When your daughter has a rare neurological disorder (more on that another time) and rarely asks for anything, you can’t help but go all out for her birthday. She requested a blue Moana party (again) but ALSO mentioned a blue mermaid party! (Her one rule for a party is it must be BLUE!) So to do something new… Mermaid it is!

We live by the beach so having it there was a no-brainer especially since the main attraction was swimming in from the ocean to greet us!

I’m not sure what our guests were expecting but they were all extremely surprised (putting it mildly!) when we spotted a real life mermaid, swimming in the ocean. She starting waving offshore and swam in to meet everyone. She give all the kids a special magical shell from the ocean and my daughter (the birthday girl) got a very special necklace from the sea. She talked the to kids, answered questions, told a story and shared about how important it is to protect the ocean, respect the ocean and take care of the ocean… something very near and dear to our hearts… and our lives!

Side note, I’ve heard of parents hiring Princesses for their daughters birthday parties. I even thought of doing that last year for her Moana party but then thought … I have curly hair, I sing, I’m a trained actress… I could do that! And not that you shouldn’t hire someone who can do what you can do, but I decided against it and went with a Hawaiian shaved ice truck instead, lol.

As most people know by now, I only throw plant based parties since that’s how we eat.

This year, my dear aunt was visiting from Rhode Island for EJ’s 5th birthday the week before (and left the day before the party!) so I REALLY had zero time to plan and do much for it this year. That meant I needed to plan it all in advance and not cook/bake this year. So this is what I did:

Food

Fresh Brothers VEGAN Pizzas! – some with vegan sausage, some with just vegan cheese, some gluten free. I also had them do the salad.

And I picked up an organic crudité (veggie platter) and organic fruit bowl from Whole Foods, too!

Driftwood

This one I copied from last year’s party but the theme was still appropriate, so why change a good thing? 🙂 This one is really easy too! Get some gluten free pretzels and don’t forget to label it “driftwood”! 🙂 Done!

Dessert

Mermaid Donuts

I knew in advance what I was going to do since my dear friend Celine (The Karma Baker) makes these awesome mermaid donuts! It was the perfect ending to this splash-tastic party! She and her team made beautiful chocolate and vanilla donuts (with blue sprinkles of course!) and vegan white chocolate tails in dazzling mermaid colors! (You might remember her from last year’s gorgeous Moana Pool Party cake!)

Drinks

Since we had to schlep everything to the beach I kept it simple. Water for sure! And tropical flavors of La Croix – coconut, passion fruit and mango! Even though it’s a party not EVERYTHING has to have sugar. The desserts have it so the drinks don’t have to! (After all, they are still little kiddos! She just turned 5!)

Decor

Sunscreen Station

Another thing I’ve done for past parties that I love is to offer guests… sunscreen!!! I know first hand that as a parent, it’s super hard to remember EVERYTHING. Sun protection is super important, so make sure your guests are taken care of! I used ThinkBaby, but make sure to cross reference your sunscreen with the Environmental Working Group’s EWG Sunscreen Guide!

Pin the Tail on the Mermaid

Pin the tail on the mermaid. This seemed like a no brainer… or is that just me? :)-

Decorating Treasure Chests

I bought unfinished boxes, a bunch of jewel stickers, tons of markers and let the kids have a blast decorating their very own treasure chest. After the mermaid visit they could put their magical shell in it for safe keeping! 🙂

Favors

Cute little re-usable cloth mermaid and pirate ship bags filled with mermaid note pads, mermaid and ocean creature stamps!

Clothing/Outfits

I SWEAR I didn’t buy my mermaid leggings for this party. I’ve had them for a few years already! But since it fit the theme I wore them! And of course the girls had mermaid bathing suits on too!