A friend of mine won a service I offered at our church womens group service auction. I offered up hosting a party- I plan and host it, they *just* had to pay for the goods involved (not my time and energy :)
She chose for the theme Under the sea! Seems a bit popular on this blog as of late. I honestly wasn't at all an influence on her choice, surprising??
I was a bit disappointed at first as I wanted to expand my horizons, but 20 seconds later I was really excited to be doing ocean again.
I've mentioned this before, and I'll say it again.
I LOVE FONDANT!!
Could these be any cuter??
The crabs and turtles you've seen before, but I added a friendly whale.
She chose for the theme Under the sea! Seems a bit popular on this blog as of late. I honestly wasn't at all an influence on her choice, surprising??
I was a bit disappointed at first as I wanted to expand my horizons, but 20 seconds later I was really excited to be doing ocean again.
I've mentioned this before, and I'll say it again.
I LOVE FONDANT!!
Could these be any cuter??
The crabs and turtles you've seen before, but I added a friendly whale.
Including a birthday whale for the birthday girl.
My original idea was to have the lanterns look like bubbles around the room, but things got a big crazy and we ended up hanging them across the room in a line.
The party was outside for the most part, so I didn't want to do much on the inside decorations. The table is, however missing the little umbrellas I bought for it. I still have no idea where they disappeared to.
Dessert & Favor table
I scoured the internet for ideas for this party, and of course it's no surprise that there are A TON of great and creative ideas!!
The birthday banner was made with my Silhoutte- my favorite paper craft tool!!
How cute is a goldfish bar?? I got lots of ideas from this post, and the goldfish bar was one of them.
I wanted to jazz up the obvious choice of using Swedish fish. :)
"Sushi" We've been making these for years. I believe I first saw the idea at family fun magazine.
However, when I just did a google image search for "fruit roll up sushi", I was blown away with how far it's come since I originally saw the idea. And you think *I* go overboard?? Just go do the search and you'll think I'm a simpleton.
I love candy coating marshmallows. SO EASY and so fun. I added blue sprinkles to them.
The pixie sticks can be purchased individually at Party City. Lots of candy can- as well as at grocery store candy bins. I love to shop for candy in bulk bins when I'm trying to buy specific colors.
Dum Dum lollipops wrapped in purple tissue paper. I "planted" them in a bed of uncooked rice. They stood up perfectly. If I had the time, I would have colored the rice blue.
I used glitter cardstock in aqua colors. I was covered in glitter for a few days after making it. I'm such a sparkly person :)
Fish cake pops!! I loved the idea here. I made a few changes. My favorite part was the heart candy confetti used for the mouth. These cakepops were almost scratched from my party plans after a 105 degree heat index day which included 85% + humidity. Not fun conditions for cake pop making. Even my basement wasn't a safe haven for making them.
I used starburst for the fins. It was STICKY!
Incidently, at the party, the starburst had dried up, and the fish weren't sweating any longer.
Starfish chocolate covered Oreos. I used Wilton dark chocolate candy coating. The stars are made from star burst candy. I went through the trouble of making a cute dot pattern on the starfish, but then with the humidity, they kind of stuck inside the plastic. If you decide to make these and will be in any kind of heat, I'd skip those kind of details. (I'm sure you're probably thinking you'd skip most of the details that I put into things by now)
The favor part of the table had bubbles
Go fish cards which I bought a the Dollar store in a variety three pack (so they ended up only being about $.33 each)
Shovels which came with the buckets
Fishes
And MY FAVORITE PART!!
Ocean in a bottle.
I used Target's Market Pantry brand flavored water bottles because I liked the size and shape.
They are filled with two orange fishes-like the ones on the table cloth in the previous picture
water with blue food coloring, and baby oil. I hot glued the lids on
The kids played a relay game with fins.
Played on a inflatable waterslide
and had a bubble machine.
Happy Birthday my little fish friend.
What an amazing party! You did a beautiful job carrying through the theme, from the decor to the snacks. I thought the cake pops were adorable, and I love your idea for a cake pop stand made from a cone of STYROFOAM Brand Foam. I've posted your photo and a link on our Facebook page @StyroCraft. Sharon
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint, but there was no styrofoam involved in the cake pop stand. It was purely cardstock and hot glue. It stated that with the photo. Sorry for the confusion.
ReplyDeletehi there. do you make the cute like crab "sign holders"?
ReplyDeletethanks so much for sharing!
awesome party!
I did make them. they are designs from Silhouette. I made the crab using the echo park crab pattern and then used a menu place card pattern. I cut the top 2.5 inches off the place card and used it for the "sign", then I used the base to tape the crab to when used standing on its own. Hope that makes sense.
ReplyDeletethank you so much for all that info! my thing is...i am not good at the craft stuff or have the sihoutte machine...and was wondering if i could pay you to just cut me out the crabs...i dont need the sign stuff. is this something you would let me pay you to do?
ReplyDeletethanks so much for all your help and time!
michelle
unfortunately, I can't sell them to you because it would be infringing on Silhouette's copyright policy. :( I can, however direct you to Etsy, which has a lot of cute crab die cuts that others are selling. Search for "crab die cut". Some day soon I hope to have an Etsy store open to sell fun crafting things, but my own original creativity hasn't reached that level yet. Good luck with your event and thanks for stopping by my blog.
ReplyDeleteHi, what a amazing party. Do you mind sharing how you use the starburst for the fins? I am making cake pops for my daughter's b-day.
ReplyDeleteThe starbursts just need to be softened to use them. Heat in microwave for 10-15 seconds unwrapped. Then quickly press them flat- you can use a rolling pin if you want to. I used kitchen shears to cut the shape and then smothed the edges. Use a knife to make the marks on the fins, but don't press all the way through. I did realize after I made them that the fins should have been vertical- not horizontal. Mine look more like birds than fishes... :)
ReplyDeleteThis is great stuff - Where did you find the heart candy confetti for the goldfish pop mouths?
ReplyDeleteThe heart confetti was at Michael's. I don't think it was during the Valentine's season that I bought it, but it may have been. I'm sure you can find it online.
ReplyDeleteSuper cute! I love all the details and the fish pops (and how they are displayed) are just fantastic!
ReplyDeletehugs! Kim @ Party Frosting!
How far in advance can you make the fondant sea creatures and they are still good? They are really cute.
ReplyDeleteMichelle-
ReplyDeleteI made mine about three days before the party. You'll want it to have time to dry and set, but also don't want it to dry out. Use a thin layer of shortening on it to keep it from cracking. Here is a great straight-forward site you can check out for fondant tips http://thebakingpan.com/baking-tips/fondant-tips.html Good luck!!
Thanks for sharing... I'm totally copying...er, I'm totally INSPIRED for my daughter's party in July! :)
ReplyDeleteAMAZING! So many wonderful ideas for our under the sea party next week!!
ReplyDeletecool i am going to use this idea ( but changeing it a little) :) for my daughter's birthday! thanks for sharring!!!
ReplyDeleteHow did you make the crabs?
ReplyDeleteIf you're referring to the sign crabs, I have answered that question in the first few comments here. Scroll up to see those posts. Let me know if you are speaking of the crab fondant.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to make these goldfish cake pops and I have a few questions - 1. You were saying in an earlier post that you thought the side fins should have been vertical? 2. The heart confetti for the mouth...were those the jumbo hearts from Wilton? 3. What are the eyes made out of? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes the fins should have been vertical. they look like bird wings instead of fins. The hearts...I don't think they were jumbo. I got them in a multi pack confetti shaker. I believe they were small- like the size of a pencil eraser. They eyes were white fondant with a black dot of gel food coloring. I would do the wilton eyes you can buy now, which weren't available at the time of the party. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI love your ocean in a bottle...where did you get the little fish you put inside the bottles?
ReplyDeleteThey are called table scatter and can be found at party stores like Parties are us. They replace the use of confetti (think the little tiny bottles and rattles for baby showers. These were plastic fishes about the size of nickels. Hopefully you can still find them in stores.
DeleteOMG...very cool. Isn't this all a bit too indulgent though? I mean, gad our kids are going to grow up with an inflated unrealistic expecation of life and this case parties. Not to mention trying to live up to their SAH Martha Stewart mom. Give me a break.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anonymous for your opinion. Not everyone shares my interest in party planning. I, however enjoy planning fun and interactive parties with my children. They are memorable just as much for the planning and preparation as the party itself. I love doing crafty things and have been blessed with the ability to do so. I don't think they are more extravagant than inviting the entire school class to play laser tag, or to pizza party places or the ever popular inflatables events. My choice of presentation may be different than other's-- I'd rather have kids have fun picking goodies out of cute containers than smashing a piñata and grabbing goodies on the floor. (although I do love a piñata from time to time) I don't spend a ton of money on our parties, I spend a lot of time doing something that I love with the people I love. My kids don't feel they have to live up to their SAH Martha Stewart mom. I have 8 children and half of them are adults. They enjoy doing these parties WITH me and retelling stories of past events and time shared together. They also didn't grow up with unrealistic expectation of life- or parties. I taught them to find something they love and put their whole heart into it. Our love is family time and entertaining. We all have our own way of doing things, this is our way. I'm sorry if you feel its over the top. This is just how we do things, and our family loves it. :)
DeleteI love those cupcakes! How adorable is that!? My son loves fish and everything that has to do with oceans, sea life, fishing poles, etc. My husband loves to go camping and fishing, and he takes my sons out on Saturdays when the weather is good. I love that he does that, but now, my son loves fish so much that he wants a fish themed birthday party. I've been trying to figure out how I could have a "fish" party. I was at first thinking that we could do something like a camping theme, but after seeing your post, I think that an "under the sea" party would be much more fun, and more enjoyable for me to put together. Plus, finding under the sea games and party favors will be much easier to put together! Thanks for these great ideas!
ReplyDeleteBattalion 1 Fishing
Really wonderful. Keep it up
ReplyDelete