Create an ocean life, sea creature or boat themed kids party with these ideas for nautical party supplies, décor, cakes, water games, party favors and more
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Sea Creature Theme Party Décor
Party décor sets the tone for a sea creature theme, and luckily there is no shortage of ways to add ocean and sea creature flair for your party.
Another big décor idea I found was blow-up sea creatures. We found a pack of 12 blow-up sea creatures on Amazon that included a cute collection with crabs, octopus, sharks and fish. We had these all around the yard and in our kiddie pools, and the kids had a blast tossing them around like beach balls.
To make the backyard even more festive and tie in all the nautical colors we got a dozen latex balloons in coral pinks and orange and sea green.
Sea Creature Theme Party Games and Water Toys
Summer backyard water toys are a natural fit for the sea creature party theme. We set up several different kiddie pools (2 bigger ones and 1 smaller one for the baby). We also had a slip-n-slide and water table set-up so the kids had lots of outdoor water fun options to keep them busy.
In addition to the kiddie pools and water fun we also set up a cheap horseshoe toss game and set up our Little Tikes Bouncer(a good investment if you have an outdoor kids party every year).
The only organized game we had was a piñata – a game we have every year regardless of the party theme because the kids just love to hit a piñata.
We chose a Little Mermaid piñata and loaded it up with bite size candy and some extra squishy sea creatures (purchased mainly for the party favor bags).
Sea Creature Crafts and Party Favors
We asked our niece who is an aspiring photographer to work as the “party photographer” (having a designated photographer is something I HIGHLY recommend so you can focus on other party chores and not miss any special moments).
In addition to capturing some great shots for our photo albums (and this blog!), we asked her to take a picture of each kid posing with the giant inflatable whale we got from Amazon. It was about $20 but TOTALLY worth it. Not only was it great for the party décor and fun for the kids to play with, but it was also a great prop for pictures. Amazon also had a really cute giant blow-up whale and a giant blow-up dolphin that would work for pictures too.
We made sure to get a picture of each kid on the whale and then printed them out on a 4×6 photo printer (again, my niece was SUPER helpful). Before the party we painted cheap wooden frames we got from the craft store for only $1 each. We painted them a light ocean blue color and personalized them with names of each of the kids at the party.
At the party kids were able to decorate them with sea creature theme foam stickers, we popped in their photo and gave it to them as part of their party favor.
Our nephew was also a huge help at the party. He is very artistic, so we asked him to do face painting for all the kids. He used the sea creature line art drawings as inspiration. We picked up a simple face painting kit from Amazon and for less than $20 all the kids at the party were able to have their faces painted with dolphins, turtles, sharks and more.
The party favor bags were actually boxes we found with the sea creature theme at Oriental Trading. Inside we included sea creature tattoos, squishy sea creatures, tropical fish candy rings, plastic sea creature toys and little snack size zip-lock bags filled with… what else but… Swedish fish!
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I love the idea of face painting sea creatures on as a fun (and cheap!) activity and the mini pools are just awesome. Great party!