Last year, we threw a Crawfish Boil party for his 3rd birthday, and this year… we finally decided on a theme about 3 weeks before the big day.  My little guy went back and forth:

A “Dino-Thomas,” birthday party!

A “Superhero,” birthday!

I know!  A Lego birthday party!

…there were a few more ideas in there, but he just couldn’t make up his mind.

{So I took matters in to my own hands.}

I knew he loved water, and with his birthday being in Summer, I knew “Water,” was going to the theme.  So a Nautical Birthday Party it was!

Nautical Birthday Party Ideas

It started out with designing a nautical invitation.  I created it, based on the “vision,” I had in my head of what I wanted the party to look like.  If you’re in the market for an invitation like this, let me know.  I can create something similar for you, for purchase.  {P.S. I blurred the bottom in this photo, because everyone and their brother didn’t need to see my RSVP phone number, right?. 😉 }

I printed the invites, rolled them up tight, taped them with nautical-anchor washi tape, and stuffed them in to little plastic bottles, for a message in a bottle invitation!  I cut out little anchors with my silhouette machine, and tied them around the bottles with twine.

Delivering the Invites

Here’s the fun part!  {Note: I’ll say that about 10 times I’m sure.}  Since we kept it a small play date, we didn’t have to send out a TON of invitations.  So to add to the fun, and anticipation of the party, we hand delivered the message in a bottle invitations to his little friends!

I promise I didn’t purposely put this anchor shirt on him to deliver the invites.  But that worked out nice… 😉

So we didn’t bother the families on a Sunday afternoon, we just quietly placed the bottles on their porch steps, and I texted their mommies that they had a surprise waiting for them.

Party Time!

“Welcome to my Play Date”

If I’m able, I always like to make some sort of welcome sign, to let our guests know what door to come in.  I tied the design of the invitations in our little welcome sign, to keep the theme rollin’.  😉

On the other side of the door, I put out little nautical beach bag favors, for the little guys and gals to grab on their way in.
The bags were full of bubbles, sunglasses, water balloons, tattoos, a little wooden fish the kids could paint, and more! 

DIY Tutorial: I purchased mine, but I don’t believe they’re available any more.
You could easily get plain small canvas bags, and iron on an anchor with a cutout of heat transfer material from your Silhouette machine, or just cut out an anchor, and stencil paint it on each bag. 🙂

Wooden Rolling Cart: Buy it Here!

Pre & Post Play, Station

The last thing that you want your guests to do is worry about sunburns and bugs, at your outdoor party. To help the situation out a bit, I always try to provide the sunscreen and bug spray right at their fingertips to avoid any unnecessary troubles.  I also wanted to have some towels handy, for the little guys playing in the water. Running in and out of the house, wet from the water games outside, can get cold in that air conditioning! 😉

Nautical Dessert Table – Sweets & Treats

I know I say it every time, but this is seriously my favorite party theme yet.  I’ve always had a crush on a navy and white color scheme, so it was a no brainer when the party planning went in to works.

After upteen parties that I have hosted, I’ve learned a valuable lesson.  DON’T over do it on the treats.  No… not for the reason that you think.  It’s not the sugar highs, or the parents hating me because I’ve provided endless amounts of sugar for their kids… but rather:

THE KIDS DON’T EAT ALL OF IT!
Dead serious.  Don’t get me wrong… they’ll eat a cupcake, a cookie, maybe some ice cream… but they are way too busy playing with friends, the new toys laying around etc., that most of them barely even make it to the dessert table more than once.

So this time, I kept it small {rather than the normal smorgasbord of goodies that I usually do.}

These cookies.  OMG, can you BELIEVE how adorable these are!?  Guess what… I found them on Etsy!  Yes!  Wooden It Be Sweet  has these in her shop, and she was MORE than accommodating with my needs!    She shipped them to me, wrapped in the most precious little plastic bags, tied with twine.
I was able to send some of them home with guests since they were wrapped {as an addition to the party favors}, and I unwrapped a few for the dessert table.

Look how cute these are wrapped:

I can’t shout it from the rooftops loud enough, how PERFECT these nautical cupcakes were from MAB Cupcakes.  I {like a crazy person} waited until the last minute to order cupcakes.  {I don’t recommend it.}  But when I put a call in to order the cupcakes, I simply just asked for some white cupcakes.  I didn’t expect what I received…

Anchor cupcake toppers!!! I did mention that it was for the nautical birthday party that I was hosting, and if they had anything navy blue in the shop they could throw on… I’d be forever grateful.  You guys… THIS WAS THE RESULT…

NAILED it, right?! Holy moly.  Thank you MAB Cupcakes!

{P.S. I found the wooden board at a local antique shop, and it worked perfect to line the cupcakes on.  The blue and white polka dot cupcake liners came from Pick Your Plum.  A daily deal site that I have a slight obsession with.  Don’t even look in my party supply closet at home.}

I knew for the dessert table, I wanted to keep all of the food, white or navy blue.  When I started to think of, “Blue food,” I’ll be honest… there wasn’t much out there.  So I knew if I went to “white,” food, and just use Blue decor on the table, it should work out pretty well.

I went to one of my trusty desserts for parties {that’s simple and delish}, the ready-to-eat cheesecake filling.  At my All White Christmas party a while back, I took this filling, and filled mini shooters with graham cracker layers.  This time, I just grabbed some fillo shells and filled them with the cheesecake filling, and topped them with a couple of blueberries.
These would be soooo cute for a nautical baby shower too I must say!

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen my little snapshot of my DIY process of making these.  I was smitten with how cute they were looking.

I just grabbed lifesavers, and tied them on to the twine, and wrapped it around the bottles.  This DIY project went by in a flash.

White powdered donuts seem to always make an appearance on my dessert tables too.  Mainly because I adore them.  {Ahem… I mean my guests adore them.}

I found cute little navy and white suckers before the party, and although I didn’t really have the “space,” for them, I did put a couple out on the table just to add a “sweet,” touch. 😉

In another corner of the backyard, I created an ice cream bar.  With the hot month of June in the state of Missouri where we live, an ice cream on a hot summer day is a treat!  Literally!

I put out blueberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, gummy bears, and crushed up Oreos, for the little ones to get creative.  TIP… set this table up in the yard or somewhere that you don’t mind getting dirty!  It had potential to get messy. 😉

There was a variety of flavored syrups too, and they were able to choose between a waffle cone or bowl!  The kids had a BLAST choosing which toppings they wanted.  Ok ok… I did too.

I put up a little snack cart with chips, in case anyone got hungry and was missing a sweet tooth.  Putting them in to canisters makes it look a little fancier than just a few chip bags laying around.  This is where I also stored overflow of bubbles, sailor hats, and other little goodies.

Since it was a kiddo party, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of kid-friendly drinks.  Lemonade and water took up the main stage in my drink dispensers.  If you’re curious about the drink dispenser stands, check out my post about when and where I got the little lovelies: My Recent Trip to…

Not pictured: The adults may or may not have had an “adult beverage,” section too. 😉

My boys and their little guests had a blast in the water.  Water sprinklers, water balloons, and just tubs of water!  Fun for hours.

I had such a good time designing this party.  I already can’t wait for my other kiddos birthday this Fall.  Let the ideas and designing begin!

Vendor Credits:

Party Styling: Fantabulosity

Nautical Cookies: Wooden It Be Sweet

Nautical Anchor Cupcakes: MAB Cupcakes

Until next time!  Happy Party Planning!