Beach Bag Birthday Party

 Happy Tuesday! This past weekend I got to do a fun little beach bag birthday cake for a client who was surprising his wife at a small family birthday dinner party for her. So I started thinking how much fun it would be to have this as a party theme and all the things you could do with it!

 First the invites! These from zazzle.com are super cute and affordable! At only about $2 per two sided invite these would be SO cute for a small party!

 Ok, so this looks really involved right? It doesn't have to be. Plastic tablecloths from the dollar store used as layered backgrounds as well as layered tablecloths AND cut up into strips for the "seaweed" layers with fish cutouts and circle punched bubbles would go together really quickly and easily.

 More dollar store finds are the different colors of blue paper napkins wrapped around clear plastic flatware and then tied with twine. And don't forget to add a little Life Saver in each bow!

 Serve grilled food that fits your theme. Do you love seafood? Then these grilled shrimp skewers wouldn't just be yummy but they would cook up really fast for your guests!

And speaking of grilling! Grilled pineapple is all sorts of yummy! Just slice into thick strips and insert your skewers. Grill till golden on both sides to bring out the sugars in the fruit! YUMMY!

 As with the table setting, this looks really complicated but it really isn't. Just cut off the end of a long watermelon on a slight angle. Now use a sharpie marker and draw on the big wide mouth, including teeth. Just like carving a pumpkin at Halloween, carve your watermelon the same way. Scoop out a bunch of the melon and chop it up. Mix it up with gummy fish and you have a very cute display that will have everyone talking!

 Blue drinks are easy to do with Blue Curacao. Just mix with lemon lime soda, white cranberry juice and/or vodka and top with a wedge of pineapple and you have a great ocean colored drink for your party! (want two colors of the same type of drink? Add pineapple juice to your drink and it will turn green!) Set out a bunch of these on the food table and they instantly add to your decor!

 Don't forget to serve a non-alcoholic drink as well. Blue gatorade with lemon-lime kool-aid or soda is delicious and wonderful served over ice. If you don't have a great decanter like this one you can just set out a pitcher filled with lots of icy drink mix.

 Of course you can just take the easy route, although not the least expensive route, and buy a soda that is already colored blue like the Berry Lemonade Soda from Jones! Chill them in the fridge overnight first and then set out in a tub of ice for the party.

 If this is a family party don't forget the kids. These little sailing cups are just blue jell-o that has been set up in the plastic drink cups then topped with a mandarin orange for the boat and paper sails on toothpics! SO cute that the grown ups will be grabbing them too!

 Don't forget the kids when it comes to favors either. The dollar store always has lots of pool and sand toys this time of year so take advantage of their sales and group together a few toys for each kid to take home for just a few dollars each!

 We loved these little candy filled mini beach bags for the adult favors from favorsandflowers.com. For about a dollar each you can fill them with any type of candy and still keep your budget! 

The last touch would be, of course, a fun cake like this beach bag cake from Cat's Cakes! What birthday girl wouldn't be happy to end her day by blowing out a candle tucked inside the "beach towel" and make a wish?!

Hope I gave you some fun ideas! This week brings a little girls Barbie Party! I'll share on Monday!

Cat