Under The Sea

It's hard to believe my middle son is 2! Although I can't remember life without him, I'm not sure how we got here. We celebrated Ronan's birthday in style with an Under The Sea themed extravaganza! The party was originally scheduled to take place at Mimi and Papa's in the pool, but a few minor set-backs had us moving the party to our place last minute. NO BIG DEAL! We got this!

I started my party planning MONTHS ago - really, 364 days before the party when every thing I worked my ass off on for his first birthday melted away in the blistering Las Vegas sun. So we planned to have the party at my in-law's because they have a pool and we could use the dining room for the goodies and prevent everything from melting away again. I originally wanted an 'Oh - Two - dle's' party because Ronan is a HUGE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan. But I didn't feel it really went with the pool so we started looking for something nautical/ocean.

I am a HUGE FAN of Lauren McKinsey and all her amazing printables. I had recently joined her Cute Club which gave me access to all of her awesome downloads and sure enough, she had an Under The Sea party!! It was all perfect! You can check out her fun stuff and joint he cute club here: Lauren McKinsey

I started with the outside. I purchased a Styrofoam wreath from Hobby Lobby and wrapped it in green crepe paper.  I then used orange scrapbooking paper and my Cricut to cut out his name. I used the "Life Is A Beach" Cricut cartridge. I also used one of the clip art fish from Lauren's Under The Sea package. I hung it with fishing line! I also made garland with tissue paper I purchased from The Dollar Tree and hung that with fishing line as well.

Once family and friends entered the party, they were able to view his fun beach themed smash cake. Nana made fun candy-dipped Oreo's with a fondant number two and blue polka-dotted straws. The chalkboard was purchased on clearance from Hobby Lobby because of a silly mark on it. Uh - what mark?

The centerpiece of the party with the food table! I simply covered in a plastic blue table cloth and a fun fishing net that can be found at Hobby Lobby (I happened to borrow mine from a friend). The framed menu and Bait Stop sign were printed from my Lauren McKinsey package. We had hamburgers and hot dogs, homemade potato and macaroni salad (not pictured because Mimi and Papa brought those), fresh watermelon, Fish N' Chips, and the most amazing cupcakes! These are by far my favorite part of the party! My mom, affectionately known as Nana, followed the tutorial in my dear friend Lynlee's book, Sweet & Unique Cupcake Toppers. You can get more information about her cupcake topper tutorials and information about where to purchase her book here: Lynlee's Petite Cakes

Hanging from the ceiling were fun sea creatures I had made! Using the same tissue paper from the Dollar Tree, I make pom-pom's. Then I made fun eyes and glued them onto the pom-pom. We had a turtle, a crab, and a whale (although my whale didn't come out quite like I wanted it to.) They were hung with fishing line. We then blew up pearl white balloons from Hobby Lobby and tied them to fishing line and hung them from the ceiling to act as bubbles. Green crepe paper was used to make seaweed behind the table and I used the same Cricut cartridge to make bunting with his name to hang on the wall.

In the kitchen, I had each child's favor ready for them to enjoy! The items inside were purchased from two locations: Target and Party City. I used the Anything Labels from my printable package, typed each child's name on it, and printed them on shipping label paper so they would easily stick to the buckets. From Target, we purchased the buckets, which came with a shovel, a plastic fishing game that included a fishing pole and four plastic fish, and water guns. The Fun Pad, ocean stickers, and pin ball game and bubbles (wrapped in the Under The Sea push-pop wrappers from the printable package) were purchased at Party City. Lastly, I printed the Under The Sea Snacks fold-over label from my printable package and filled favor bags with Goldfish snacks!

In the kitchen we also had a Reef-Fill station with Hawaiian Punch for the kiddos to enjoy! We also had coolers with water bottles, soda cans, and beer for the adults!

Outside, we had seating available for the adults while their kiddos played in the inflatable pool (A.K.A. the bath tub). We also had a pop-up set up to add a little extra shade for the parents. We had toys purchased from the Dollar tree as well as the toys in the favors to play with. One of Ronan's gifts from Mommy and Daddy was the Waterpillar, which is a sprinkler toy we had planned to use but didn't end up needing. The bath tub was enough.

We had a fantastic time with family and friends. I've been asked several times why we spend so much time, effort, and money on birthday parties in the Clyne family, and to be honest, I kinda can't stand that question. Birthday's are so important. This is when your child came into the world, became a part of your family, and changed your life forever. Each child is special and unique, and they deserve to have a day to just celebrate them. Birthdays are a very big deal in the Clyne family and will be until I'm in the ground!!

Thank you to everyone who was able to celebrate with us!