Something Fishy's Goin' On, Carli's Turning 2!-2yr girl For my daughter's 2nd party, We went all out.  I found a local party facility and invited 60 people with an invite I designed on the computer to look like a goldfish in his bowl. We found aqua fabric & sewed a party bag w/yellow rik-rak handles & added fish appliques w/fabric paint bubbles on the bags, but I didn't fill the bags in advance. As we played each fish related game (like going fishing in a kiddy pool for plastic fish, tossing fish bean bags through an underwater backdrop, or running through an underwater maze of fish shaped swim rings), I awarded fish shaped prizes & fish shaped items that would aid in the game or were part of the game itself (found at Oriental Trading & the dollar store).  The kids kept adding their loot to their bags after each game.  All of my decor was built upon being underwater.  I took aqua plastic tablecloth rolls & covered all the walls of the room from floor to ceiling.  I put fish cutouts all over the walls on the aqua background. I hung royal, aqua and navy tulle solid all along the ceiling to look like waves above you. The tables were all covered in silver Mylar tablecloths with fish honeycomb centerpieces.  Above each table, I attached 5" clear balloons filled with helium and strung on fishing line to float above the fish.  My mother-in-law sewed 250 fabric fish "pillows" stuffed with newspaper that I spread all around the room and outside along the porch/stairs of the building.  I used fishing nets & lots of the 5" clear balloons (ordered on the Internet because they aren't available in a party store) hung w/fishing line.  I also got 10 extra-large Mylar helium balloons shaped like fish that floated freely around the room during the party (like they were swimming.) For my food, everything was shaped like fish.  We ordered blue and green marbled bread from my baker & did fish shaped tuna-fish sandwiches. I found a smaller fish cookie cutter & served cut out fresh melon pieces w/fish shaped pineapple. I did crab dip & shrimp cocktail for the adults.  Of course, I used gold fish crackers. For the cake, I had my baker do an underwater scene w/blue icing & 3D built-up icing formations with seaweed and starfish.  The candles were 3D fish shaped. For ice cream, the kids got vanilla ice cream cups covered with gummy fish & the adults got Ben & Jerry's Phish Food.  My daughter & I created matching T-shirts w/fish appliques & wore matching shorts & shoes. We gave all the kids visor hats when they came in w/foam fish glued on & their names in glitter sticker letters. Nobody could believe all the work we put into this party, as I was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time.  So that we didn't spend all of our money up front, we spaced it out, buying everything in advance over a period of several months.  Because we made a lot of the decorations & food times ourselves, we saved money over buying prepackaged items. I did have a lot of help from my mother and mother-in-law w/party planning & decorating. In the end, the party was a huge success with everyone having a great time.