If you little one loves all things ocean, throw him or her an under-the-sea celebration with our Ocean Party Ideas! From invitations to party favors, we have all the bases covered so your party goes swimmingly!
Invitations
Decorations
Food
Party Favors
Games & Activities
Planning & Invitations
Your first decision will be whether to hold your Ocean Party at your own home or somewhere else. You can plan a great party at home, complete with decorations, activities, and food that fit your theme. If you choose a different location, however, an aquarium or water park might be a good choice. For additional ideas, see our When & Where to Have the Party article.
What do I need for the Party?
Basic party supplies include paper tableware, such as plates, napkins, cups, and cutlery, as well as a tablecloth, streamers, and balloons.
You can stick with the basics, or add other items to fit your theme. For example, for an Ocean Party, you may also want to consider renting or purchasing the following:
To help you with your shopping, take a look at our Suggested Party Supply List. You may not need everything on the list, but you can use it as a guide. For additional party planning tips, our Party Planning 101 Guide includes cake ideas, party etiquette tips, a printable guest list, and more.
Ocean Party Invitations
If you have the time to make your own invitations, here are a few ideas to consider:
- Send a Message in a Bottle! Thoroughly wash and dry old soda bottles. Write your party details on a slip of paper, roll it up, and slide it inside. Make sure the paper is rolled tightly and secured so it will easily slip out of the bottle once your guests receive it. Check out our Invitations in a Bottle for inspiration!
- Purchase seashells at a craft store, or collect them on the beach and wash and dry them thoroughly. Write your party details on the shells and send them in highly padded envelopes, or hand deliver them to your guests.
- Punch a hole in the corner of a card-style invitation and attach it to a fish-shaped cookie cutter or straw. Send to your guests in padded envelopes.
- Cut the shape of an angel fish out of blue or orange cardstock. Use colored markers to draw on the details and use glitter glue or puff paint for the accents. Write your party details on the back.
- Include creative wording for your party details, such as:
Come to an adventure under the sea,
And party with Marcy who is turning three!
Games will be played and cake will be served,
RSVP to give me your word!
If you would rather not make your own invitations, but would still like a personalized touch, consider our Personalized Ocean-Themed Invitations, which include all the party details for you! We also offer blank invitations that you can fill in yourself.
Whichever invitation option you choose, seal your envelopes with Ocean stickers to add a final festive touch!
Decorating & Food Ideas
Ocean Party Decorations
To provide your guests with a true under-the-sea experience, consider these options for decorations:
- Cover the ceiling, walls and floor with blue transparent cellophane wrap to give the impression of being underwater. Scatter seashells and sand dollars around the perimeter of the room.
- Set a bubble machine in one corner of the room.
- Hang plastic toy fish from the ceiling using clear fishing line.
- Make a “sunken” treasure chest by covering a large shoebox with brown construction paper and strips of gold foil or glitter paint. Fill it with shells, plastic necklaces and jewels, and chocolate gold coins.
- Fill the party area with bunches of blue and green balloons! Add fish-shaped Mylar balloons to a few of the bunches.
- Cover the tables with blue tablecloths and decorate them with sand, faux pearls and seashells.
- Hang a banner. Check out our personalized ocean-themed banners and let us do the work for you.
- Place groups of stuffed clown fish, angel fish, starfish, and sharks in the corners of the party area.
- Cut out giant fish shapes and starfish shapes out of construction paper to hang on the walls of the party area.
- Hang a pinata in the party area that can be used as a decoration before the activity begins. Remember, you can transform any pinata into a pull-string with these easy instructions.
Ocean Party Food Ideas
It can be fun for the host and the guests to include theme-specific treats during the party. For an Ocean Party, consider the following ideas:
- Use cookie cutters to cut fish shapes out of peanut butter sandwiches, cheese slices, and deli meat slices.
- Make octopus treats! Cut red licorice strings into 2” sections and attach 8 sections to a red gumball with a little red frosting. Draw on two eyes with black decorator icing.
- Serve goldfish crackers, Swedish Fish, gummy sharks, and sour gummy fish.
- Cook seashell-shaped pasta and spinach linguini and serve chilled with a little butter. Call it “Seaweed & Shells Pasta”.
- Make “Sea Water” by coloring pitchers of apple juice with blue food coloring, and serve with fish-shaped straws.
- Serve Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream.
- Make an Ocean cake by using our fish-shaped cake pan and different colors of frosting. Or, follow these simple instructions for a make-your-own fish cake:
Fish Cake - Start with any flavor cake baked in a 9”x13” cake pan. Let it cool and remove from pan. You’ll need two colors of frosting so that the fins and tail are a different color than the body of the fish. A green body with yellow fins would look good, but choose any two colors that you like. You’ll also need Necco wafer candies to make the fish scales, one chocolate sandwich cookie for the eye, and a small piece of red licorice string to create a smile.
Cut the cake as shown in our drawings and arrange the pieces on a cake plate. Frost the body of the fish in one icing color and frost the fins and the tail in the second icing color. Then put the cookie eye and the licorice string mouth in place. The last step is to arrange the Necco wafers over the body of the fish to resemble scales.
If you would rather not make a cake, make a jello “ocean” instead. First, add blue and green jelly beans (to resemble rocks and plants) to the bottom of a shallow glass baking dish. Make blue-colored jello and pour it over the jelly beans. Before the jello sets, add gummy fish.
Ocean Party Favors
Put a smile on your guests’ faces by sending them home with party favors that fit your theme. You can give one large favor, such as tickets to a local aquarium, or combine smaller favors such as a fish-shaped cookie cutter, a small box of chocolate turtles, stickers, and bubbles in a nice favor bag.
To save time, you may want to consider our complete Ocean Favor Sets, which include matching favor bags. Or, consider our popular personalized favors. Choose from bag tags, zipper pulls, magnets, and more, all personalized with your guests’ names or a personal message from you!
Ocean Party Games & Activities
An easy way to add games to a party is to alter traditional games to fit your theme. For example, play Fish, Fish, Shark instead of Duck, Duck, Goose; or play Pin the Tentacles on the Octopus. For additional ideas, see the Games & Activities section below.
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