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I bought about 30 turquoise and orange (Octonauts colors) helium balloons and had them strung up around the room. I also purchased blue balloons to toss around on the floor to simulate water. The little kiddies at the party loved that they could actually kick and play with the balloons rather than them just floating in the air.
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2. ETSY!!!!
My other favorite site (2nd only to Pinterest) allowed me to purchase some small inexpensive Octonauts items that people had handmade, which I actually like more than purchasing from a large party store chain. The items are more unique and personalized and I like the idea of keeping small businesses and mom's working out of their homes in business. I purchased these Octonauts cupcake toppers from Michelle's Party Shop and they turned out great, she even personalized them with Cash's name!
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3. Crafty Fun for Kids
My husband was a little worried about keeping the kids at the party happy and occupied, he assumed that 3 to 5 year olds were only going to be happy at a place like Chuck E Cheese. I had other ideas though. I made sure to have lots of crafts and fun things for the kids to do. This included things like a "Make Your Own Jellyfish" station. I precut all the materials needed and showed the mom's how to help their little ones put together their jellyfish so that they could take them home with them.
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Cash and I made "fish biscuits" the night before with sugar cookie dough and used a glaze recipe I found online. I supplied frosting and food safe pens for kids to decorate their fish biscuit any way they chose.
I supplied some Octonauts books to read and puzzles for the kids to play with throughout the party. Cash already had several Octonauts books that we found online, and I ordered an Octonauts puzzle from a UK toy website for $11. It also doubled as a birthday present. Score!
4. It's All in the Details
I tried to get creative on how to incorporate undersea decor since we were so limited on actual merchandise. My husband made a couple awesome posters for the Octonauts "Octoalert" emblem
that worked out really great. He just took some bright orange poster board and free handed the outline, then took random bowls and cups from around the kitchen to create the right size cut outs for the eyes and mouth. He then cut it out and placed it on another white poster board. They are still hanging in Cash's room and he loves that he has his own "Octoalert."
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I had several daiquiri glasses lying around, since I am 8 months pregnant, they are not being used for daiquiri's anytime soon! I decided to fill them with a few pebbles and add a goldfish to each glass, to act as a weight for the balloons. This might be one of my favorite details from the party. At about 15 cents for each fish, it was a very cheap and fun detail. :)
There were many other details that I wanted to do but just ran out of time. I wanted to hang tons of green streamers from the ceiling to resemble seaweed, or blue for water. I wanted to get some pink balloons for the ground and add googly eyes for giant jellyfish. I did end up making blue jello with Swedish fish inside, but the Swedish fish turned to mush so I would probably not do that again.
Last but not least, I had my talented friends at Lamarand Style Photography there to photograph the details for me. We set up a "photo booth" type setting for family pictures for all the guests. I was so happy that this idea was a hit. We got a lot of good photos of our guests and they also took the time to photograph the details of the party, which I was so thankful for (all photo credits in this blog are courtesy of Lamarand Style.) I put a lot of time and effort into the details, and as you all know, kids birthday parties are like a tornado. I was happy to be able to look back at the pictures when everything settled down.
Thank you so much for this! As a Mom to a soon to be 4 yr old in Canada, I am having similar issues in finding stuff to decorate with. I have also heard the rumour that Octonauts will be available in March... one month after my son's birthday. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Nicole! It was a lot more work planning the party when there were no readily available Octonaut materials, but in the end I was happy with the way the party turned out with home made decorations. It gave the party a more personal feel and I created things I could be proud of. :) Good luck with your party and Happy Birthday to your kiddo!
ReplyDeleteThese are some great ideas! My daughter will be 3 in May and loves the Octonauts, so I'm just starting to plan her party and came across your post. I like how you had "stations" with a few different activities so the kids and parents can float around and do what they want. I'll definitely be using some of these ideas! Oh and my research today revealed the Fisher Price Octonauts playsets are now available at Toys R Us locations -- for much cheaper than Amazon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Carrie! That is great news about the playset, I will have to look for it. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the blog..it will give a lot help to me..kids birthday parties nyc
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the treat boxes? I can't seem to find plain white boxes...
ReplyDeleteI found them at Oriental Trading Company. I will have to add a link to the post, but the link to the boxes are below. Thanks for your question!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.orientaltrading.com/mini-white-treat-boxes-a2-3_3611-12-1.fltr?Ntt=treat boxes
Thanks for your post. My almost 4year old was Kwazii for Halloween and his brother was Capitain Barnicles. (I had to make both costumes!) But, I think the go made touches on your party are better than pre printed party supplies. I will probably steal a few of your ideas for my son's party in February.
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