It’s that time of year again, wow - it’s gone fast, hasn’t it? Yes, it’s birthday party time! That time of year when your child starts getting excited about that big day when they’ll be the focus of attention and party food and games will be the order of the day.

To make the special occasion even more memorable, why not try implementing some sort of party theme for the event? Here, we’ve outlined what might be required to hold an “Under the sea” party

It’s a favourite theme for kids, the sea - Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid. The bottom of the ocean is a place of adventure, sunken pirates chests and mysterious sea monsters and you can bring all this to life for their imaginations on an affordable budget and with a very reasonable amount of planning and preparation

Setting The Scene

• Print out Party invitations and cut them out into fish shapes to really set the mood even weeks before the party date. Kids’ll love receiving their aquatic invite through the post!
• Take rolls of green crepe paper and, after cutting into reasonably thick strips, hang from the walls or ceiling to give a seaweed style underwater feel to your home. Kids’ll love weaving in and out of the strands of foliage as they “swim” around your living room!
• Use clear cellophane wrap to give things a watery feel (the more “rigid” kind is a better choice - by that we mean something that isn’t as floppy and flexible as clingfilm. More like what you might wrap a gift basket in for example).
  Attach the slightly crumpled up material to the walls to add a shimmering effect to your home - it’ll work wonders for the aquating ambience.
• Making a wave - Use lengths of navy blue/dark blue fabric mixed in with lighter aqua green fabric then drape and attach this along the ceiling in bunched up “wave” shapes to give a great undersea atmosphere
• Depending on the ages of the children that will be at the party, you might want to think about how they’ll see the decorations and what it’ll mean to them. For younger kids aged around 3-5, things like treasure chests and mermaids won’t mean much to them.
  Instead concentrate on the colours and the shapes you decorate your home with. For older kids, treasure chests make a fantastic storage space for presents and other goodies.

Undersea Food and Drinks

Now, I think it goes without saying that for an underwater party, you might want to have some sort of fish-based foods! But here are some other handy tips for you to consider that’ll turn the mealtime into a entertaining oceanic feast.

• Use Fish shaped cookie cutters to make tasty fish biscuits, or use fish crackers which you can buy from most good supermarkets.
• But it’s not just biscuits you can use the cutter for, cut out fish shaped chunks of fruit too - pineapple, melon and banana are good for this
• Food that can be enjoyed by any adults at the party is important too - try crab sticks and prawn dips with seafood sauces
• See if you can find a shell shaped jelly mould and make a jelly that is half clear jelly and half “white” jelly (mix in some cream with the jelly mix)
• Look around for blue and green drinks you can serve - things like 7-up or Sprite for the “green” drinks are a good idea, blue drinks might be harder to find, but these days, drinks manufacturers seem to make things in all sorts of colours, have a look around!

Party Games and Entertainment Under The Waves

• Take a small inflatable swimming pool and make fishing rods using lengths of cane and string with paper-clip hooks on the end (keep the tips of the hook curved around so the end isn’t sharp, but just shaped like a hook.
  Take a bag of cheap household sponges, each cut into a fish shape and then thread a length of wire through the middle of the fish, creating a loop that means the fishes can be picked up with the fishing line. The aim of the game would be to catch as many fish as possible in a given time period.
• You might want to try and organise some sort of treasure hunt in your garden or around your home based on fishy clues and with a home made treasure chest (full of toys and goodies, enough for one per child) although try and keep things simple, the kids just want an excuse to run around lots and don’t want to think too much
• Lots of “action and movement” games are always a good idea to tire out the kids by the end of the party. The sea theme gives lots of opportunities for this as the kids can pretend they’re swimming, trapped in ocean currents etc.
  There is lots of potential for games based around “hunting for pearls” that you’ve hidden scattered around the room, for example, or “sharks and fishes” which is just a version of “tag” where some kids are sharks and some are fishes and they just have to tag the fishes and then the positions are reversed.

And remember, have fun!

Hopefully, with these handy tips, you’ll be able to organise a really memorable day for your little ones. Enjoy!