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Happy Tuesday!! Today’s post is ALL about everyone’s ( I use that term soo loosely) favorite song BABY SHARK!! So about 3 months ago the idea of planning Brayden’s 1st Birthday loomed over me! I feel like this day and time everyone has such amazing ideas literally REAL LIFE PINTEREST parties and THEMES so I wanted to have something fun, but also practical to celebrate our little one turning ON!! So one day I was sitting around working and the idea of Baby Shark just hopped into my head (no pun intended 🙂 ) in the DOO-DOO-DOO fashion and it just MADE SENSE! I have been around so many children recently and realized they all had one thing in common, THEY ALL LOVED BABY SHARK! I don’t know who made up this song, but they are lyrical genius and most likely able to retire to some island for the rest of their lives ( I am somewhat jealous!). If you don’t have children yet picture THE WOBBLE or another song like that coming on an how adults get pumped and start dancing, well that’s what babies and kids do to BABY SHARK! For Brayden’s party, I wanted to have a simple pool party with mostly reusable items for later so the investment in decorations made more sense! We hosted the party at my parent’s lake house and decided to have a simple BBQ and pool fun with minimal but practical decorations!
When I chose to do my party outside at a pool I knew the possibility of rain was present, but we were in somewhat of a drought at the time in NC when I planned and of course the week of the party the drought subsided and we had heavy thunderstorms all week and during the day of the party. My initial fun in the sun plans plans were quickly adjusted to an indoor ‘pool’ party, but honestly all of the decorations like the pool floats I had gotten were equally as cute inside and kids did not care and still played in them 🙂 So in today’s post I just wanted to quickly share the items that I got in case you are interested in throwing a Baby Shark themed party or just want some fun summer items for your kids to play with! I also had so many DM’s regarding HOBBY LOBBY when planning this party so many of you saw lots of shark goodies there (I already had all of mine), so it’s worth a check if you haven’t finished planning! One quick note! The balloons you see here in photos were actually from my husband’s work (we own car dealerships so he ended up blowing up the balloons they use on cars last minute because the ones I chose at Party City were either far too small or THESE CONFETTI ONES would NOT hold air and he couldn’t even tie them, so DON’T BUY THEM!!!!! The balloon situation was the only FLUB UP from the weekend so I don’t want you all to fall into that trap! We did have one amazing Party City ballon that was a SHARK (YOU CAN SHOP HERE!) and he was the focal point of the party and I loved his coloring and how big he was!
As far as food for the party we used a local meat store, Bearpond Grocery in Henderson, NC near the party location and we did BBQ, honey butter rolls, baked beans and cole slaw and it was PERFECT! The food was incredible so if you are local, they have any meat imagineable and it was AMAZING!!
If you followed on Instastories I shared that Brayden’s cake and cupcakes were from Sam’s Club and so yummy and affordable! Sam’s Club has a shark themed cake and cupcakes that you can choose when you order that made it so simple and they also offer a small ‘smash cake’ with 10 cupcakes around it and that is what we used for Brayden’s smash cake! We had almost 70 people at the party so I want quality, but also affordable! I got a 10 in. cake, 30 cupcakes and an additional smash cake and 10 more cupcakes for right Under $100 so you can’t beat that!
My sister in law and I decided last minute to make a ‘dirt cake,’ but to alter the idea and instead of using gummy worms to decorate the top we used blueberry baby shark gummies that my aunt found at Macy’s! Ya’ll we made two HUGE triffle bowls of this dessert and I kid you not when I say that it was GONE and I didn’t even get to try it! I am leaving the recipe at the bottom of today’s post for you all in case you want to make it!
As party favors I went to our local Dollar Tree and got sand pails and filled them with goodies like water guns, water balls, ring pops, chew toys and more! I also added gummy worms and gold fish as a sort of ‘shark bait’ theme on top! I then took THESE SHARPIE PAINT PENS and wrote each child’s name on the pail and they LOVE these and I did 20 pails with everything in them for Under $100!
The party was so fun even though it was moved indoors and the kids had a blast, especially Brayden, so that’s all I could ask for 🙂 I don’t know if I will have another HUGE Birthday until he’s old enough to invite friends, but you never know! I hope you all enjoyed this post as much as I did planning for the party! I am sharing ALL decorations as well and the ‘dirt cake’ recipe BELOW! I hope you all have a Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo of a day! XOXO!
Decorations:
Shark Canopy Float (Brayden loves this and it shades him from the sun!)
Kiddy Crabby Pool Float – this is a great float for young children
3D Crab Ball Inflaable Pool Ball – these turned out to be center pieces due to the rain and were sooo cute!
Shark Mouth Bean Bag Toss Game – SO Impressed with this corn hole board, the quality was AMAZING! Only $30 great to just have for kids and family functions!
Shark Toss Game – got two of these and kids LOVED them!
Squeeze Me Sharks – we used these in the book shelves and they are actually fun pool toys! Good Price and buy!
DIY NOVELTY Light UP Sign – I put Happy Birthday Brayden on this and LOVED IT! You can customize it with ANYTHING you want perfect for bridal or baby showers as well as birthdays! It’s such a great steal Under $20 and adds a personal touch!
Dirt Cake Recipe:
Blue Baby Shark Gummies – sub gummy worms if you want it traditional
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 FAMILY SIZE Oreos (you could use the golden ones for Sand instead of chocolate)
1/2 Cup Butter
8 oz. (softened) Cream Cheese
3 1/2 cups whole milk
2 small 3-4 ounce packs of vanilla instant pudding
Use a food processor to chop up all oreos (set aside,) In one bowl mix the milk and 2 packages of vanilla pudding. In a separate bowl mix together the softened cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. Mix the cream cheese mixture into the vanilla pudding mixture (blend well!). Then start a layer of cookies on the bottom and alternate cookies with the pudding mixture! Make sure to end the dish with cookies sprinkled on top! Set in the fridge to cool. ONE TIP: Don’t put gummies on until time to eat, if you leave them in the fridge overnight they will harden! ENJOY!
I hope you all loved this post as much as I did sharing it! I hope you all have the best day XOXO!
