Ocean Theme - 6 year old DECORATIONS - I purchased some netting and fish and other sea creature paper decorations and hung them from the ceiling with fishing line and push pins.
I also used push pins to hang blue crepe paper along the ceiling, making it look like we were "underwater." I used the same decorations along the patio in the yard. I had ocean-themed plates, cups, and napkins. FOOD - I made sugar cookies in the shapes of sea creatures using cookie cutters, and used the same cutters to shape cheese and pb & j sandwiches. I had goldfish and dolphin-shaped crackers as well. I had the "ocean blue" Kool-Aid for drinks. I purchased a cake in the shape of a shark at the local bakery. GAMES - We played "pin the fin on the shark", and my husband hand-drew a 5' shark on butcher paper. (Freezer paper works, too!) I cut out the fins before the party. (My husband joked that we could play "pin the shells on the mermaid" instead, which would be very funny for an adult party!) Using a large conch shell, we played a cross between "hot potato" and "musical chairs" by passing the shell to the music of "Under The Sea" from Disney's The Little Mermaid soundtrack-- if you were holding the shell when the music stopped, you were out of the game. We did a "tide pool toss" with small stuffed animals/beanie babies in the shape of fish, lobster, crab, octopus, and such into different sized metal bowls. We played "Fish, Fish, Shark", our themed version of "Duck, Duck, Goose." We had a fish-shaped piņata as well, and I filled the piņata with plastic sea creatures, stickers, and temporary tattoos as well as wrapped candy. GOODIE BAGS & PRIZES- Using a small plastic pool filled with small blue balloons, we made a "sea" where the kids could fish for their prizes. We used a large stick for the fishing pole and tied a string at the end with a strong magnet at the other end. I included a magnetic fish in each bag, so the kids could "reel in" their prizes. I found gummy sharks as well as gummy fish for treats, and put them in small snack baggies inside the goodie bags. I included more stickers with a few seashells, pencils with sea decorations, pencil toppers that were also sea creatures, and little notebooks that were shaped like fish, starfish, and seahorses. For game prizes, I had books about the ocean and marine life and I wrapped them in ocean-themed wrapping paper. The party lasted three hours, and can be done inside or outside; It rained unexpectedly after the party started, so we moved the piņata into the garage.
