Under The Sea Birthday Party

For Zac’s First Birthday we decided to throw an under the sea birthday party for him! It can be difficult knowing what “theme” to go with for a first birthday party – they don’t really have a favourite show at this point. One thing we know he loves is the aquarium. We have an annual pass for our local sealife centre and he is always fascinated. He even has a bubble fish lamp in his bedroom. So we decided to go for an under the sea birthday party.

It was a joint birthday party with his best friend Jenson (@mamastacey_) as their birthdays are only a few days apart.

The Venue

We hired a local hall which worked out quite cheap. They charge hourly for the hire and you can bring all of your own food and drink. Doing your own catering can really help to save a lot of money. We hired the hall for 4 hours. We allowed 1 hour for set up, 2 hours for the party and 1 hour to tidy up. This was the perfect amount of time. Small children and toddlers can get tired and fed up quite quickly.

The Entertainment

Soft play and bouncy castles are a big winner for toddlers! We used a local company to hire an under the sea themed soft play set up! It looked fab and all of the kids loved it. We had children aged from 6 months to 5 years at the party and there was something for all of them. They came and set up just before the party started so it was all ready for when everyone began to arrive.

We also had a few other toys and games dotted around for the kids to play with. The inflatable sea creatures from Party Delights were a big hit! [Gifted]

Zac loved the Little Tikes Ocean Explorer Stand and Dance Starfish. He was feeling a bit poorly on the day and was overwhelmed by all the children at the party, so he loved sitting down playing with this.

(Zac’s gorgeous birthday romper was kindly gifted by Bella Maria Boutique)

The Décor

To decorate the hall and tables we used a mixture of blue and green balloons. We made the displays using balloon arch strips (I say we, it was all Stacey), it was so easy to do and looked so effective! We had them round the bi-fold doors and in front of the cake table.

We also had some great under the sea themed decorations from Party Delights [Gifted]. This included some hanging fish curtains, which we used on the wall behind the cake and on the front door as people walked in.

We also had some great fish lanterns! These looked so great hanging from the bi-fold doors.

Another talking point which everyone loved was our photo wall. We gathered together lots of photos of the boys together. They have known each other since they were about 8 weeks old, so have practically grown up together! It was so lovely to see how much they had grown in each of the photos.

The Food

We did our own food to save money. As the party was only a couple of hours long we didn’t want to go over the top with food and we wanted to try and make it suitable for toddlers and those only just starting weaning.

We made fish shaped sandwiches for the kids. We made these using a fish cookie cutter from Party Delights [gifted]. We did two fillings: cream cheese and ham (perfect for fussy eaters!). We did some cucumber spirals to look like seaweed, although I think this perhaps looked better in my head!

We also did a salad platter with a humus dip, great for anyone who has only just started weaning. This went down so well, all the kids loved it – and even some of the adults. We used cucumber, mixed peppers, tomatoes and celery.

Now for the centre piece. Our shark water melon, fruit bowl! This came out exactly how we imagined, we saw the idea on Pinterest and it was actually quite easy to do! We carved the shape out of a watermelon and then filled with fruit like berries, melon and grapes (halved).

We also put out some sandwiches for the parents, a few different pizzas and crisps. It all went really well and there was hardly any food left over.

The Cake

I contemplated having a cake made for the party but spending a couple of hundred pounds on a cake seemed like a bit of a waste. Then I came across a “narwhale” cake in Sainsbury’s (simply – a unicorn whale). It was a complete bargain at only £9! I took the unicorn horn off and replaced it with a number 1 candle from Party Delights [gifted]. It was perfect and looked so cute!

The personalised sparkly cake topper was from eBay and cost less than £5!

Overall it all went brilliantly (apart from Zac being a bit unwell and grumpy). The decorations looked great and all the kids had a fantastic time!

I hope you have got some party inspiration! Thank you for reading.