Beach Party Ideas

Jewel turned one on Tuesday, and we had a beach themed birthday party to celebrate. I had lots of fun planning the party.

Beach Themed Party Ideas

We rented a pavilion just off the water at a local beach.  There was a tire park beside the pavilion for the little ones to enjoy, but I also wanted to have lots of activities since we would not be venturing to the beach until after the cake was served.  I wanted to bring a little bit of the beach to the pavilion space, so I made a little beach of my own.

To make our beach pit, I filled a small wading pool with play sand, shells, and sand toys.   The little ones loved it, especially Jewel!

Given that Jewel's birthday is in the middle of July, I Knew it was going to be a hot day, so I wanted to have water activities set up near the pavilion.  I filled a small pool with water and lots of beach balls to make a beach ball water pit.

The children had a lot of fun splashing around in the water and chasing the balls.

In addition to the beach balls, we also had a sprinkler set up.

When choosing the party location, the small hill beside the pavilion was a deal sealer for us.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for some Shaving Cream Sliding Fun!

Shaving Cream Sliding Fun

The shaving cream slide was definitely the party favorite!

I also set up a craft station with a Flippin Fish Craft

We waited until just after cake to do the craft so that everyone could do it together.

As for the cake.... I made beach themed cupcakes.  

( Inspiration for the cupcakes came from Celebrate It) 

To decorate the cupcakes, I covered half with white icing, and dipped it in crushed up vanilla wafers to act as sand.  Then I covered the other half with blue frosting for the water.  I painted faces on teddy graham crackers and used soft chew mints to act as beach balls.  Then I finished them off with an umbrella!

In addition to normal party decor like balloons and streamers, I used inflatable pool toys, seashells, and sea creatures to decorate.

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For table centerpieces, I filed fish bowls I purchased at the Dollar Tree with goldfish crackers.

I thought these were such a nice touch to the beach party theme.

I gave all of the food beach themed names to help tie it to the parties theme.  We had Surfs Up Salad, Sand and Sun Sushi, Paradise Punch, and Clear Water Clubs.

For party favors, I wrote each child's name on a bucket, and filled it with Summertime goodies.

Beach Bucket Party Favors

I loved the way these turned out, and once we hit the beach, the little ones were all set to dig in the sand!

This was such a fun party!  I had just as much fun planning it as the children had attending.  

I feel the first birthday is such an accomplishment for the parents, and a huge milestone for the child.  For the child, it is the end of babyhood.  A child learns so much in that first year, and goes confidently toddling into the next stage of life.  For the parent, it is a celebration of making it through the first year with all of it's joys and struggles.  After many sleepless nights, the battles of teething, random bouts of incessant crying, and hundreds of poopy diapers, we celebrate! We made it!  We got through that first year, and and we all survived! 

Happy birthday sweet baby Jewel. You are beautiful, loving, strong willed and determined... and mommy and daddy couldn't love you more! x

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