Saturday, December 14, 2013

An under the sea mermaid birthday party




So as we recover from the Under the sea, mermaid birthday party extravaganza, it is time to share all the best bits. Let's start with the cake. This would be my absolutely most favourite cake that I have ever made for either of my children. Miss Liongirl and I had agreed on some kind of mermaid under the sea castle type cake. The details, like all my cakes, kind of came together as it was assembled and of course involved maximum colour and lolly coverage. My favourite part was the corals on either side which were made by Roboboy and I with drizzled white chocolate covered in sprinkles and set in the fridge.




 The pink gravel was a previous batch of chocolate that curdled when I added the pink food colouring. Luckily, it looked just like gravel. The turrets were made of cardboard rolls pinched from kindy with meringues on the top. I had a stash of these scallop shells collected from Currumbin beach many, many years ago and saved for a day just like this one. A lovely mum at school loaned me the Ariel figurine which was exactly the right size.



Legoman even had some great ideas for this cake and created some seaweed up the sides with lolly snakes and the spearmint leaves down the front trimmed to look a miniature kelp forest. He also helped decorate the mini cupcakes with tiny fish blowing bubbles. The fish came from Spotlight in the cake decorating section.




Best of all he was happy to step up and re create the one idea I pinched from Pinterest which was to carve this amazing watermelon shark that was a massive hit. You had to be brave to reach into his mouth to get some melon.




Like previous parties I pulled out the milk glass and an appropriate toned vintage sheet for the food table. Only this time I had a fan documenting my work.




The girls each made a mermaid crown out of cardboard, gold doily and stick on jewels and the take home boxes were treasure chests that I had lots of fun spraying gold. ( unlike house painting, spray paint is super fast and incredibly satisfying)




The cursed , never speak of it again, rainbow fish piƱata ended up amazingly successful and survived two vigorous beatings from each child before he was done for. The kids had helped me glue all his crepe on the night before and aside from the glue all over the floor ( which I am still trying to remove) it was a child friendly project.





There was of course pass the parcel, musical chairs and a scavenger hunt before a good solid hosing on the trampoline of all those mermaids in their swimmers.




The rest of the magic was achieved with a large roll of plastic emblazoned with an underwater scene from the local party shop which was the only thing in the entire party that I didn't scratch up from around the house. We encircled our dining table and the kids helped me make a seaweed doorway from  crepe to turn it into a mermaid grotto.





I had also made a giant clam shell for the girls to sit on wearing a mermaid tail that I had insanely decided to sew up the night before. The rest of it was just a whole pile of fabrics from my stash that looked either like coral or the ocean. 




 Most of the girls had their photo taken as a mermaid which I will be sending on to their mums.





 This girl had a fantastic day and loved that many of her friends stayed hours past the party to just play in her room and in the mermaid grotto. She had lots of help opening all her presents and thank goodness for Nonnas who always give you exactly what you were wanting.




 Now I just need to take a few deep breaths and get cracking on Christmas.












32 comments:

  1. What a magical party! Well done! Happy birthday Miss Liongirl.

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  2. The cake & cupcakes look amazing. So full of color like everything u do. Love the mermaid clam too. How did u manage that one? Looks a mermaid fans dream come true! But where is the bunting? Happy birthday miss liongirl

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  3. What a wonderful mum you are doing all of that just before Christmas. What a magical, fun time must have been had!

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  4. Oh my Lord that's so cute, and a good-old-fashioned party games party! I just love it. It looks like fun! I bet you loved having a new house to enjoy the party games in!! Too sweet. Robo Boy's got his underwater ideas cracking!!

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  5. You are a terrific and lovely Mum to create such gorgeous memories for your little girl Mel.
    That shark was brilliant and I love the clam shell/mermaid tail photo 'booth' x

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  6. oh I love having you as my personal party ideas girl!!....Frankies 4th isn't until June....mermaids in June ...why not?.
    it all looks so fab Mel....and that cake!!!....wow!. Liongirl looks so happy, yay for peppa.
    Al x
    ps frankies peppa pig dresses were a huge hit!

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  7. I wish I could go to a party like that. So much fun. You must be exhausted. That water melon carving is the bomb. Hope your newly renovated house survived all those mermaids! xx

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  8. You did a spectacular job on absolutely everything! That was every girl's dream party, and your daughter will remember it forever. (I'm 65, and I still remember a gorgeous doll cake my mom made for me when I turned 6 and the party we had at the park. Some memories last a lifetime.)

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  9. Oh Mel you are so clever and creative. Your girl looks very happy with her sweet party. I'm sure you'll look back one and cherish these memories. Worth the effort for sure.

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  10. Brilliant party Mel - love all the details, and that shark looks amazing. I will definitely be stealing that for one of my kids parties. xx

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  11. Oh I see, its a card board clam. Very clever paint job! That watermelon shark is something else too. What a sensational effort you put in for Miss Liongirls party. Lucky girl. You must give me some tips on that pinyata. I've been making them for something like 5 years and something always goes wrong! Did yours stay on the string? Very colourful. You are one creative chickie.

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  12. Hi Mel - I did leave a comment earlier, but it's disappeared. WOW! Where to start - the cake, the shark, the decorations .... I'm speechless. What a wonderful party for Miss LG and her friends. So totally impressed with your efforts considering everything that has been going on in your life. Have a good rest... XMAS is just around the corner. xx

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  13. What an AMAZING party! The cake, the decorations, the clam shell mermaid tail photo set, everything is just wonderful. Obviously a great time was had by all the guests and by all of your family in the preparations. Wonderful as I already said! Hope you get some rest before your start putting up trees and thinking of Christmas! xx

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  14. Wow, I am in awe! Great cake, great decorations, great fun! This is how parties ought to be.

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  15. You have one lucky girl at your house, the cake was amazing, loved the watermelon shark, the pinata. In fact, everything was amazing. Thanks for showing us.. katie xx

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  16. Mel, I think that you have just won the Mum of the Year award for organising that wonderful party - it looked beautiful! Happy Birthday Miss Liongirl!

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  17. Awesome cake Mel, go you! Very cute fishy lollies. Clever pinata, bet you're are glad everything turned out so well and Liongirl looks pretty chuffed.

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  18. Oooh that is one seriously amazing cake! I seem to remember doing a mermaid party here back in the day ... yours looks amazing! We just had a 1950s beauty pageant murder party. (what a difference 10 years makes!)

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  19. O.M.G! Mel you are AMAZING!!!! Happy birthday Liongirl! Love, M xxx

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  20. That cake is AMAZING!! Well done. The whole party looks fantastic, I might try and gatecrash next year ;-)

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  21. Now I want a mermaid birthday for my next birthday. You've really done an amazing job with the decorations and food.
    I bet you had one happy mermaid girl.
    x

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  22. Your cake is a masterpiece, liongirl must have absolutely squealed when she saw it. You clever thing, and what a loving Mum you are. Oh love the Mermaid doll on the table is that your work? :-)

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  23. I think I want to be a mermaid, what a fabulous party, you are one special mum! :) x

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  24. you are BEYOND amazing. what a brilliant party. miss liongirl is the luckiest thing around. well done mama! xx

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  25. That is the most amazing cake!!! I love the idea of the photo with the tail - well done!!!

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  26. This is my sister's favorite theme. It's sweet, colorful and just suits a kid's innocence. Glad to be exploring the net and found great under the sea party ideas like this. THis is going to be my niece's party theme next year. yehey <3 God bless always! I would love to pin some photos from this post hope it's find with you.

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  28. What materials did you use for the clamshell? Thx!

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