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Under The Sea -2yr- Pin Fish on Bowl

February 2012

Erin in Rockford Illinois US

Special Mention

For my daughters 2nd birthday we decided to do a fish/under water theme, and for us the results were fantastic. We still have people asking us about it almost 3 years later! 

INVITATIONS: For invitations we decided to take the do-it-yourself approach. At our local grocery store we found PepperidgeFarm makes a goldfish cracker cookie cutter for sandwiches and such, it also makes a good stencil. We traced and cut out several fish on orange card stock. On one side we wrote out our party essentials, and on the other side we let our birthday girl decorate with an assortment of fish and sea creature stickers. This made for great one of a kind invitations that our daughter was proud to send out. 

DECORATIONS: For decorating we covered tables in a cute fish fabric and a pretty dappled blue fabric that reminded me of water. We also bought a ton of blue tulle for about 10 cents a yard from the fabric store, that we draped in big swoops from the ceiling, letting it run down the walls in the corners and puddle on the floor. Creating the underwater illusion.

Once draped and pinned up we threw little plastic fish, dolphins, sea stars etc into to netting. We found cardboard cutout fish on sale at our party supply store that we taped  to the wall to complete the theme.

As a finishing touch our daughters big birthday present from us was a pet beta fish that we set out on the present table. (note: after the party was all over and cleaned up I was able to use the fabric from the tables to make her a cute fish dress and one for her dolly too as a keepsake, and the tulle we were able to make into tutu’s and send out to the other little girls that were at the party. We were also able to send out pictures of her in her new dress with our thank your cards.) 

ACTIVITIES/GAMES: Since it was a 2yo party it was relatively short, and mostly adult. But for the kids that did attend we did a pin the tail on the donkey type game. For this I cut out a big fish bowl shape out of white felt and made different kinds of felt fish that I attached velcro to the back of so they would stick to the bowl.

For the older kids we did the traditions blindfold and spinning, but for the little kids we just let them stick their fish wherever they wanted. The younger kids amused themselves with this long after the game was over taking off and rearranging the fish and making up stories to go with the pictures. A quite pleasant unexpected surprise.

SNACKS/FOOD: For snacks we were able to buy two different shades of blue M&M's in a large bowl we mixed the two colors along with a bag of goldfish crackers. (Two of the birthday girls favorite snacks) We then poured the mixture into little fish bowls that we got for about 1$ a piece at Wal-Mart and set them around the room for decorations and snacking. We also had a more traditional fruit and veggie tray. I also felt that since the party was at lunch time I should do some sort of food other than just the snacks.

For the kids we made up several lunch meat sandwiches that we then used the goldfish cookie cutter that we used for the invitations on, to make nice little fish shaped sandwiches.

For the adults I was having a hard time coming up with something fishy" my first thought was bagels and locks but my  older daughter came up with an even better idea of sushi! That was a great hit and the restaurant we ordered from was also able to make vegetarian sushi for the few of our guests that were vegetarian.

CAKE: For the cake I stuck with a plain sheet cake that I covered in a light blue icing (plain white frosting and blue food coloring) and put a few plastic fish on it (think the kind you would find in a drink at a seafood restaurant). It did kinda look like they were swimming on the cake it was great and cheap. 

FAVORS: Since we didn’t have very many kids we were able to do personalized favors that we knew each kid would like. For the bags I found blue paper lunch style bags that I was able to stamp with fish and emboss since there were about 100 bags per package I made up quite a few and left them laying on the food table for the adults to take as doggie bags it cut down on the clean up and I wasn't stuck with left overs for a week."

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