Lauren's Mermaid Birthday Party

My sweet baby girl, Lauren turned 4 years old today! 

Such a bittersweet thing to watch your babies grow up, isn't it?  She really loves mermaids so we had several of her little friends over for a Mermaid Birthday Party!

My friend Natalie over at Natty Sue Designs made up her CUTE invite!  Isn't it such a great thing to have talented friends?  Because I will tell you right now, there is not a whole lot of mermaid love going on in any store.  So creativity was a must! So was a budget.  So almost everything I did was from items I already had at home. 

We did manage to find a Barbie mermaid tail/costume for her to wear.  I was going to sew a mermaid towel tail, but when I saw this for $15, I decided to go with it.  February is crazy busy for me with 3 birthdays, being a room mom and doing class parties, Valentine's Day, etc.  The less I stress out the more my husband loves me.

 I found this little jellyfish idea on Pinterest!  Lauren and I had a fun afternoon painting the bowls and then assembling the jellyfish to hang.  It was SO easy and fun to have her help!

I almost bailed out on this Pinterest project but I am SO glad I stayed up the night before to make it!  It was just a foam board with the face cut out.  I made the tail out of shimmering paint chips (thank you Lowes!) and some paper scraps I had.   I took each girls picture with it and we are using them for thank you notes!

 I had to use 2 tables to fit all the girls...I covered each table with a white cloth and then draped it with blue fabric and sections of tulle.  Easy!

 

Starfish, strands of pearls and sea shells finished it off!

Both tables ready to go!

We played a few games - "fish, fish, shark"  hot potato "Don't get stung by the jellyfish" and then we let the girls go fishing in the "ocean" and they each got a little sparklie bracelet to wear. 

 Lauren had so much fun opening her presents.  Her big brothers were really helpful with that. 

 Favorite picture ever, Graham helping Lauren blow out her candles.

 I made her mermaid cake - so easy!  Some blue sparkles, candy stars and a Barbie Mermaid! 

Sea Foam soda to drink. 

I made cupcakes, they are just so much easier to serve with little ones.  We had the cake today when her grandparents came over for a little family party. 

 Each girl received a magical mermaid wand.  These come in packs of 4 for $1.00 from Target - I tied a little ribbon and ric rac to each one and then hot glued a little shell to it.  I had dry foam in the vase and covered it up with some sheet moss.  Easy and it served as a decoration until the end.

The gift bags had every girls name with a little glitter (of course!)  Each girl got the bracelet, a wand, a little mermaid doll, a ring pop and a necklace along with their pinata candy. 

  This was such a fun party!  It was a little hard since many of the girls I didn't know that well since they are from school. I think next time we will keep the group smaller for sure! Lauren had a fun time and that was what mattered most to me.

It's good to be four!