Shimmery mermaids and brave buccaneers AHOY—it’s time to parr-ty!
Imagine getting an invite like this:
A glass bottle washes up on the beach. 
Curious, you pick it up and wipe the foggy glass with your sleeve, revealing a scroll inside tied with a delicate strand of seaweed.
*POP!*
The cork lands on the wet sand and you fish out the mysterious scroll. Carefully, you unroll the thick paper and find elegant gold writing. Flecks of light sparkle off the edges dusted with sea salt crystals.
It’s an invitation. For you.
You are hereby invited to the finest party on the seven salty seas…
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Under the Sea Party Décor
Our little cuties turned 2 and 4!
The mermaid and pirate party theme worked perfectly for little boys and girls to have an underwater blast. We avoided the Disney theme and went for a neutral color palette with a splash of ocean blues and seafoam greens.
I constructed an epic DIY cardboard pirate ship, painted a giant whale tail, borrowed nautical décor from family and friends, and made kraken arms out of metal hangers and kraft paper for the dessert table.
Splash! Our home was magically plunged under the sea.
It was a lot of work. But SO worth it!
Save yourself some work—snag some free mermaid & pirate printables by subscribing and then printing them from HERE.
DIY Cardboard Pirate Ship
An old freezer box became a ship, an IKEA chair box a mast, and toilet paper rolls the steering wheel. Hot chocolate containers made excellent cannons, and frozen pizza cardboard circles became golden portholes.
As finishing touches I added a thrifted anchor and ‘rope’ from Hobby Lobby’s upholstery section, kraft paper waves, a bamboo pole sail, the secret captain quarters hidden with a sheer curtain, and finally a perfect ship name:
The Dream Catcher
After the party we’ll move this beauty to our daughter’s floor bed.
Treasure Chest of Dress Ups
We used the same foam swords from last year’s Princess and Knight Party, and I love how kid-friendly they are. No injuries, just loads of fun! And the soft pirate hat plus the DIY bandanas are new adorable additions to our dressup collection.
Pro tip: Want to make DIY bandanas for the kids? Just cut 20″ squares of fabric and voila! Here’s a quick video of how to tie a pirate bandana.
Golden School of Fish
Golden wrapping paper and streamers transformed our walls for less than $7.
Ocean of Balloons
Clear balloons made cute bubbles on the ceiling, and ‘pearl turquoise’ balloons became an interactive ocean for the kids.
Giant Whale Tail
This giant whale tail only cost $5 to make, and I’m moving it to the girls’ bedroom after the party.
Nautical Décor
My neighbor does woodworking and just happened to have this beauty lying around!
Mermaid and Pirate Bathroom Décor
The CUTEST bathroom sign! A free printable version is available in my subscriber library, or snag the framed version from Etsy.
Mermaid and Pirate Party Food
If you only focused on one thing for a party, themed food is it. And mermaid and pirate party food is EXTRA fun with an ocean of ideas at your fingertips.
But I must say the showstopper food item was handsdown….
the sandcastle birthday cake!
Sweet Treats
The dessert table featured:
- Strawberry lemon sandcastle cake
- Sanders dark chocolate sea salt caramels in a coconut shell
- Sand bars (aka lemon bars)
- Golden doubloons
- Dairy-free chocolate coconut Unreal bars
- Mermaid tail cheese ball (not really a dessert, but so adorable)
Strawberry Lemon Sandcastle Cake
A little labor intensive, but so worth it!
Tips:
- Place the cake on a layer of kraft paper ‘beach’ for easy cleanup
- Blend the graham crackers in the food processor the day before
- Build support structures in advance
- Use lemon cream cheese frosting for the cake layer, but use regular buttercream frosting for the rest
- If you don’t need to move the cake, don’t frost the back 🙂
- Consider wearing gloves when adding the ‘sand’ and start from the top to have gravity work in your favor
A sneak peek at the layers of moist lemon cake stacked between creamy lemon cream cheese frosting and Smucker’s Natural strawberry jam. Unless you have homemade strawberry j, which sounds fabulous.
Sandcastle exposed! Here are the random items we used to construct the non-cake parts of the castle. The scalloped cone printable can be found in my subscriber library.
Click HERE for more gorgeous mermaid cake ideas. I still can’t believe #16 is edible!
Sand Bars (aka Lemon Bars)
Can you believe these are dairy-free? Aunt Dani for the win. She baked a separate batch of crust to crumble and look like a bed of sand.
Sanders Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels
Still kind of geeking about the real coconut shell bowl. And thank you Costco for supplying a hefty cylinder of Sanders chocolates, which are frequently found in my chocolate stash…
Golden Doubloons
Classic Werther’s Originals make easy pirate gold. My daughter loved helping to fill up the chest.
If you can’t tell, we’re fans of lemon, caramel, and chocolate around here. 🙂
Mermaid Tail Cheese Ball
A fun take on the timeless cheese ball! I made the tails out of rice paper sails and painted them with watercolors.
Pro tip: Almond slices can be dyed if you want a more colorful tail.
You can see a few of the Unreal bars to the side. So tasty you’d never know they were dairy-free!
Lunch Foods
Since the party happened over lunch, we set up a second food station. I decorated the table with shells, nets, and some old roots from a ripped up tree that I weathered to look like driftwood. And I picked up the pretty seashell bowl on sale for around $10.
Everyone left with happy tummies.
For the lunch table we served up:
- Fruit of the sea
- Cannonballs
- Shark fins
- Seaweed dip
- Shark bait
- Pirate puffs
- Catch of the day
- Mermaid lemonade
Fruit of the Sea
A big bowl of watermelon and blueberries (my girls’ favorite fruit) makes for ‘fruit of the sea.’ Tasty and fresh.
Cannonballs
We made homemade meatballs using a medium sized cookie scoop, and then froze them. For an exotic flair we made a Moroccan pomegranate glaze the day before and it heated up nicely.
Meatballs are always a food table WIN.
Dips and Chips
Shark teeth = organic tortilla chips
Seaweed dip = guacamole (I like this recipe)
Shark bait = salsa
Crab legs = carrots
For extra cuteness add a bell pepper crab to the seaweed dip.
Pirate Puffs & Catch of the Day
My girls and I can pound Hippeas, and they’re dairy and gluten free too! And I found this adorable blue pail and ice scoop from Hobby Lobby for the tasty catch of the day: Goldfish.
Mermaid Lemonade
Simply strawberry/raspberry lemonade + a couple bags of Tazo Passion herbal tea = a fabulous pink color from dried hibiscus flowers.
Easy and naturally pink!
If you’re feeling extra fancy, add sprigs of rosemary, thyme or even food grade aquarium foliage like one of these:
Other fun mermaid and pirate party themed foods to try:
A. Sand cups
Get FREE pirate party food lables + treasure hunt checklist sign HERE
thenookon32
Pirate Party Activities
- Walk the plank
- Pirate story time
- Special guest stars
- Sea creature water sensory bin
- Sea horse piñata on Sugar Shore
- Water play at Misty Bay
- Treasure hunt
Walk the Plank
A beach towel ‘ocean’ to bravely cross, with shimmery shark fins below.
Pirate Story Time
For our first activity, Captain Danny, one of our special guests, read three seafaring tales in his best pirate voice. (Some of these were on the wish list for the girls—they were so thrilled to open them!)
Sea Creature Sensory Bin
On the shade of our back porch we set out a water bin with cute sea creatures and various containers to dump and pour. A WIN with the younger kids.
Treasure Bucket Bedazzle Bar
Do paint and markers at a party make you nervous? Stickers and gems are a happy solution! Our mermaid visitor helped supervise the bedazzle process. These golden pails only cost $1 from the Walmart party section!
Finding the First Clue
While frosting the cake I sneakily inserted the first clue (safely wrapped in plastic) into the corner section. Our oldest girl found it in her slice!
Once everyone finished eating, they all got to decorate their own treasure bucket.
Then we set off for the highlight of the party: the treasure hunt!
How to age paper: Believe it or not, the clues started out as regular printer paper. I aged them with old coffee grounds from my neighbor’s used instant coffee pods. I seeped the coffee grounds in a pot of hot water, then dipped the ripped clues in, randomly splattered extra bits of the grounds on the clues from what settled on the bottom, and then baked them on low heat until they were dry and perfectly aged!
The Big Treasure Hunt
One of the best parts of the party! Captain Danny pulled out a handy dandy map (made from crinkled kraft paper with a layer of modpodge), and the hunt for the clues began! On their quest for treasure the kids found a REAL mermaid, a candy-filled seahorse, and even a sneaky band of pirates guarding Treasure Island (aka the dads armed with water guns hiding around the last corner). SUCH a blast!
Mermaid Cove
A mermaid and pirate party wouldn’t be complete without a mermaid of course! And my sister-in-law graciously volunteered to be Princess Pearl.
It only took a crown, a large piece of fabric, and a painted kraft paper tail to turn her into a lovely mermaid princess. As a bonus, Princess Pearl got to take her tail home for a sweet piece of mermaid wall art.
Seahorse Piñata
On the banks of Sugar Shore, we found the cutest candy seahorse! Stuffed with fruit snacks, bouncy balls and some candy (bags of goldfish or gummy sharks would have been cute too), the kids happily collected their goodies into their treasure buckets. I think a shark piñata would be super fun too!
Water Play at Misty Bay
The last clue warned of a pirate attack… then suddenly a group of pirates with foam swords and water guns came playfully charging around the corner. “Get the pirates!” the moms called, and the kids started throwing sea foam cannonballs and spraying super soakers at their dads. One of the BEST parts of the treasure hunt!
Pro tip: Hate cleaning up tiny water balloon pieces? Try giant 3 inch pom poms and super soakers instead.
The aftermath of the secret pirate attack: dads VS kids. A jolly good time had by all.
Treasure Island
Forget plastic trinkets, Treasure Island had glass mosaic gems, gold and silver nuggets (spray painted rocks), rainbow seashells, and real gold coins! These extra large pirate doubloons would have been fun too, but I opted for the genuine gold dollars. I painted our seashells with IKEA’s sparkly watercolors, but this Insta reel shows you how to dye them with food coloring.
Digging for Treasure
Three pirates faithfully watched over Treasure Island. And looked fabulous while doing it.
It’s official, these Meri Meri giant pirates were TOTALLY worth it!
Pro tip: The trick to a DIY party is to DIY the expensive/unique pieces, and purchase the ones that aren’t worth the time to make. These fit the bill adorably! I used my Honey browser attachment when checking out and got free shipping.
Literary Loot
The morning of the party we let the girls open mermaid outfits and crowns, which they LOVED! And we mainly asked friends and family for ‘literary loot’ to add to their library treasure trove. The girls wanted to stop everything and read their new books haha!
Other mermaid and pirate activity ideas:
A. Make seashell crowns or starfish wands.
B. Water play! We love this octopus splash pad.
C. Mermaid face painting.
D. Decorate mini treasure chests, seashells, or spyglasses made out of paper towel rolls.
Party Highlights:
- Following the kids on the treasure hunt. One of the little pirates in particular got SUPER excited about each clue.
- Watching the dads and kids have a water fight. My husband layed down thinking he would be safely ‘dead,’ but the kids attacked him as the new target now conveniently on their level.
- Relaxing at the end, chatting with my parent friends, and enjoying seeing my dream for my girls brought to life.
Overall I’m quite pleased with our mermaid pirate party. But whether you go simple or all out, I think what really counts is that your kids know you love them. And having a magical underwater living room is just a sweet bonus. 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions.
Happy party planning!
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In a mermaid mood? Check out these ocean-inspired mermaid cakes!
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