Marlee’s Mermaid Birthday Party

Monday was a big day for our oldest, Marlee. On Monday she turned 6 years old! For several weeks prior to February 27, she had told us what she wanted for her birthday: a mermaid doll. What could be more perfect than a mermaid birthday for a little girl on a boat?

Since it’s not always easy or feasible to run to a store the night before a birthday for balloons or a cake, I tend to plan our families birthdays and holidays a couple months in advance. I want to make sure that no matter where we are, I’ll have a few goodies to make a certain day extra special. I had already bought both girls a little mermaid doll (one for the birthday girl and one for Hannah, to play with her sister) a couple months in advance, but what else could go with a mermaid themed party? I didn’t want to spend a lot, but I wanted it to be special. Here’s what I came up with, with plenty of help from Pinterest and Google!

I already had sparkly mesh ribbon in my sewing supplies, so I cut a runner for our table. I laid out some shells (we have so many!) and a silver beaded necklace on top. I put the girls presents in colored paper bags with colored tissue paper. I finished setting the table with small clear glasses and purple striped party straws plus pink polka dot napkins. I hung up a small string of Christmas lights (battery powered) in the cabin and voila! A mermaid themed party all ready for her to see when she woke up!

For her birthday breakfast, I added metallic blue and purple sprinkles to the pancake batter and cut up a carton of strawberries. Even though I keep cake mix and frosting on hand, I don’t tend to make it for our birthdays because there’s just not enough of us to eat a whole cake (even one made in an 8×8 pan). So we are creative in finding something to put a candle in. Marlee’s birthday pancakes were the perfect fit for her number 6 birthday candle.

She adored her blue mermaid doll! I also tucked in her bag a package of gum, sparkly blue and purple nail polish and the My Little Pony doll she got in the mail from her grandma.

Marlee’s birthday day was  all planned out. We needed to go to a few stores, so we took a ride to a dinghy dock attached to a restaurant. We split up to go to a couple of stores then met back at the restaurant for lunch.

Of course, their new dolls had to join us for the fun! By the time we were both done shopping, we were starving. The restaurant served fresh seafood and also burgers, hoagies, hot dogs and fries. It was a popular place.

We had one more surprise for Marlee before going home. Just a few minutes walk from the restaurant was Funderdome, an indoor playground for the whole family. The girls were thrilled!

 

Since it was a Monday afternoon, we practically had the place to ourselves. There was a section for older kids and a designated play area for children three and under. Perfect for little Haven! It really was a treat for the whole family!

 

We went back to the boat ready to rest, but I still had a few more surprises up my sleeve. For dinner we had “Mermaid macaroni and cheese” with tropical fruit and “ocean juice” (blue Gatorade).

Marlee just loved her mermaid birthday and goodies. We loved being able to lavish on her, our beautiful, bright and curious 6 year old!