Under the Sea Birthday Party Theme

Hiiii! Here I am almost 3 months post-birthday, FINALLY sharing details from our Under the Sea party, haha. Better late than never?

We were so unsure what we wanted the theme of Gio & Gabi’s joint birthday party to be this year. (And by we, I mean me. Haha.) We considered a few different themes, but I fell in love with the “Under the Sea” idea when I saw a DIY coral reef– which I’ll be sharing how I made in my next post!!

Theme

There was a ton we could do with an Under the Sea party theme, but I decided to try & keep it more simple– instead of worrying about themed party food, I kept the focus on the coral reef & backdrop for the sweets table. Everything I got (with the exception of a few things for the reef) I bought at Hobby Lobby. One stop shopping makes it so EASY.

Cake Table & Backdrop

To make the display, I first hung blue table cloth (from a roll) on the wall. I covered the table cloth with large mesh ribbon (leftover from the reef) to give the backdrop some dimension. I alternated the colors blue & teal, so the wall was almost striped. I cut out a G (for Giovanni & Gabriella) from glitter paper, along with different sized/colored fish, which I arranged in a wave pattern. I then hung & overlapped 2 green nets as a cute detail for the backdrop– my original idea was to have shells & starfish stuck in the net, but the shells were too heavy & I couldn’t figure out how to keep them up, so I just scattered them on the table. I found these metallic hanging spiral decorations that looked like jelly fish, so I got 2 packages of those & hung them on the ceiling over the reef.

I used more of the blue table cloth from the roll to cover the table (like water), then on top of that, I used some spare burlap (supposed to look like sand) to create a wide runner on the table. The reef obviously went in the middle, & then I had 2 fish bowls filled with Swedish fish & 3 trays of sweets– 2 with cupcakes, & 1 with cookies.

The “sand dollar cookies” were snickerdoodle cookies with sliced almonds arranged in a star pattern on top. I scattered brown sugar on the cardboard cake tray to bring in more of the sand look.

My mother-in-law (known for her amazing baking) made the cupcakes & decorated them with blue frosting, blue/green/white sprinkles & shark gummies. Gio LOVED these!

I had a few different tables set up throughout our house & we decorated them with the large blue mesh ribbon, some photo props (Amazon) & green paper cups filled with goldfish crackers as an easy grab & go snack.

I wish I took more picturrrrrrres!! This ALWAYS happens to me. Time flies & I get like a crazy person when I’m setting up & somehow there’s always a million things to do right before the party. I always think, “I don’t want to set up too early.” Well. Note to self, Kris. Set up early. Haha.

I snapped a few photos of the sweets table on my phone before the guests came, but I wish I had more of the party, & on my big camera! :( Oh, well.