Little Mermaid Party

by Kathy
(Palmdale, ca)

For my granddaughter's 1st birthday, we did a Ariel, under the sea party. We decorated with blue and purple streamers, to look like waves, purchased a large ocean party background, and got sea shell shaped saucers from the dollar tree and glass fish bowls for candles for each table.

For food, I made vanilla pudding, crumbled vanilla wafers on top of it, put a paper umbrella on top, and a large rubber ball (like you get from the gumball machine). I also served pizza and sandwiches.

For the games, I had the guests form teams, and handed each team red, and green streamer and a coconut bra and I had them select one person from each team to be transformed into Ariel. They used the green streamer to wrap around their legs, the red for her hair. It was fun to have the father's be Ariel because they had to wear the bra and put on the silly streamer. I timed them and had all the other guests vote on who was the prettiest mermaid. This was a really fun game and made for some great pictures.

I also played Tidal wave, where I had each person hold a sheet, and we put little balls in the middle with each participating person's name on it. We threw the sheet up and down until there was only one ball remaining, and whomever had their name on that ball won a prize.

I also had a treasure chest filled with sand (a small cardboard treasure chest from the party store) and hid little toys inside. Each chid got a chance to put their hands in and try to find a toy.

I set out a little pool for the smaller kids since her birthday was in June. The smaller kids were able to play in the pool and keep cool.

I made a video of her first year and we watched it while we ate cake. I made copies of it to hand out to each related guest, as a party favor.