My daughter fell in love with The Little Mermaid the day she found her sister’s singing necklace. She was 13 months old and she toddled around the house singing Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh… So it was only fitting that her second birthday should be The Little Mermaid themed. I had so much fun creating the perfect under-the-sea party.
First, it was all about setting the mood for our “under the sea” Little Mermaid Birthday party. Playing on the color themes of purple, blue and green, I designed my own Birthday Invitation and matching thank you notes. Then I had my invitations printed by Shutterfly.
Money Saving Tip, you can order plain picture cards from Shutterfly and upload your own image for the front of the card and the inside page. That gives you two invitations per card, then when they arrive just cut them apart. I used a coupon code for 10 free Shutterfly cards, which resulted in 10 invitations — all I paid was shipping.
When the guests arrived, they were swept away into a magical world filled with trinkets and bobbles and fishy themed treats.
The Little Mermaid party food ideas:
- Pirates Booty
- Fishes
- Oyster Cookies
- Under the Sea (Jello cups)
- Nautical Nuggets
- Tritons of Fruit
To match my invitations, I also designed a silhouette poster of Ariel and matching food labels. The Ariel poster and labels are available for free download here.
Ariel presided over the lunch table, keeping close watch on her bobbles.
Shopping list: The Little Mermaid plates, lime green and blue paper straws, plastic cups with lids (I bought 50 two years ago, and we are still using them up!).
Jellyfish Decoration
I seriously love how these turned out. Find out how I made these (super easy) with my Jellyfish decoration tutorial.
Decorations also included treasures from Ariel’s Grotto scattered about by the sea. (Ordinary beach shells turned sparkly with glitter spray paint.)
Activities included The Little Mermaid coloring pages – Download The Little Mermaid Coloring pages.
Little Mermaid Cake
The pull-apart cupcake cake was from Walmart. Not only was it adorable, it was delicious!
Mermaid Tails
No mermaid party is complete without mermaid tails. So my big project for the party was designing and making mermaid tails for all of the little girls. Completely my own design, they turned out perfect.
They are actually fairly simple to make. For instructions, check out my Mermaid Tail Tutorial.
All of the little mermaids were enchanted with their tails, but none more than the birthday girl.
Happy 2nd birthday baby girl!
The Little Mermaid Birthday Party Supplies:
- The Little Mermaid Birthday Shirt (Etsy)
- The Little Mermaid (Great gift idea + you can put it on in the background to entertain partygoers!)
- The Little Mermaid 2 & 3 (Great gift idea + you can put it on in the background to entertain partygoers!)
- The Little Mermaid Birthday Banner (including interchangeable numbers)
- The Little Mermaid Tiaras (party hats)
- The Little Mermaid Favor Pack (48 pieces including rings, bracelets, tops, etc.)
- The Little Mermaid Gift Bags
- The Little Mermaid Hanging Decorations
- The Little Mermaid Keychains (less than $.50 each)
- Giant Little Mermaid Decoration
- The Little Mermaid Temporary Tattoos (great way to kill time!)
Nikki says
Perfect! My daughter LOVES Ariel, too! Thanks for sharing your great ideas!
Kris says
Too cute! My 10 year old still loves ARIEL! Might need to work on an older girl ARIEL party for her birthday this summer! Can’t wait to share this post with her!
Linda B says
WOW!! I love all of the pictures, especially the ones with clams and fins!! too adorable!!
Robin Gagnon {Mom Foodie} says
I love the atmosphere created, especially from the twisted ribbon backdrop & jellyfish!
Jennifer H says
TLM is my all-time FAV!! I want a party like that! LOL! I love the tails!
Donna says
Wow, you did an amazing job! What little girl wouldn’t love that! And… you should do parties, professionally! 🙂
Joan Ward says
Totally!!
jen says
You ladies are so sweet!!! Thank 🙂
robyn says
How absolutely adorable! I love The Little Mermaid! I have a friend I am going to share your tips with as her daughter is a huge fan!
Melissa says
Oh my goodness! That is the most adorable party! My daughter loves Little Mermaid. This would be perfect for her.
Not So Average Mama says
How fun!!!!
Sarah @Must Have Mom says
You did such a great job with this party! It’s adorable!!! Love the ideas. Pinning!
Natalie says
What a gorgeous party – you put so much into this. I bet she absolutely LOVED it!
Karen says
so cute! I wish my granddaughter lived closer to me so I could make a party like this for her.
Anne says
This looks fun! I love the jelly fish, they are too cute
Nichol says
Adorable! Absolutely loving the food and those jelly fish. Can’t wait to read more about the tutorials.
Amber L. says
Cute party! I love the mermaid tails!!!
Megan says
This is darling! I’m in love with the tails! Did you ever post a tutorial for how to make those? I would love to see it, since I’m prepping my daughter’s party this week!
jen says
I haven’t yet, sorry. It is on my list for this week. 🙂
Nancy says
Do you have a pattern for the mermaid tails?
jen says
I plan to post a tutorial soon, but I have not had a chance to yet. They are my own design. 🙂
jen says
Hi Nancy the Mermaid Tail tutorial is now available –> http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2014/01/27/how-to-make-a-mermaid-tail-tutorial/
Stephanie says
LOVE the mermaid picture!! Did you make it? So excited to do a party like this, not too much cartoon but definitely Ariel!
jen says
I did, thanks 🙂 I plan to make the printables available online… as soon as I have a chance 🙂
Shop with Me Mama says
Oh wow! I absolutely LOVE what you did!!!!
MotherofTwo says
This is all so cute! I’m doing this next month! Where can I find the invite and labels for the foods?
jen says
Thanks 🙂 I haven’t gotten them posted, yet. I am working on the mermaid tail tutorial this week. The printables should be up next week. Have a great party!
Angela says
Super cute! My daughter wants an Ariel party! Her birthday is next month! I can’t wait to attempt the Mermaid tails 🙂
jen says
The tail tutorial will be up this week. And they are really simple 🙂
jen says
Hi Angela, just wanted to let you know that mermaid tail tutorial is now up. Good luck and let me know how they turn out. 🙂
robyn says
I would love the mermaid printables, adorable
jen says
I hope to have the mermaid printables up next week. 🙂
Kira says
This is beautiful you did an amazing job. You nailed the theme and the tail – perfection.
Kelly says
Do tell…how did you make those jellyfish??
jen says
Hi Kelly, the Jellyfish Tutorial is now live. You can see just how easy it is to make them here –> http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2014/03/12/diy-jellyfish-party-decoration-craft-tutorial/
Christina Hanvey says
I LOVE your invitations! Did you make them yourself? Where did you get that template?
jen says
I designed them myself – it isn’t a template 🙂 I will be sharing the poster and labels this week. Hopefully I will get the invite posted the following week.
Sarah says
Where did you find the little people Flounder and Sebastian? We’ve been searching for them!!
jen says
Hi Sarah – We have the Little People Flounder from The Little Mermaid Castle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CE61H64/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00CE61H64&linkCode=as2&tag=babubl-20).
But actually, the small Flounder & Sebastian in the picture are from the Bathtime Ariel Doll who is in the middle of the table (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z4FHW4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003Z4FHW4&linkCode=as2&tag=babubl-20). They are the right size for Little People so ours have never been in the bath.
The bigger Flounder & Sebastian are actually from this bath set –> http://www.disneystore.com/ariel-bath-toys-for-baby/mp/1336011/1000265/
Hope that helps.
Kim says
I came across your Little Mermaid Party and just LOVE it. It is the PERFECT amount of Ariel. Not too overdone: beautiful!! I think I will use some ideas for my little mermaid’s birthday party! Thank you for sharing your awesome party. I was just wondering if you have a copy of the invitation that you used? Thank you 🙂
jen says
Thank you Kim, you made me smile! I actually plan to post the invitation to download next week. Check back with me. 🙂
Kim says
Thank you! I will be checking back!
April says
Love this party, you did a fabulous job! I was hoping you would have the jellyfish tutorial up soon? My daughter’s party is in a week. If you are busy, totally understand:)
jen says
Oh… in theory I’d love to get it up this week. But I just don’t know if it will happen. If it does, I’ll email you a link!
Anne-Marie @ This Mama Cooks! On a Diet says
Oh my goodness, how amazing! You really need to start a kids’ birthday business!!
jen says
Awe – you are too sweet Anne-Marie. I would probably go broke because I spend way too much time on them 🙂
Julie Lewis says
I am THRILLED to come across your site and am beyond excited that you’ve been so generous to share printables! My sister is obsessed with Little Mermaid and has begged me to do my little girl’s 1 year old party with an “Under The Sea” theme but I didn’t want too much Ariel. This is just perfect and I’m going to copy you on every detail! Is there a tutorial for the jellyfish?? I’m looking forward to seeing the invitations as a printable as well. You have literally made me so happy and taken such a huge load off my plate. Thanks for sharing!
jen says
And you made my day Julie!!! I put these things up and I wonder if anyone will ever like/use them, so messages from people who love them make me SOOOO happy. I haven’t done the jellies yet – I am SO slacking because people keep asking me. Oh maybe Friday I can work on the tutorial… Have a great party!!!
Melissa Verhagen says
Hello!
Amazing party! I hope I can pull something off that is even a fraction of this. I only have two weeks! question. What is the pearl, inside the oyster cookies? And is there anything inside the under the sea jello?
jen says
HI Melissa – Thanks so much!!! You can do it!!! The pearl is a yogurt covered raisin. And inside the jello is a swedish fish. Tip set your jello first, then on the morning of the party use a knife to slice into the jello and insert the swedish fish. If you try to put the fish in when the jello is setting the color will run. Have fun!
Melissa Verhagen says
Any way to get a copy of your Ariel invitation? It is so much cuter than anything else I have found on line! And I am horrible on a computer.
thanks!
melissa
jen says
HI Melissa, Yes, I am now making my invitations available on Etsy. It will be personalized for you, then all you have to do is print it or take it to have it printed. I don’t have the Mermaid one on Etsy right now, I but I do have an Octonaut one. If you want to purchase it, you can purchase the Octonaut one and put a note that it is you and I will prep the Mermaid one for you 🙂 https://www.etsy.com/your/listings?ref=si_your_shop
LIZ SPICER says
Thanks so much for the free printables….can’t wait to do this Little Mermaid party for our sweet girl, Raylen.
Thanks so much!
Jocelyn says
I love your ideas and will try to do some of them. Two questions:
1. What’s inside the oyster cookies?
2. Can you send me the food labels in another form that’s not PDF? I cannot add the names I want to them.
Thank you!
jen says
Hi Jocelyn – The “pearl” in the oyster is a yogurt covered raisin 😉
The Food Labels are downloadable as a jpeg, not a PDF. As a jpeg, you can upload them to PicMonkey to easily add text.
Kristin says
Thank you for sharing all of these wonderful ideas! I saw that you used vanilla wafers & yogurt covered raisins for the oysters, but what is the filling inside made of? Wasn’t sure if it was something other than frosting…. We are doing a non-Ariel mermaid party for my daughter’s fourth birthday next month & I will definitely be using some of these snack ideas.
Thanks again!
Would
jen says
It is just frosting. If you check out my Octonauts party, you can see that the next time I made them, I also placed them on a “sandy” plate (brown sugar). http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2014/06/06/octonauts-birthday-party-decorations-ideas-diy-party-favors-more. Have Fun!
Kim says
Love your party! Is the invitation available also?
Renae says
So glad I came across this. What did you put inside the mermaid jello cups?
jen says
So glad you like everything! They are Swedish Fish. BUT I learned the hard way, don’t put the fish in while the jello is setting or the color runs. Instead when you are ready to serve slice a slit with a knife, insert the Swedish fish and top with whipped cream. Otherwise they look more like a dark blob than a fish. They turned out much better when I did it this way for another party. 🙂
Adrian says
Hi, I was wondering how you did the background?
jen says
The backdrop is a large insulation panel ($10 – $20 at Home Depot depending on size/thickness). I covered that in a white plastic tablecloth ($1.99). Then I taped two blue and purple crepe paper ($.99 each) together at the end and attached to the top of the board. As I came down the board, I twisted the crepe paper to give it the spiral effect. Then I taped the crepe paper to the bottom and started at the top again. It is a slow process, but the effect is awesome. I use that same insulation panel as the backdrop for all of my parties, just covering it in different tablecloths or cloth and other pinned on decorations. Have fun!
Lanna says
What is the filling for your oyster cookies?
jen says
Blue icing – I used the Pillsbury kind. 🙂
Danielle says
Hello Mrs. Jenn,
You Did Such An Amazing Job With Your Daughter’s 2 Year Old Birthday Party!
I Absolutely Love All The Ideas! Thank You And God Bless! 🙂
–Mrs. Danielle
Kapri Rose Roberts says
what is the pearl in the cookies? so cute!
jen says
A yogurt covered raisin! 🙂
Dessie says
Hi there! This is too cute! I’m going to make mermaid tails for my three girls for Halloween this year and love your simple design! But when I click on the link to go to the tutorial, it takes me back to the main party page. Can you repost it?
jen says
So sorry, this comment got jammed up in spam. I do hope you found the tutorial, I am fixing the link now. Here is the direct link to the tutorial – http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2014/01/27/how-to-make-a-mermaid-tail-tutorial.