charlotte's 2nd little mermaid party

i'm pretty sure by now you know how much charlotte adores the little mermaid.

her days are filled with shouts of 'mermaid!!!' and a desire to own every mermaid-themed-object disney has every created.

i'm going to be honest. 

if i was going to pick a disney princess for my child to be obsessed with, it probably wouldn't be ariel.

i mean really... she's a spoiled girl who disobeys her father & still gets what she wants.

not exactly my favorite role model.

but what can you do?

i have no idea how it happened, but that girl loves her.

so we're going with it.

and working on making sure she doesn't act just like ariel ;)

knowing how much she loves mermaid,

i decided several months ago to throw her a mermaid-themed bash for her 2nd birthday.

i heart parties.

i love every little detail, dreaming up how to make it special & perfect for my kiddo.

i've said before that i see it as a love letter to my child.

i hope she felt loved after this ;)

we had the party on our back patio.

it was raining in the morning, so i almost had a panic attack.

but it cleared up and was a beautiful day.

we had so much fun celebrating our sweet girl!

since i didn't want people coming into the house, 

i made a sign for the fence directing them into the backyard.

our backyard has a small, fenced-in area before you enter the actual yard.

i wanted to do something fun, but nothing that kids would want to stay in since it isn't super visible.

i decided to make a table with all of charlotte's favorite things- her 'treasure trove'.

("look at this stuff, isn't it neat?  wouldn't you think my collection's complete?....")

i loved the personal element as you walked in.

i made tags for each item, many with what she called it.

(for example, ketchup is 'bip' and her backpack is her 'pack-pack')

i also had a photo timeline around the area.

i painted clothespins and attached photos from her two precious years.

here is the view walking in from the fenced-in area....

i wanted to create an 'under the sea' feeling.

we draped blue tulle to be water,

and hung lengths of green crepe paper as kelp.

and of course, bubbles filled the 'air'.

the view of the deck..

i wanted the focus to be the food table.

we hung a variety of tissue poms from the beams above.

(thank you, corrine, for making the poms for me!!!)

one of my favorite things i made

(and by far the hardest project)

was the sandcastle centerpiece.

i got this idea, along with many others, from one charming party

i love, love, love how it turned out.

i don't think pictures do it justice!

i ordered this sweet banner off etsy

 i wanted to do something fun with the cake.

i decided to top it with a mermaid off etsy, along with a fork & pipe

(shout out to the movie!)

once you cut into the cake,

beautiful colors awaited to be eaten!

i made cupcakes for the kiddos.

charlotte's was topped with the little mermaid.

for the others, i made sand dollars with a candy mold,

and added crushed-up graham crackers as sand.

a little turquoise frosting added the finishing touch!

sea animal sugar cookies

 

i tried to make all my food be ocean-themed

the fish bowls were blue jello with a swedish fish inside.

(note to self... swedish fish dissolve in jello... if i did it again, i'd make the jello cup, chill them,

 and then stick the fish inside! a little whip cream on top would cover the hole)

i had fun with the drink station.

i made labels with charlotte's name for the water bottles,

ordered polka dot straws off etsy,

and made a 'seaweed juice' punch out of grape juice & 7-up.

my mom has an awesome drink dispenser from pottery barn

 that allows you to put decorations at the bottom.... so cute!  

i filled it up with sand & shells

(bella LOVED peeling the labels off the water bottles- a great job for her :)

i love stations at a party.

it allows kids to do what they want,

and you can vary activities depending on the ages of your kiddos.

my first station was clothespin mermaids.

i pre-painted the bodies, traced the fins & then the kids added the details.

the second station was the sand search.

what ocean party is complete without sand?

and with the ocean so close... our sand is free ;)

i placed 10 little mermaid figurines in the sand, and kids got to hunt for them.

this was a big favorite with all ages!

third was paper plate jellyfish.

the kids loved making these!

i pre-cut lots of ribbon so little ones wouldn't have access to scissors ;)

fourth was the paper plate fish.

simple & fun!

every kid loves play-doh, 

so the fifth station had play-doh & various ocean-themed cookie cutters.

i always include a coloring station.

simple & a crowd pleaser!

for those that needed a little quiet time,

i had 'the little mermaid' playing on the tv in the living room.

it came in quite handy at the end when awesome parents helped us clean up!

(and bella made a super-cute garland to put across the tv :)

finally, i had a place for little ones to go.

some soft toys & a book with ocean magnets was a great place to sit.

 

i think the little details really make things fun.

so i put mermaid duckies in the fountain.

i didn't know that would become an activity too!

the live fish on the tables were a big hit!

the only problem... i now have pet fish in my house.

the kids were showing off their best fish faces :)

i wanted to have a few games for all the kids to do together.

i tried to do things that a variety of ages would be interested in.

we started with pass the mermaid.

like hot potato, but if you had the mermaid when the music stopped,

you got a starfish hand-stamp!

(and of course, they passed it to 'part of your world'!)

next up...

limbo!

these kiddos didn't quite get the concept, 

but they loved walking under the limbo stick

while dancing to 'under the sea'

after games, it was cake time!

our sweet girl was overjoyed to blow out her candles

and dig into her cupcake.

i went simple with favors...

just little bubble bottles & a note attached with rope

our little family

(the ocean backdrop was a leftover from the church dance the night before.  score!)

we all had a blast celebrating charlotte!

 just had to share her adorable little shoes...

 we finally had a chance to open gifts this afternoon...

i had to laugh at the abundance of mermaid gear she got.

(and this doesn't include some cute jammies she already opened!)

she was in mermaid euphoria & wanted everything opened immediately!

i had so much fun planning & putting this party together.

it is such a privilege to have friends & family come together to celebrate your children.

we are beyond blessed by all the amazing people in our lives.

and charlotte LOVED her party.

she had a blast & is still saying 'i mermaid party!'

we love you precious girl.

happy 2nd birthday, my little mermaid.

see charlotte's 1st birthday party here

isabella's 1st rockstar party

um, shara.

are you in a time warp?

bella's 1st birthday?  

isn't she 3 1/2 years old?

yes.  yes she is.

i get asked a lot which of my parties was my favorite.

honestly.. that's kinda like asking which of my kids is my favorite.

(don't ask me right now, cause i could actually tell you...at this exact moment... it could change at any second ;)

i love almost all my parties.

but.... there are definitely some at the top of my list.

charlotte's caterpillar party, bella's pinkalicious party, jackson's bus-riding party, the circus shower....

i loved those.

well- here's another that tops my list.

isabella's 1st birthday party.

totally worth sharing- if for no other reason than to look at these kiddos almost 3 years ago- cuteness.

you may be thinking that the rockstar party is overdone.

let's just remember this was almost 3 years ago. 

 it wasn't so popular then... kinda like pink & brown together 

(it was straight up impossible to find pink & brown baby bedding back then!)

for the invitation, we made a 'concert' ticket and included an 'autographed' photo 

excuse the poor quality... it was the only version i had and didn't enlarge well. the actual invite was much clearer!

guests were encouraged to dress like rockstars.  

i was excited that lots of people went with it.

when guests arrived at the party, they received their personalized backstage pass.

after they got their pass, they moved into the glam station, where a team of stylists helped get them decked out.

they could have their hair styled (included colored hairspray), makeup done, temporary tattoos applied, and dress up in star sunglasses, boas, and extra accessories.

after they were properly glammed, they moved on to take their headshot at the celebrity photo station.

 

the little rockstars could either work on their voice or their guitar playing.

the decor for the party was lots of pink, black, leopard/zebras, stars & boas.

the centerpieces of the tables (not shown) were silver shooting stars (from the dollar tree) surrounded by boas.

my amazing and talented friend, kristin lofgren, painted all the signs by hand.  adorable.

for food, we kept it simple with pizza & salads.  

but we came up with fun names like "celebrity chinese chicken" and "band practice broccoli salad"

cause rockstars will only eat one color of m&ms... you have to pick them out :)

 bella work a pink & black tutu (again...impossible to find back then!) with some little leopard shoes.

jeff, jackson & i wore t-shirts as part of her crew:

(how adorable is he?  melting my heart right now.)
of course jackson was her security guard.. .isn't that what big brothers are for?

(this makes me want to cut my hair again.  but i won't).

mommy was manager, cause i keep everything straight.

and daddy was her agent.

i made her birthday hat with scrapbook paper and a tiny boa

and fancied up a costco cake with chipboard letters/stars, frosting, sprinkles, and  a microphone

for her smash cake, i made a little star-shaped cake, frosted it pink, and accented with black.

 can't believe how little she was, how much has changed, and how fun it has been to watch my sweet bella become a little girl.

love you, bella boo!

we knew you were a star right from the start.

(there were lots more details at this party (like the inflatable guitars for favors) that didn't get captured on film... and i've kinda forgotten :)

special thanks to chris hensley for taking pictures that night, and the slaydens for lending their then-home.