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Original poster

Under the Sea - Little Mermaid meets Nemo!! Birthday party theme

19 replies

Crunchie · 10/02/2004 11:37

OK I know the oracle of Mumsnet will be brilliant for this, we are planning a kids b'day party for my 2 girls (will be 5 and 3) on 20th March. The theme has been decided - giving rise to mermaids and octupus/fish/sharks etc. But I need some help on party games/decor etc

We have thought of

Games
Pin the tail on the mermaid
Find the pearl - using white balloons

Decor
Loads of streamers in 'watery' colours
bright baloons for 'Coral'
Silver/Gold Tridents/shells

Any other brilliant ideas??

OP posts:
hana · 10/02/2004 11:40

what about 'fishing' for treats or goodies using string and magnets? Fish shaped sandwiches/cookies, you could make a fish or mermaid cake. This sounds like a lot of fun!

CountessDracula · 10/02/2004 11:42

Crunchie a friend of mine had an under the sea party a few years ago and it was briliiant.

They got some light blue heavy plastic and lined the floor in the living room with it to make the sea, made sea weed from crepe paper and made huge shells etc for the walls.

Some of the costumes were brilliant, there was an oil slick, several octopuses and mermaids/men, even a couple of Robert Maxwells!

miranda2 · 10/02/2004 11:43

fishy food - fish shaped biscuits which the girls can help you ice in advance (or icing them could be part of the party?). If you've bought a fish-shaped cutter for those, you could also cut fish-shaped sandwiches. Also scampi might go down well. Or just get fish and chips???!!!
5 and 3 is a bit young for anything elaborate in the way of games I'd have thought - just the two you've got and then playing around and eating tea is probably plenty. Or you could be really cheeky and just get the lm video for them to watch??!! (Do you get the impression i'm a cutting corners kind of mum at all?). What about a bouncy castle from ARgos and say its the castle under the sea?

Momof2 · 10/02/2004 11:48

What about sleeping Mermaids/Mermen as a variation of Sleeping lions (actually we called it Dead Donkeys but kids got upset about that name!)
Or what about a dancing game where when the music plays they have to pretend to be a fish etc and the best "mover" gets the prize each round - that way no one is out and you can have loads of winners?

Original poster
Crunchie · 10/02/2004 11:54

OOh I like the 'fishing' for treats etc. We have decided to hire the local village hall as it only costs about £30 and we want to have loads of kids (20 - 30) which won't fit at home. The ages will range from 1 - 6. I think with that many kids I may try to have some smaller 'game stations' for when they first come in. Then some running around 'musical turtle' type things (note to self : get loads of cushions). Pass the parcel with so many kids maybe a bit tricky, but if we get 2 circles of young and old. Tea shouldn't be a problem, I must find a fish cutter for sandwiches. I love the ideas of a blue plastic sheet. DH thinks he maybe able to borrow a parachute and do 'under the sea' parachute games.

I am like a little kid, with 2 months to go!

OP posts:
Janh · 10/02/2004 12:29

Is this any help?

scoobysnax · 10/02/2004 12:32

I did an under the sea party recently - it was great fun - a fab theme to work with!

Annabel Karmel's party book has some good food and games ideas, including a crocodile made from cucumber & cheese & pineapple sticks. We also did an octopus jelly with green liquorice stuff for the legs and a lot of other themed food. I over-catered hugely so beware of this!

Games included "flap the fish" - rolled up newspapers to fan your newspaper cut out fish - a race game. Also cut out sequences of different sea creatures in different coloured card, hid them around and asked children (I was dressed as a mermaid) to "find me 2 yellow sharks and put them in my pool" - a hoop on the ground - rewarded by a shark sweet and various other variations on this idea.

We had an under sea cave - under a big table - as a chill out area. Helium balloons are good for creating an atmosphere - we had green and blue and some foil seahorses/ whales etc. The foils could be used as prizes too. We had an outdoor session with "touchable bubbles" (won as prizes from an earlier game). These were some of the best things - I got carried away and spent hundreds and hundreds on this party - it's probably sensible to write yourself a budget beforehand and stick to it! Hope you all have a lovely time!

SoupDragon · 10/02/2004 12:44

Can I come to your next party, Scooby?

scoobysnax · 10/02/2004 13:04

Soupdragon you certainly can but you need to dress up - the next one will be a hybrid of hallloween/scooby doo/ghost busters - I am already planning it...

Original poster
Crunchie · 10/02/2004 13:04

Flap the fish - Brilliant!! and the Chill out room - fantatstic.

We are going to have such a cool party

We will probably have loads of grown ups, so I am planning loads of wine.

Does anyone know if you can still get those 'fish and chip' snack/crisp things???

OP posts:
twiglett · 10/02/2004 13:06

message withdrawn

Marina · 11/02/2004 10:40

Ds was entranced by a bubble blowing machine at a party last year...and how about chocolate sardines in the goodie bags?

What a great idea for a theme, Crunchie!

Original poster
Crunchie · 11/02/2004 11:23

Oh wow what an idea a bubble blowing machine, I know someone who has one. Keep them coming guys

OP posts:
Enid · 11/02/2004 11:31

You've got a lot of children coming I see, but if you've got lots of helpers then a craft table is always incredibly popular - cut out mermaid or fish shapes and supply lots of bits for them to stick on and then they can take them home - we did this but with party crowns for dd's 4th and it was so successful - don't know whether I'd have attempted it with 30 though!!

Or you could do 'Present Fishing' - you tie mini gifts onto crepe paper streamers, hang them over something high ( a table?) and then get the kids to pull them over - they 'win' the prize on the end. If you could get green crepe paper it could even be seaweed with mermaids treasures on the ends.

Original poster
Crunchie · 15/02/2004 20:21

I am just bumping this up again, in case there are some more ideas. This is just the laziest way of thinking about a kids birthday, I love it!! Get Mumsnetters to do all the work

OP posts:
thirtysomething · 15/02/2004 21:10

there's a really easy looking mermaid birthday cake in that boom "children's party cakes in 30 minutes" - can send you the recipe if you like! You might also be able to get a nemo pinata - try Sainsburys or www.partypieces.co.uk. Also, a friend of mine did a fantastic variation on the bran tub idea where she filled a bin with jelly (you could do blue jelly for sea) and blindfolded the kids whilst they stuck their hands in - you could put plastic fish in it with the occasional bar of choc or lolly etc! The kids absolutely loved it!

thirtysomething · 15/02/2004 21:10

sorry, meant book not boom!

Original poster
Crunchie · 16/02/2004 09:55

30something, that recipe would be great. I am trying to decide how to do the cake, either a rectangle decorated like the sea with an icing mermaid figure, or a cake shaped like a mermaid, hmmmm....

OP posts:
thirtysomething · 16/02/2004 22:11

crunchie, it's basically several sponge cakes cut into different shapes then assembled together to look like a mermaid and covered in lots of coloured butter icing - I'll dig it out for you tomorrow!

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