Ivy turned THREE last weekend! I can’t believe our first born is THREE! Whew! We had a such a fun weekend throwing her a little party and celebrating our newly three year old!

She is totally into Ariel and Little Mermaid (also my FAVORITE Disney movie!!!) lately so she had asked for a mermaid party. I couldn’t wait to throw her an Under the Sea party with mermaids, sea creatures, and lots of blue and purple! Most of all, I couldn’t WAIT for her to dress like a mermaid in her surprise outfit from Carken Design! She was sooooo adorable in it and wore it ALL DAY LONG. Loved it! And almost all of her girlfriends showed up in mermaid costumes too, it was SO FREAKING CUTE!

I was really excited about this theme because there are so many great ideas out there and who doesn’t love mermaids?! I knew I wanted an arch like this birthday party had, and thankfully, Queen City Balloon Bar reached out to me and wanted to make it for me! He did AMAZING and it turned out so great! Ivy couldn’t believe her eyes when she came downstairs in the morning! The arch was the main centerpiece for the party and I really didn’t need much else for decorations after that. Just some good food to fill the table!

I decided to make Pioneer Woman’s chicken salad and it was SUCH A DELICIOUS RECIPE. Some chicken salads are so mayonnaisy, but this one was equal parts mayonnaise, sour cream, and half and half, which made it so good! I bought a star shaped cookie cutter to turn them into starfish chicken salad sandwiches. Super cute! I made shells and cheese for the kids, and we had some salads and chips and dips too. For desserts, we had seaweed (sour belts), gummy sharks, and cupcakes with mermaid fins on them made of ice cream cones and mermaid fin cupcake toppers! Loved those! So with the theme! I just cut a little bit of the top of end of the cone to fit part of the fin down there. Easy! And can’t forget about the most delicious cakes in Sioux Falls! From Sugar’s Baked Goods and Sweet Treats, plain vanilla with vanilla buttercream frosting, mmmm mmmmm. Overall, everything was delicious!

candy jar | cake stand | tassel garland | mermaid fin cupcake topper

plates | turquoise snack plates

We put together some goodie bags for the kids to use during the party and they turned out so cute! I went pretty generic and did the Little Mermaid surplus with lots of fun toys and girly items like necklaces, bracelets, and hair bows to wear!

sequin silver tablecloth | welcome sign| bags

And the invitations were equally as perfect!!! And you could choose between a blond haired mermaid, red haired mermaid, or a brunette mermaid! Cute!

Invitation | Cake Topper 

For the craft during the party, I found this fun and easy “Ocean in a bottle” activity on Pinterest, but totally amped it up! I bought sea creatures and big seashells and mini seashells for the kids to add to their bottles, and I had leftover glitter from Ivy’s party last year, so we added that in there as well!  The kids had so much fun making theirs and it was super easy for everyone to do! And thank goodness the mess was outside! :)

And look at all these cute girls (and Leo, hehe!!) in their costumes! Ivy had so much fun with all of her girlfriends!

At the very end of the party, we surprised her with a motorized Jeep! She freaked and has basically been in it ever since, running into EVERYTHING! Hopefully she gets the hang of it eventually! Leo’s too scared to ride with her! :) Haha!

Such a fun mermaid inspired theme! Lots of fun to decorate! Hope you had a fabulous birthday Ivy! We love you! Happy 3rd Birthday!