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Hosting our Mermaid Party

It seems that the mermaid theme is a popular one amongst five year old girls! With Immy’s birthday falling in the height of summer on this side of the world, I thought her chosen theme of mermaids would work well from a water play activity perspective – providing lots of fun to keep the kids cool whilst also wearing them out 😉

sewing mermaid tails

As I shared in Friday’s post, the party planning got a little out of control thanks to the visually inspiring smorgasboard of Pinterest and probably the most time consuming element of preparation was the sewing of eleven mermaid (and merman) tails from bath towels, after all what is a mermaid party without tails??? As the guests arrived they were invited to choose a tail which they were welcome to take home to keep.

sewing mermaid tail costumes

When it came to the water based activities, the star of the show was the bouncy castle water slide…

mermaid water birthday party ideas

We also included a paddle pool with water play toys and a clam shell with sea animal figurines.

water party activity ideas

The trampoline, cubby house and sandpit were also put to good use, a benefit of partying at home.

mermaid party activity ideas

If they got tired of splashing about, the mermaids were welcome to visit the nail painting salon at their leisure,

birthday party activity ideas

or to get munching at the lolly and cereal threading station. A game of pass the parcel rounded out the activities for the afternoon.

mermaid party food

The swim up buffet was watched over by Sally the shark (the party food will be featured in a follow up post soon).

mermaid party cake

And Ariel made a star appearance thanks to a very talented kindy Mum (the inspiration for which was found on Instagram thanks to Olivia’s Kitchen – for those based in Adelaide, be sure to check out Olivia’s marvellous cake creations).

water party favour ideas

Our mermaid and merman guests each swam home with a beach bucket and spade and a few party trinkets (lollipop, a few lollies, curly straw and balloon), labelled with a spray painted mussel shell that I wrote on with permanent marker pen.

And just like that, weeks of planning and preparation were over in the blink of an eye as our big girl celebrated turning five!

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Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.

Read more of Christie's adventures at https://childhood101.com.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. Margaret Elvis says

    February 12, 2013 at 8:35 AM

    What a fantastic party. You really excelled yourself this time Christie. What fun the kids had and a great day for Immy to remember her 5th birthday celebrations.

  2. Suzy says

    February 12, 2013 at 11:32 AM

    Wow, that ll looks great. With three girls all with winter birthdays I'm not sure I'll be able to use the mermaid theme, but Miss 6 is asking for an 'early' birthday party this year so as to use her water slip slide in the back yard, so you never know! Or maybe we can think up another excuse for a party. (Did you zig zag the edges of the towel tails? Is towelling the best option for material?)

    • Christie Burnett says

      February 16, 2013 at 9:51 PM

      It was lots of fun, Suzy. I am not sure if towelling is the best option (amateur seamstress here!) but I managed to pick up some cheap bath towels that I thought would work well (I got two tails out of each towel). I did zig zag the edges (no overlocker here) and Immy's is holding up well.

  4. Tara @ Suburble says

    February 12, 2013 at 1:18 PM

    Oh, I love it! I'm going to pin your fantastic spread of Mer-people food. We are on the opposite side of the globe, so a theme like this would have to wait 'til July or August. We do have a birthday that lurks in those months - this is great inspiration!

  7. Meredith says

    September 13, 2013 at 9:52 PM

    Hi! I am throwing a mermaid party for my daughter in a few weeks and would love to know more about the food! I can't seem to find the follow up post :( Are those star shaped pizzas? If so, how did you do them? Also, how did you do the watermelon shark? LOVE your ideas!

  9. jaime says

    January 14, 2014 at 1:13 PM

    I would LOVE to know what your party foods were. I'm currently planning my daughters "under the sea" themed party for May.

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