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    Home » Parties » Kids Party

    Nautical Birthday Party – AHOY MATE!

    By: Jessica · Posted: Feb 15, 2019 · Updated: Sep 24, 2024 · This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

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    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas: An outdoor summer party for a water-loving kiddo, and all of his friends for a party play date!

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, Boy or Girl! Navy Blue and White Dessert table! https://fantabulosity.com

     

    Last year, we hosted 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, like a fireman birthday party, 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! Update: 3 years later, this is STILL his favorite birthday party theme!

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas

    It started out with designing a nautical invitation. (See how to create your own birthday party invites in Canva!) I created it, based on the “vision,” I had in my head of what I wanted the party to look like. (P.S. I blurred the bottom in this photo for privacy. )

    Nautical Birthday Party Invitation! https://fantabulosity.com

    Nautical Birthday Party Invitations

    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.

    Nautical Birthday Party Invitation, Message in a bottle! So cute! https://fantabulosity.com
    Nautical Birthday Party Invitation, Message in a bottle! So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

      

    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!

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, Boy or Girl! fantabulosity.com-2

    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.

    Nautical Birthday Party Invitation, Message in a bottle! So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

    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’. 😉

    AHOY MATE! Welcome to my play date! https://fantabulosity.com

    Nautical Party Favors

    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. 🙂

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas! Favor Ideas! Beach bag full of summer fun items! https://fantabulosity.com-51

    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! 😉

    Love this Pre-play & Post-play station! Sunblock, bug spray for when you're headed out to play in the water at the birthday party, and towels for when you're done! Brilliant! https://fantabulosity.com

    Love this Pre-play & Post-play station! Sunblock, bug spray for when you're headed out to play in the water at the birthday party, and towels for when you're done! Brilliant! https://fantabulosity.com
    Love this Pre-play & Post-play station! Sunblock, bug spray for when you're headed out to play in the water at the birthday party, and towels for when you're done! Brilliant! https://fantabulosity.com

      

    Nautical Dessert Table – Sweets & Treats

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, Boy or Girl! Navy Blue and White Dessert table! https://fantabulosity.com-35

     

    Navy and White Party Decor

    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.

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, Boy or Girl! Navy Blue and White Dessert table! https://fantabulosity.com

    Food and Treats Tip:

    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.

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas! Or a baby shower! https://fantabulosity.com
    So this time, I kept it small (rather than the normal smorgasbord of goodies that I usually do.)

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, for a Boy or Girl! Navy and White dessert table! https://fantabulosity.com

      

    Anchor Cookies

    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:

    Nautical Cookies for baby shower, birthday party, favors, etc! So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

    Cupcakes + Cupcake Toppers

    I can’t shout it from the rooftops loud enough, how PERFECT these nautical cupcakes were from MAB Cupcakes.  Like a crazy person, I 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…

    Nautical Birthday Party cupcakes! OMG so adorable! https://fantabulosity.com

    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.

    Nautical Navy Blue and White Cupcakes! Perfect for a baby shower, or birthday party! https://fantabulosity.com

    Blue Food??

    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.

    Mini Cheesecakes for navy blue and white party or baby shower. You'll faint when you find out how easy these are. This can't be. https://fantabulosity.com

    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!

    Mini Cheesecakes for navy blue and white party or baby shower. You'll faint when you find out how easy these are. This can't be serious. https://fantabulosity.com

    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 found the idea on Pinterest, and cannot remember for the life of me who came up with this brilliant idea. If you know, please let me know! I’d love to link to them and give credit where credit is due!

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, milk bottles with lifesaver candy wrapped around them! So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

    I just grabbed lifesavers, and tied them on to the twine, (kind of like when I made the DIY nautical candles) and wrapped it around the bottles. This DIY project went by in a flash.

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas. Milk bottles with life savers wrapped around the neck with twine! So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

    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.)

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas! White powdered donuts, so easy and cute! https://fantabulosity.com

    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. 😉

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas! Blue and White suckers! https://fantabulosity.com

    Make Your Own Ice Cream Bar

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

    Ice Cream Bar for an outdoor summer birthday party https://fantabulosity.com

    Ice Cream Toppings

    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. 😉

    Ice Cream Bar for an outdoor summer birthday party https://fantabulosity.com

    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.

    Ice Cream Bar for an outdoor summer birthday party https://fantabulosity.com

    Snack + Toy Cart – Finger Foods

    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.

    Snack cart for a birthday party! Love how the chips are in canisters! https://fantabulosity.com

    Kid Drinks

    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.

    Drink Dispensers for a party, on a stand. So cute! https://fantabulosity.com
    Drink Dispensers for a party, on a stand. So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

      

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

    Drink Dispensers for a party, on a stand. So cute! https://fantabulosity.com

    Water Fun!

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

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, Navy Blue and White! Perfect for boy or girl! fantabulosity.com-9

    If you’re having a slumber party, make sure to check out these fun ideas for a boys slumber party, too!

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas, Navy Blue and White! Perfect for boy or girl! fantabulosity.com-9

    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!

    Nautical Birthday Party Ideas! Party Planning Services! https://fantabulosity.com

    Vendor Credits:

    Party Styling: Fantabulosity

    Nautical Cookies: Wooden It Be Sweet

    Nautical Anchor Cupcakes: MAB Cupcakes

    Until next time! Happy party planning!

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    1. Patricia Sirrine says

      June 24, 2021 at 8:11 am

      Where did you get the blue boat decoration? It is beautiful!

      Reply
      • Jessica says

        June 24, 2021 at 10:08 am

        Hello Patricia! I believe I found it at Hobby Lobby years ago!

        Reply
    2. Caron says

      July 12, 2018 at 12:28 pm

      Super adorable! Great ideas – and easy to do for a kids’ party.

      Reply
      • Jessica says

        July 12, 2018 at 2:55 pm

        Thank you so much Caron!!

        Reply
    3. Beth says

      September 08, 2016 at 7:07 pm

      Where did you get the plastic bottles for the invitations?

      Reply
      • Jessica says

        September 11, 2016 at 9:48 am

        I believe I found them on Amazon!!!

        Reply

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