Under The Sea With Lucy

I can't quite imagine a better way to celebrate my favorite two year old than with a BEAUTIFUL day under the sea.

This party definitely topped my list of our favorite parties along with Jack's Lego theme and Maggie's Farm.  Everything came together beautifully.  And I digress, I only wish I had taken more {or at least better} photographs.  The following pictures hardly do Mermaid Lucy's celebration justice.  I think I'll be back to having a professional on hand to capture every splendid moment and detail.

But, far more wonderful than the decor itself, Lucy's excitement and happiness is what made the day so joyous.  She was an absolute lovely birthday girl.  Not that we would expect anything less from our third charm.  

Without a doubt Mermaid Lucy and the festivities are deserving of their own entire post.  So until then we will dedicate this one to the set up and what pictures I managed to grab of the decor.

So here we go...

With an August birthdate, I of course, tossed around many summer themes before settling on this one.  When Lucy started showing a serious love for mermaids, I just knew that was it.  However, I somehow had this clean beachy look in my head instead of something more playful.  {I get random visuals like that sometimes.}

When I spotted this under the sea collection from Tracy at Sweet Peach Paperie it all started to make sense.  I added a few touches along the way to suit this celebration for a two year old party and one I knew Lulu would love.  

But, I foresee me using a lot of this again.  

{Hopefully for a wedding shower for Uncle Jon and Bailee...and might I just note right here and now...Uncle Jon popped the big question the night before Lu's birthday!  I am so over the moon and can't wait to welcome her into our family!  Squeals of joy are coming from this gal!}

Okay, but we must get back to the birthday girl!  

Please join me for Mermaid Lucy's 2nd birthday celebration...

This was the backdrop and the food table.  All the fabric and the statues were from Hobby Lobby.  I spray painted the statues and went a little bright on the mermaid in hopes of her standing out.  I would say mission accomplished.

The backdrop sign {with the glare} says, "Welcome Mermaids".  And the smaller sign in the fish bowl centerpiece says, "Catch of the Day".  The humidity was wreaking havoc on my signs so forgive the curl.

I found this tulle table skirt on Etsy and I was actually able to rationalize the price, as you will see it again at Maggie's party in November.  Yes, my mind is already reeling over that one.

Since we were hosting at the pool clubhouse, I thought boxed and bag lunches would be the way to go.  The adults had boxes filled with a chicken salad sandwich {I so wanted to do tuna, but wasn't sure if everyone would be a fan}, chips, and an orange.

The kids each got a lunch sack.  I ordered white paper sacks from Oriental Trading and then used a di-cut to embellish the scalloped edges.  The kid's had sand dollar sandwiches {pb& J-precut smuckers look just like a sand dollar...or clam}, squeezie pouches, and goldfish crackers.

The goldfish were in these precious snack cups which I ordered from Sweet Peach.  She sells them separately and then I added the stickers.   Clearly, this one is post lunch.  The goldfish were devoured and the sticker has been a little loved on.  This was one of those after thought pictures.

I set up pink lemonade and bottles for the littles to fill.  I found the cute straws in just the right colors at Oriental Trading as well.  And over there, barely peeking his head in is another statue from Hobby Lobby.

The cupcakes were almost too beautiful to eat.  For me anyway.  The kids, however, had no problem scarfing them down. The cupcake toppers are again from the mermaid collection at Sweet Peach Paperie and the cupcake wraps are off of Etsy.  I did pink and white icing and then topped them with pearlized Sixlets from Party City.  The kids thought they were real pearls and they were just the right touch.

There was no shortage of tables at the club.  Which was wonderful, but left me with a lot of decorating.  I used four rounds for meal time and the two remaining rectangles for the activities.  Each meal table looked like this...

I really wanted a linen tablecloth but could not rationalize the price for 6 of them.  So I found some great linen like disposable cloths at Smarty Had a Party online.  I wish this picture showed them better, because they were a great find and looked elegant without breaking the bank.  Each centerpiece was a fishbowl filled with play sand {from Lowes}, blue stones {from the dollar store} and seashells {from Hobby Lobby}.

I then put a strip of aqua polka dot fabric down the middle and topped them with a fish net.  I got the fish nets from the Dollar Store.  I couldn't beat the price, but originally I didn't care for the yellowy tone of them.  So I grabbed some Rit Dye in tan and took care of all seven of them.  It was a super easy fix.

Under the fishnets, I added a placemat to each setting that went with the paper collection.  The pink stripes were just the right pop of color.

We had two activity tables to allow for plenty of time in the pool.  The first was "Shark Fins & Mermaid Tails".  I used striped fabric for the center of these tables and left spare room for the art supplies and the guests to use their creative genuises.

I hung the mermaid tails and shark fins on a fish net and attached them with clothes pins.  {The colors matched the party much better than this picture shows.  The sun was glaring right through.}  The boys grabbed a fin and the girls a tail and they brought them back to the table to decorate.  I had velcro on the table for the girl's to size their tails accordingly.

The shark fins were pre-made from Oriental Trading and the tails were made by me {sans sewing}.  I grabbed a few towels from Walmart, cut them half and tied tulle ribbon along the bottom half to make a tail.

Once they were decorated and on, they looked like this...

Is that the cutest mermaid you've ever seen or what?  Absolutely delish that sweet thing is!

The other activity table was the "Under the Sea Treasure Boxes".  I completely forgot to take a picture of this table before it was in the midst of destruction.  Thankfully, I happened to snag one of my sweet Maggie who gravitates towards anything art related.  Let's just say she had a permanent seat at this table.

I ordered the treasure boxes from Oriental Trading.  I used some of my statue spray paint and painted these as well in the blue and pink.  The were originally plain wood.  I set up glitter pins, jewels, and shark and mermaid stickers for the kids.  All the art supplies were housed in that cute starfish platter by Maggie's elbow.

Here a few treasure boxes post decorating that were set aside to dry.  I have a feeling that pink one on the right is going to take a few days.  Holy glitter pen!

The remainder of the time was spent in the pool.  The weather was glorious and sweltering hot...perfect for a pool party!  I couldn't complain.

Upon leaving, each of our fishy friends got a favor.  The girls took home mermaids {from the dollar store...score on that one}.  The tags read, "Thanks for Joining Lucy under the Sea".

And the boys took home sharks.

I made up for my mermaid penny pinching with these things.  Can you believe it was impossible to find plastic sharks anywhere?  I ended up finding them in a tourist shop on our family beach vacation earlier this summer.  I'm sure you can imagine the over priced tag on these guys.

So that is how the party looked before the guests arrived.  The best is yet to come...lots of little wet guests, some big splashes, and a very, VERY happy birthday Mermaid.

I can't wait to share the rest...especially the ones of my sweetest little mermaid.