How it all came together -The Spongebob licensed decorations (balloons, tablecloth, tableware, scene setters, jellyfishing game, "spongetastic" guest of honor ribbon) all came from my absolute favorite party store Party Packagers. We also scored some awesome luau themed decorations from Party Packagers as well, such as Hawaiian leis for each guest, pineapple drinking tumblers, an inflatable palm tree drink cooler, an inflatable limbo stick, a luau party cd and colorful paper lantern garlands.
To give our living room an under the sea look we draped waves upon waves of alternating light and dark blue crepe paper from the ceiling. We also hung strips of the same crepe paper from the doorways to make every entrance a special once. Amongst the blue waves we hung 15 homemade pink jellyfish to create Bikini Bottom's Jellyfish Fields. The jellyfish were created with pink paper plates (I only had white plates so I hand painted a bunch pink myself), pink balloons decorated with red spots and pink crepe paper to create the dangling tentacles. In addition to the scene setters and luau decorations that adorned the walls we also used posterboard to create large hand drawn images of Mr. Crabs as well as a life preserver that read 'Bikini Bottom. Happy Birthday Aiden'. The Jellyfish Fields sign was made by using Mirosoft Word and then printing the text onto scrapbooking paper. I then framed the finished product in a dollar store find frame before hanging.
The table was put together by first covering with a blue plastic tablecloth. Sand was then sprinkled liberally over the entire surface of the table. After planning the layout of our platters and tableware bigger piles of sand were mounted around focal points along with clusters of seashells (found at our local dollar store). For a little extra something some luau themed confetti was then sprinkled throughout. Color coordinated platters and bowls were also found at the dollar store and some snacks were even served in beach pails. The Krusty Krabs official menu was duplicated (and made using the same process as our jellyfish fields sign), framed and the frame was then adorned with the same seashells we used on the tablescape.
We kept the menu simple while sticking to our theme. Cold cans of soda were on ice nearby in the inflatable palm tree cooler while the littlest guests drank blue kool-aid from pineapple tumblers. Straws adorned with umbrellas were available to keep all of our guests drinks festive. For snackage we served up rock candy (in pineapple, lime and sour apple flavors), a fresh fruit platter, pizza flavored goldfish, chips and fish shaped gummies. Our barbecue got it's first workout of the year prepping up Krabby Patties and fries for all our hungry friends. The beautiful Spongebob cake was ordered from our local Metro and was the hit of the party. The character on top is actually a Spongebob toy keepsake that shakes and wiggles when you pull a string attached. To compliment the spectacular cake we served up a sundae bar complete with 2 flavors of ice cream, multiple flavors of nerds candies, gummy and candy fish, sprinkles, whip cream and chocolate and caramel sauce. YUMMY!!
We set up a gift table decorated with our Spongebob tablecloth and a very special homemade treasure chest. We filled our chest with chocolate coins, strings of pearls and a crown. The children happily nibbled on the chocolate coins throughout the party. The chest was soon buried in gifts for our lucky birthday boy.
For entertainment we had bowls of party favors and bubbles set out for the kids upon arrival. The kids danced and blew bubbles (yes inside the house - gasp!) happily for quite some time until one of the containers of bubbles ended up on our living room floor. The children (and ok the grownups too!!) played a few rounds of limbo and then a game of stick the jellyfish in spongebobs net. A couple of the kids enjoyed dressing up in full luau garb..hula skirts, floral hair embellishments and leis. Our grab bags (which I WISH I had taken pictures of) were made by filling Spongebob beach pails with luau rubber ducks, maracas, Spongebob wristbands and yoyos, some Spongebob candies and a coordinating shovel.
Overall this party was a LOT of work...but a HUGE success. To see the look on our little boys face was worth all of the effort. Happy 5th birthday little man!!!
