Underwater / Nemo

Theme: Underwater

Invites: I used a picture I had taken at Disneyland at Turtle Talk with Crush and printed the invites out on 4X6's. (That is what I do for a lot of my invitations. I make them in Photoshop and print them out.) Here is the picture that I used. I just went into Photoshop and added text to it.

Decorations: Dark blue and light blue and green streamers across the ceiling of the party room and hanging from the doorway (so guests can swim into the party) A sunken ship, clear gem rocks for a little sparkle. And fish hanging from the ceiling at different heights. (I forgot to get great pictures of the decorations. This was taken by my little girl.)

Games:  (Not all of these games were played at this party. Pick  and prepare enough games to fill the time and then maybe one extra. Then you can decide what will work best during the party and not have any dead time.)

1. Make fish / sea creatures. Take a paper plate and cut the outer bumpy part off and clip into triangles. These will be used to make the fish tails. Then staple the triangle onto a whole plate to make the fish. When the guests arrive give them a fish plate and crayons, stickers, markers. Whatever you have picked out for them to use. When the fish are done hang them in a cluster to be the sides of a picture for the end of the party. For an octopus/jellyfish take a white plate and put a string in the center. Then the streamers that you decorated with or a variety of other colors cut into different lengths. The guests can then tape on what
tentacle they want.

Fish Printout

2. Toss the fish into the ocean. At Zurcher's they have little packets of fish. I bought enough so that we could play the game and then give some of the fish to the guests at the end of the party. I then took a blue plastic table cloth and draped it in and around a laundry basket that we had. Then the parties can throw their fish into the ocean. You can tape lines on the floor or take some green streamers and tape and twist it on the floor so they are seaweed lines to stand on. This can be done all at once or taking turns. If all at once make sure there is enough room in the area (I had access to a toss game that we used at the last minute)

3.Island hop. Taking brown butcher paper cut it into islands. Then tape them onto the floor. (They will move if not taped down) I used the tape to give a path to follow to the next island so that there aren't any crashes. Have each child pick an island. Then give instructions on how to follow the tape if you have a younger group. Now's time to start. Tell the children to hop, swim like a ... (this one is funny, they try and move their bodies like that creature.), fly, crawl like a crab, etc... to the next island.

4. Swimming freeze dance. Play tropical music, the kids do swimming dance moves. Then freeze. If someone moves after the freeze has been called then they are out. Play until 1 child is left. Play again. (fish from the fish toss can be the prize for winning)

5. Find Nemo. We took a Nemo fish (any fish would do) and had the kids sit on the couch. To start pick one seeker and one hider. The hider would pick one of the other guests to hid the fish behind them. The seeker would then turn around and find "Nemo". They had three guesses to find the fish. When Nemo has been found a new seeker is picked and the child that was just the seeker picks a new person to hid Nemo. Continue until everyone gets a turn.

6. Ocean Pinata.

7 Coral Reef Kabobs . We used squires and a lot of other gummy candy. Sour Airheads to ribbon on it, different sea creatures from Swedish fish, peach rings and stuck them on the sticks. You can use any candy that your Birthday Boy/Girl wants. This is a very sticky activity so be prepared. I then put them into blue cellophane bags.

8. Fishing. I stapled cut apart fish stickers, then strung magnets onto string. I would used the blue table cloth from the fish toss instead of the green. But I spread out the magnets and the kids got to fish. The stickers went home with them as part of the party prizes.

9. Ocean  Picture with chalk. I got a long piece of blue butcher paper, taped it to the wall. Then edged it with green seaweed plants. I then gave the kids chalk to draw in the ocean. This was a hit. It works great as the ending game waiting for parents to come.

  Cake: This was for my little girl and most of the guests were still younger so we did mini cupcakes with Swedish fish on top. We had also did the Fish Sticks and a lot of the candy was eaten during that activity, as I had expected. So the little cupcakes and water was the cake.

Additional Games that I came across later.

1. Fish Rock pets. Find smooth flat stones in various sizes. Have the kids paint the surface of each rock (pick the birthday child's favorite colors) To finish off the fish add a googly eye and a feather for the tail. Use tacky glue for this. Then dots, stripes or other design can be added by using the wooden end of a paintbrush. This one I found in June 2004 Parents Magazine

2.This is a craft that I found in the Finch Family Games. Underwater scene: you can do this one during the fish/sea creature making.
Fish Scene