Under the Sea

In April we celebrated Caroline's 3rd birthday 

with a whimsical "Under the Sea" inspired soiree.  

We used a color palette of light blues, turquoise 

and silver throughout and we're so pleased 

with the way it all came together.

We wanted to stay away from the typical "Little Mermaid" decorations (although who doesn't love Ariel) and go with a little more unique, stylized approach.

We tried to bring in natural elements like driftwood, seashells, lots of sand and fresh flowers to enhance the decorations.  

The only thing we weren't prepared for was the wind.  It's so hard to plan a party outside, but we know that weather can be unpredictable- and it was a chance we were willing to take.  

You will notice in a lot of the photos, the decorations are a 
little windblown.  We just tried to imagine that we were 
on a beach somewhere enjoying the salty sea breeze!

This was a picture a portion of our food table.  I found the printables on Etsy and used them 

throughout the event.  I love using a designer who has a whole range of party products so you 

can have that continuity from start to finish.  In this case; the invitations, party favor bucket tags, 

the food tent cards, the personalized banner, the game prize tags, the crayon bags and the 

numerous 8x10 signs all coordinated and I was so pleased with the way they turned out.

 Here are some 
examples of the 
printable items 
in use.

My mother-in-law made 

all the amazing cookies at the party and was incredibly involved in the entire planning process.  I could not have done it without her.  Thank you Mimi!!!

And here is the birthday girl holding up one of her prizes!  

We had a fishing game complete 
with bamboo poles where each 
child was able to catch a "fish" 
to take home with them

(actually... they just caught play fish in a bar of glycerin soap).  

What's better than having soap that 

your children actually want to play with?

Nothing says a "day by the ocean" like a Steel Drum band!  

We had Cecil Francis from Austin Community Steelband come out and he and an apprentice kept the guests dancing all afternoon.  They were such a highlight of the party and totally set the mood!

This was the party 
favor table.  We used palm fronds for the canopy and had her name spelled out in wooden letters along with a turquoise mermaid to boot!

This was a picture of the front lawn and some of the 
children's activities.  There was the "S.S. Caroline" boat that 
was filled with sand and buried treasures for the children to find.  
There was an "Octo-toss" game in the back of the 
picture, along with the photo booth area in the far right.

Here is a closer picture of our octopus ring toss game!  

We had a few high school students help with each of the game stations, and that freed us up to tend to other areas of the party.


The games kept the children entertained so the adults could
have a little time to chat with one another, as well.  

This was one of the prize tables for the games.  

This was our fishing game and the kids probably had the most fun at this station!

Such precious kiddos.

The food table turned out really nicely.  I wish the wind wouldn't have been blowing our "sea kelp" streamers all over the place, but what do you do?

I loved the way the carrot "crab claws" in the hummus "sand" turned out!  So many fun ways to tie in food with the theme.  I wish I would have had a bigger table.

The shell topped toothpicks were 
another Etsy find.  

Simple things like adding 
pearls to silverware can 
really make an impact.

The guests were all sent their invitations in a bottle and you can see an example of one of the invitations in the left hand picture.  
We also added two live fish to the decor.  :) There is one in the 
jar seen in the picture on the right.  (FYI both the little 
guppies are now swimming happily around their bowls in my kitchen and have been dubbed "Ping" and "Pong" by my daughter.

The dessert table was one of my favorite areas of the party, 
(and not just because of all the sweets).  I loved the way the mismatched blue bottles added color to the already pretty baked goods.  I found the sweet mermaid statue at Home Goods 
and just had to have her.  The cookies were all baked by my mother-in-law and my husband made the beautiful cake.  We used 
sea urchin shells on top of the cake to hold the candles.

We had seahorse cookies swimming around on sticks.  They were perfect for little hands to grab on the go.

Here's a closer look 
at some of the yummy 
cookies and we just 
displayed them on 
raw sugar to make 
it look like they were 
sitting on sand.

Here's another picture 

of the birthday cake.

After having 3 of the vases tip over- we decided to clear the kids tables 

of pretty much everything.  I was sad to see some of the decorations make their way back inside, but it wasn't worth 

the hassle.  I found the starfish and seahorse statues at 

Michael's and we made the table runners out of pillow cases.

Here are some additional pictures of the decorative details 

of the party.  I know there are a lot, but trust me... I narrowed 

them down from over 500 pictures taken.  And a HUGE 

thanks to Holly Rich for her incredible photographs!  

Thanks for capturing Caroline's special day!

Happy Birthday Sweet Caroline!

Thanks for celebrating with us!