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Little Mermaid Party -5yr- Mermaid Shell Shirts

March 2006

Diana in Murrieta, California, USA

Special Mention

Little Mermaid 5th Birthday - For my daughter, Megan's fifth birthday we threw a little mermaid party and I basically took every great idea I could find on this site and did them all!  

Invitations: We started by printing invitations from Disney's Little Mermaid Print Studio ordered off of ebay.  I cut them out and cut waves across the top with special scissors.  I added sparkle glue to the top of the waves and ariel's bra and tail.  These we rolled up, tied with twine and put in the "message in a bottle" bottles you can get online, complete with corks.  I also added craft sand, small shells, and small jewels to the bottom of each bottle before corking it.  I used a black sharpie to write each child's name around the top of the bottle in those cute letters you make with the little dots at the ends. Totally adorable.  

Decorations:  The front of the house had a few balloons and an ariel bubble blower from Walmart going.  The rest of the decorations went in the "party area" in the backyard.  I purchased blue spiral garland streamers at Party City and hung them around the top of the patio cover to look like waves.  I filled the inside top of the patio cover with ocean colored balloons with green curling ribbon dangling down like seaweed.  I also hung up little mermaid character fish that I printed off print studio, colored, and laminated.  The party tables were set up "under the sea" with blue plastic table clothes.  The center pieces were also purchased from Party City and had metalic fish on them.  I hot glue gunned them to cheap clear plastic cutting boards so they wouldn't blow over.  They stood up nicely and looked great. 

On the table was a laminated placemat for each child with their name on it, again from print studio. I taped these down on the back with a little tape so they wouldn't blow away. On each placemat I also placed a purple, gold, and green tiara awaiting the mermaid who would sit there.  They went with the color sceme and can be bought from oriental trading under marti gras tiaras.   Strewn about the table were sea shells, larger jewels, and gold coin chocolate pieces.  The children brought out their little mermaid plates and cups later with their food. To finish off the backyard party extrordinaire, we rented a little mermaid jumpy, and bought a 20 dollar bubble machine to continuoulsy fill the air with bubbles, and I bought the little mermaid soundtrack and had that going outside! Whew! In the kitchen, I pushed my kitchen table to the edge of the room, covered it in blue and used it as a buffet table.  

The Food:  For lunch we served warm tuna noodle caserole (my kids eat bowls of the stuff)  made with sea shell pasta, cream of chicken soup with a little milk, canned tuna, and peas. This was served out of a giant seashell bowl perchased from oriental trading co.  I bought two of these giant seashell bowls and put chips in the other one. We also had fruit salad, shrimp cocktail (mostly for the adults), and "blue jello ocean" cups with cream cheese/powdered sugar ocean bottoms and swedish fish floating in them.  These are made in clear plastic cups and had little umbrella toothpicks stuck in them.  Then of course there were the bowls of goldfish one must have.  Finally, there were two bowls of hershey's miniature bars with the wrapper covered with personalized wrappers purchased from e-bay.   They had a picture of ariel on them and "Happy 5th Birthday Megan".

Arrival Activities: When each girl arrived she was given a mermaid shirt which was a white t-shirt I purchased at Walmart, and then ironed on to the front a purple shell bra that I drew myself on my computer in paint and printed off on iron-on paper also purchased at walmart.  Each girl was also given a green mermaid skirt which I sewed from some wonderful green material I got off the clearance at Joanne's and sewed with one gathered seam up the front, elastic around the waist, and 6 inches width of green tule gathered around the bottom.  They looked so cute.  After changing into their costume (which by the way, I had warned parents the girls would be changing into, and to have them wear shorts and an easy change shirt) each girl went to the craft table to decorate her blue sand bucket with sparkle fish stickers and stick-on jewels.  I had written each child's name on the bucket ahead of time with a white paint pen.  Then it was off to the backyard to find their place at the table, jump in the jumpy and wait for the first game.

Games:  The first game involved popping a shell necklace out of a bubble.  I ordered 1 1/2 inch umbonium shells online from shell city and carefully drilled holes in them to make necklaces.  I put a thin layer of gold nailpolish on each to make them look like the one the sea witch has in the movie. Then I strung them on a cord and pushed each one into a clear balloon.  I told the children that the sea witch had stolen their party joy and had put it in the shell in the bubble.  The only way they could have fun at the party was if they could pop the bubble and get the necklace back.  They of course have to sit on the balloons to pop them.  This is hilarious to watch.  Be sure to take video. 

The second game we played was pin the flower on Ariel's hair.  I printed off a coloring page from print studio, scanned it back in, and filled the color in the paint program.  Then I took it to work and blew it up poster size.  For the the flowers, I bought cheap silk flowers,took them apart and glued each to a magnet on the back and glued a jewel in the center of the front.  Then we hung the poster on a clean oil drip pan so the children could sit on the floor and watch as each mermaid took her turn. The magnets stick to the oil pan and its totally mobile.  They got to keep the flower after the game (in their bucket of course).

The last game we played was hot potato, but with a stuffed "Flounder" I got cheap on e-bay.  The girls sat in a circle around a treasure box I bought from the home décor stuff at Joanne's fabric. (Make sure you have your coupon for this) When the soundtrack music stopped, the girl with the flounder got to choose a prize from the treasure chest before being out.  I filled the chest with small prizes from the dollar and clearance section of many stores, I had collected for weeks before the party.  I had bought so many we played twice.  The last activity was the pinata.  I filled it with small toys from the party store mostly, because I hate when my kids come home with tons of candy.  The pinata was a pull string pinata which works well when everyone holds a string and then on the count of three everyone pulls. The children were ready with decorated buckets in hand.

The rest of the party was grocery-store-bakery ariel cake, icecream, and presents.  I took a picture of each child with Megan and printed them off really small to put in a little mermaid magnet frame for each child we bought at the party store.  We sent them in the thank you cards. As each child was leaving they received their thank you gift.  I had decorated small plastic aquariums 3.49 from the petco website, with little mermaid sparkle stickers, blue rocks and blue glass aquarium stones.  Inside of course, was a real goldfish in water.  The children were so delighted. I have been getting comments back on this one every since.

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