When my son told me he wanted a shark themed birthday party, I won’t lie, I was a bit stumped. Having never planned an animal/fish/mammal party before, I decided to start with the venue. It was important to me to have a space where kids could enjoy the party, have an activity to participate in, but more importantly, burn off some energy! (I mean, we are talking about Kindergartners here!)

After talking with the folks at the aquarium, I decided that location would best suited for a smaller group. Next on my list, The Aqua Shop. I gave them a call and visited the store and was sold! This place was perfect. It’s an indoor surf shop with a retail section as well. The Aqua Shop has bounce houses, a back room for parties, and indoor surfing. I booked the shop and began to think about the invitations.

I am a huge fan of adding “bling” or “flare” to all my invites. It’s the extra detail that really makes the invitations special. For this invite, I chose to do a 4 x 9″ so I could add my “flare” aka plastic shark to the back so each kid would have something to remind them of the cool party about to happen. I also hand cut shark bite marks into each invite. (Again, it’s all about the details!)

Since this party was on location at The Aqua Shop, I decided to keep the dessert table simple. I ordered wave patterned fabric and had a table cloth made. The party favors were super fun sharks, sunglasses and a shark tooth candy necklace. I used the party favors to decorate the table. I had custom m&m’s made, which were a hit to kids and grandparents alike! I also used Swedish Fish to accent the table.

The party was during lunch, so I brought Chick-fil-A nuggets in with chips and juice boxes. And let’s not forget the fruit! I made a watermelon shark and added green grapes. I found the tutorial here. The kids were in awe (and it was SO easy!).

I ordered a sheet cake from my local bakery and asked them to make the icing look like waves because I had a great idea brewing in my mind. I found a plastic shark at Toys R Us, cut it in half like I did for my dino party (see the tutorial here), and had the cutest cake!

To get some cute pics, I ordered a diecut shark head and a personalized wooden surf board. Using these simple props made the pictures more fun to take and the kids were really interacting with each other.