Fishy Party

Stomper turned two, can you believe it? Weren't we just celebrating his first birthday yesterday?

(Links for the stuff I used can be found a the end of the post)

I wasn't intending on having a big party, but sometimes my plans get away from me. When I was thinking about what theme to use I of course went straight to pintrest to search "boy party". I knew what I didn't want: a licensed character like Nemo, Transformers, or Yo! Gabba, Gabba!. Not that we don't watch or like those things, but I can't afford the cost. Somehow through the powers of pinterest I ran into the idea of a fish party. Not a Dr. Seuss kind of thing, but a fishing sort of thing.

Things sort of fell into place after that. I found some beads at oriental traders, a cake or three that I liked, a few easy games I could do on my own.  I found a bunch of coloring pages I could use for my purposes and with printer and card stock I got to work.

The first order of business was a few invites. I sent out a mass FaceBook party invite, but a few people got actual paper invites also. I found an appropriate image, sized it to fit three to a page, and strategically placed the invitation information on it. I printed out what I needed on to white card stock and then my sister and I colored them lightly with colored pencils one evening while the Hubs watched some TV. A few snips of the scissors and I had a nice stack of invites.

Next came decorations (see above photo). I found a sheet of fish in different shapes and sizes. I opened it up in word and sized it a bit larger to make it large enough to fit letters.  I then stacked several sheets of construction paper underneath the printed template and cut, cut, cut. Using some twine we had in the house and a needle I strung them up to make garland. It helped to have plenty of television episodes to watch as I cut and strung, but in a few hours (hours I might have spent snacking) I had several strands of fish garland, some that even said "Happy Birthday".

I found a third fish shape I printed out on card stock for a craft. On the day of the party I set a basket out with the fish in them, some glue sticks, ripped up pieces of paper (for scales), some shiny gems I found at Oriental Traders, and a big box of crayons. I told the kids that they were making a gift for Stomper. The fish they decorated I would string up on a mobile for him later. They loved the idea and got right to decorating right away. 

I had a plan for the cakes to use cupcakes and round cakes to make a fish. The second cake I planned on frosting blue and putting a boat on it. The idea being that the boat was chasing "The Big One". The day I baked I went on pintrest to check how the fish was made and ran into another idea that used just a sheet cake. In the end we (my MIL and I)  made four boxes of cake. Two sheet cakes, 1 dozen regular sized cupcakes, and 1.5 dozen mini cupcakes.  The cupcakes (some of which my MIL made) I decorated with pretzle rods, swedish fish, and an icing pen.

Finally, what party is complete with out some favors? For the under three crowd I made fish necklaces out of twine, card stock, and the fish template I used for the decorations. I cut out and strung six fish per necklace and instructed the parents that they were intended to be colored on. For the over four crowd I put together a necklace and bracelet craft with pony beads, fish beads purchased from Oriental Traders, twine, and elastic intended for bracelets. I put the craft in little plastic baggies and then put that in a pretty bag I bought from the "Less than Perfect" on Oriental Traders. Using the same fish for the invites I sized it a bit different to fit four to a page and printed "Thank You" across it. Then I stapled together: craft, thank you, and a single serving bag of goldfish.

Links -- my Pinterest Fishing Party Board
Mobile
Mobile Image
Invitations & Thank You Cards
Decorations -garland, "Happy Birthday"
Fish Cake with Cupcakes
Fish Cake with Sheet Cake
Rod and Fish Cupcakes
Icing Pen
Boat
Oriental Traders