Mermaid Party Ideas : Mermaid Pool Party

Sometimes I feel like what I do doesn’t really hold any significance, but this party was different.  Kelsey’s mom, a sweet friend of mine has been battling stage 4 Breast Cancer.  I was overwhelmed trying to think of a way to help.  One day it hit me that Kelsey was going to have a birthday that fell right during her mom’s chemo treatments.  Knowing the adorable hand crafted parties that her mom usually threw for her each year, I knew it might be difficult for her to do it this year.   I called and asked if I could help out in that department. I had the chance to meet with sweet Kelsey and her mom to plan what was sure to be a very special 6 year old birthday party.  Kelsey is a girl after my own heart.  In her sweet little Kindergarten way, she had designed her own party…down to the last detail.  A cute page full of drawings and phonetically spelled words describing all of her wildest dreams for her birthday.  The theme: Mermaid Party.  The colors…purple was a must.  Mermaid birthday party games: water balloons, swimming, and cookie decorating.  Mermaid birthday party food ideas: Peanut butter and jelly, goldfish crackers and grapes.  Well Kelsey…I hope I was able to deliver! 😉 . I hope you enjoy these Mermaid party ideas.  This post contains affiliate links.

DIY MERMAID PARTY IDEAS

For the background I hand cut 120 “scales” out of scrapbooking paper…some was glittered to give it that extra shimmery feel.  I attached them to a huge canvas that I keep on hand just for occasions like this. 🙂

I knew I wanted a ruffled table skirt for this mermaid party, but buying fabric was out of the question due to the expense of buying THAT much for one table cloth.  So, I opted for plastic table cloths.  I bought one table cloth in each color and then cut it into 4 equal long strips and sewed it all together gathering it along the way.  It was a lot of work, but the payoff was worth it. 🙂

MERMAID BIRTHDAY PARTY FOOD IDEAS

I always love any opportunity to work with Shana of Society Sweets.  She is incredibly talented and can make just about anything you can dream up.

Mermaid birthday party food ideas were too fun to come up with.  For this mermaid party Shana and I met and decided on Crab Cupcakes, Jello with Mermaid Tails, Starfish Cookies, the adorable goldfish marshmallow pops, and the showstopper ombre cake.  You should have seen the girls eyes when we cut into that baby!  I knew the backdrop would be busy, so I asked her to make the cake a plain white frosting with the surprise inside, so that I could add some cute toppers and the cake and the background wouldn’t be competing for attention, but rather complementing each other. 😉

These SWIM letters were a quick and easy project using a few easy to find supplies.  The paper mache letters took the teal spray paint well and dried quickly.   In a matter of minutes, after the blue had dried, I was able to tape them off with some of this really good painter’s tape and add the glittery sand looking layer with this paint to add some extra dimension.  If you really want to make them sparkle, add a coat of this paint to the already painted gold portion of the letter after the first coat has dried.  It’s not great to use just for total coverage, but on top of something that is already gold it REALLY makes it shimmer.

Cute paper suitcases that I found in the children’s department at HomeGoods were not only the perfect color, but made for cute treasure chests full of under the sea mermaid treasures which Kelsey had requested.  We played a few mermaid birthday party games in the pool like Marco Polo and we also had mermaid themed birthday party activities like starfish cookie decorating.

My super talented and generous friend Courtney from Dapper & Dainty donated one of her gorgeous handmade Mermaid Tails especially for Kelsey.  What a great surprise for the birthday girl!

Ash and I searched the aisles of craft stores for some easy DIY Mermaid themed party decorations.  We found these awesome clam shells at Hobby Lobby.  They were a rusty metal, but I spray painted them with a little gold shimmer spray paint and they were transformed.

White chocolate shells were an easy addition that I made with this shell candy mold and some white candy melts.  It is so easy to make shaped candy like these shells.  Here are the simple DIY Candy Molding steps:

1. Place candy melts in a disposable piping bag.  Microwave in short spurts, checking frequently to make sure chocolate is melted, but doesn’t burn.  I usually start with 20 seconds and add 10-15 seconds at a time as necessary.  You can massage the bag as you microwave to help break up bigger chunks of chocolate.
2. Once the chocolate is melted, fill your mold with melted chocolate. When the mold is filled, lightly tap it several times on a counter to eliminate air bubbles in the candy.
3. Place the filled mold in the refrigerator or freezer until the candy has set. When the underside of the candy mold appears to be frosted, you’re ready to unmold the candy. If there are any dark areas on the underside of the mold, it means some of the coating is still soft. In this case, chill the mold for a few more minutes, until the entire mold has a frosted appearance.  This takes between 10 minutes to 30 minutes generally.
4. Unmold. Turn the mold over about an inch above a flat surface covered with parchment or waxed paper. Gently flex or tap the mold and out come the candies!  It is too easy!

I whipped up these white chocolate shells in literally 10 minutes.  Placed on a bed of brown sugar sand they looked like the perfect Mermaid party food.

One of the fun mermaid pool party ideas I had was to carry the decor into the pool.  The pool area we used for the mermaid party is a community pool, and I wanted to make the whole area feel a little more like it was part of the party, so I added some balloons and these small purple beach balls (these would be SO cute too!) to the pool.  It looked SO pretty and really tied everything together.

Talented Megan from Saywer Leigh Boutique was kind enough to donate custom Mermaid confetti.  It was the perfect touch to all the tables.  She coordinated it to the party’s colors and created great custom shapes that went with our theme.  I filled purple buckets with a picnic lunch for the girls, and added goldfish crackers in these little blue party bags topped with seashell clips that I made in a matter of minutes.

It was a beautiful day full fun for a mermaid party and a sweet little girl whose family has been through a lot these past few months.  I was honored to be able to help make all her mermaid wishes come true. 🙂

LOOKING FOR MORE MERMAID THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS?  Here are some more fun DIY Mermaid party ideas:

DIY Clam Cookies are adorable for the dessert table.

This DIY Mermaid Tail Blanket would be a darling gift for the birthday girl.

These DIY Mermaid Tail Towels would be such cute party favors!

This post will give you 10 darling Mermaid Party Ideas in this same fun color scheme.

We have TONS of fun DIY party ideas on the site.  Visit our Party Gallery here to see them all.  Here are a few of our favorites:

FROZEN DIY PARTY IDEAS

RAINBOW PARTY IDEAS

HALLOWEEN SPIDER PARTY IDEAS

VALENTINE PARTY IDEAS

Have a great day!
Tammy