Under The Sea Party

 My oldest daughter's 13th Birthday was delayed to accommodate the busy sports season of her and her friends so even though she didn't want a terribly fancy party I wanted to make it somewhat special. One of her favorite things is the ocean so we decided to create an under the sea party theme.

This cake was a matching blue inside and sooo yummy! All the different creatures were chosen by my DD

It was a nice change from fondant to be able to ice this cake with a whipped topping. And it made it so easy to simply cut out these shapes all ahead of time suing my Cricut Cake cutting machine. It worked nicely with the Lettering Delights SVG's and Graphics set. I was able to coordinate everything from the invitations, the cake and the decorations. Even the cue cards for the scavenger hunt!

The seaweed here is made from a glittered fruit roll, the Target brand.

It was really fun coming up with ideas for the food. It struck me that the watermelon looked like a turtle and it matched the color scheme and is a teen favorite so I just took a stab at a basic sea turtle. He is simply some extras bits cut into shapes and held together with some toothpicks. The rounded shape helped create the curved flipper sand head.

 Next is one of our families favorites.....Octopus hotdogs! Long ago I saw a show where these guys were featured and they were an instant hit. It is kinda magical how a hotdog will curl up in boiling water and creating an octopus is pretty simple. Just start by cutting the bottom portion in half. Then half each section again into fourths and then again for the eight tentacles. After making notches for the eyes, just drop them carefully into a large pot of boiling water. You'll have to do only one or two at a time but if you prepare the hotdogs ahead of time i goes very quickly. And it is so worth it isn't it?

Creatures of the deep LOL

For some fun the girls went on a scavenger hunt. It was a lifesaver to find a fun software on the internet that you can download! "Riddle me" creates a set of clues and the direction for placing them all around the house depending on a list you can create for inside, outside or both. It is completely customizable to accommodate lots of different situations and ages. It even allows you to place your art on the set of clues so everything matches!!! Love it! Get it here.

At the end of the hunt was some leis, and other goodies as well as a bucket of supplies to create their own flip flops. These were just simple plastic ones and the girls knotted various ribbons along the straps to create a fun effect. We even found some for my littlest so everyone was happy.

 

 A fishing net from Oriental trading company was dressed up with some images and a "celebrate" banner of bubbles. My daughter really wanted to help out and I enjoyed working on this party with her. The little sea characters were printed out on card stock from the graphics set and my daughter wanted to cut them herself. And place them all around.

These lanterns from the dollar store and some balloons made the sleeping area in the family room a bit more festive. The girls watched "surfer girl" and chatted the evening away. I was so happy to give my oldest a special time to have fun and celebrate with her friends. And it was  a pleasure to work with her and see how much she has grown into a young lady. Shh....don't tell anyone, but I actually enjoy her being a teen. :)

*Note: This is a rewrite of my original post which got accidentally deleted. :( Sorry to say this isn't as good a tale as the original but I still wanted to share this with my readers.