I just brought my kids home from a cousin's birthday party today that I thought was so fun and creative, I just had to share! He had a "Fish/Under-the-Sea" theme.
The food served was simple-- fish sticks, tuna casserole, goldfish crackers, and blue punch. The children had a lot of fun playing the games all themed around water--- They had a "Crab" race, where two teams raced each other crawling backwards like a crab. Another game involved "catching" a paper fish on a fishing pole that had a large magnet tied to the end of the string. Each paper fish had a paper clip and a number written on it. The kids had to pick at least two fish up with the magnet, then add up the number of the two fish... the child with the highest number won! (This was a great "adding" game!) They also played "Put the worm in the fish's mouth" (Like pin the tail on the donkey) And lastly they played "Rainbow-Fish Bingo"--- each child had a piece of paper with a fish drawn on it and a bingo card drawn inside the fish. Each square was a different color. When a color was called, the child would put a chip (or a goldfish cracker) on the square. The game was played until every child had won. She also had a small kiddy pool set up for the kids to splash in. But what got the kids the most excited was the party favors. Every child got sent home with a small glass goldfish bowl (.77/each at Wal-Mart!) that had a little bit of multi-colored rocks at the bottom and some water in it. Each child stood in a line at took turns catching their own gold fish to put in their bowl. The kids were so excited to take home their own pet, they all named their fish right away. My aunt put small stickers on each bowl with the fish's name on it, so none could be mistaken for another's. The loot bags had a large fish water-squirting bath toy, Swedish fish, and a small vile of fish food in them. Oh, and the cake was frosted blue and had Swedish fish on it too. I just thought the whole party was so cute, and the kids had a GREAT time!