Birthday Party Ideas: A Mermaid Party

My oldest turned four this month and we decided to have a mermaid party. It was quite a process to come to this decision, actually. After requests such as "A dolphin giraffe party!" and "koala party!" we finally settled with our "under the sea" theme. Here's some of the ideas we pulled together:

I had some sheer blue fabric that we placed over the invites to make them look like they're under water.

I made Hazel this no-sew mermaid skirt that I found here. She loved loved loved it, but it kept falling off and one of the little boys at the party kept stepping on her tail. Beauty is pain.

My mom and I frosted this under-water beauty all morning.
I found the idea on good ole Family Fun, here.
My daughter cut out the pink starfish that were scattered on the table.

Remember Squeeze-its? I loved those. These were called something else, but were the perfect shade of aqua blue.

Starfish brownie pops, also inspired by Living Locurto.
(Eventually they all got faces...)

We used our fish bean-bag toss from a fish-themed party we did two years ago. My mom sewed bean bags out of the cutest fabric. They're peeking out from under the octopus in the next picture...

We did a bean bag toss and played "hot octopus" (hot potato) but the kids got a prize once they were ousted to keep spirits high.


For our last game, we had an "under the sea" scavenger hunt where the clues were inside "bubbles" (balloons) they had to pop. The clues eventually led to a box full of treasure for everyone...

The girls got bracelets and necklaces and there were little sea creatures for the boys.
*I have to admit that this was the low part of the party for me. I wrote down the order of clues on a piece of paper that I accidentally let my 6 month old chew on while I stuffed the clues permanently inside of the balloons. When I asked my husband to hide the balloons and he asked, "Where do they go?" I drew a blank. The chewed-up paper with my hiding spots had been thrown away. I figured I could correct my mistake as we went along, but Hazel was crying because everyone kept stepping on her tail and I didn't realize one of our little guests was old enough to read and she got to the clues before I did--which led her to the wrong places. Let's just say that I finally sent them all outside to the last balloon and had my brother bring out the treasure box to end the whole thing. Some things work out better in my head than in reality...

To top it off, we had a starfish pinata that was finally beat to bits by my fourteen year old brother! All in all, it was a FUN mermaid party and we were so glad to be done...

And all of this was made possible by....my hot mama. Isn't she gorgeous? Seriously, who else could send you back to your closet with an order to put on something more comfy and cool because she knows you'll start to sweat once the kids start spilling their juice on your floor and one of them sneaks into your guest bedroom and jumps on your nice white quilt with dirty feet?
A girl needs her mom. Even when she's all grown up.

Doesn't that look like a happy birthday girl?
After all the guests were gone, we brought up Hazel's present...chickens!
Yep, we have three hardy winter-laying chickens--one for each girl. There's Diego, named after my 2 year old's first love, and Elvis, after Ellie's thick dark hair. And Hazel named her's Rapunzel. We thought that was fitting since she got the hair to match it (from the sweet boy who kept stepping on her mermaid tail).

Summer Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers: The grand outdoors

We just returned from a weekend getaway in Colorado with some family. We went out on canoes, caught fish, slept in as long as our kids would allow, and ate things like slow-cooked yak and dutch oven peach cobbler. My girls were in the company of six little boys (and one very cool older girl) and they did things I never expected...like hold a live fish, play with worms, and catch beetles with their bare hands. I often found them barefoot and jacket-less in the cool evening air, exploring and investigating in the dirt. They were so happy, which made me so happy. Here's some outdoor activity ideas if you're gearing up to spend some time with Mother Nature this summer:

Rockin' Rock Art
Some of the boys found bug or animal-shaped rocks and painted them. They added googly eyes and paper antlers.

This clever fellow (Seth) wrapped his rocks in pipe cleaners and used hot glue to keep it all together.

Bead Buddies

Kate made bracelets and necklaces and even rings out of craft beads and yarn. You pull out about an arm's length of yarn, double it, and tie a knot on the folded end. Weave a bead (or two or three) onto one string of yarn and then weave the other end of yarn through the bead(s) coming from the opposite direction. Pull the yarn until it's taut and start the next row. Repeat in desired pattern.
(I shall do another post on this with more descriptive pictures because I just confused myself, writing all that out...)

Bug Boxes
Never, ever, underestimate the entertaining power of bug boxes.

Krafty Kites
The wind was just right for these kites.

Pictures via my sister-in-law Stacy.

Pine cone Party
We went on several hikes through the woods where we gathered pine cones. My sister-in-law, Stacy, taught us about the different kinds of pine trees and ways we could remember which pine cone came from which tree.



Limbar Pine

She had a story about mice that found shelter in the cones of the Douglas Fir, thus we see their tails poking out of the cones. See full story here.

Douglas Fir
We gathered one pine cone from each tree that we found and reviewed them later, thus the pine cone party.You could also find a book about identifying different types of trees and talk about their cones or leaves and put a book together (more on this later...). This book looks like a good start:

Usborne Trees Sticker Book
Let me know your ideas!

P.S. This has nothing to do with this post, but I had to share. Since she was a baby, my oldest daughter has sometimes slept with her eyes open. She did it on the drive home from this trip and it kinda spooked my niece, Kate. She says, "Um, Janelle? What is Hazel doing?"