and great together.