Easy Crab Bisque

If you're looking for nautical party ideas that are easy to pull together but still feel special, this theme is one of the most versatile options for birthdays, baby showers, or summer gatherings.

Nautical Party Ideas (Simple + Easy to Recreate)

If you're planning a nautical-themed party, the key is keeping things simple, fun, and easy to pull together. Whether it's for a birthday, baby shower, or summer gathering, these ideas will help you create a cohesive look without overcomplicating things.

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 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.

  

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’. 😉

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. 🙂

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

 

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.

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.

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

  

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:

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…

P.S. I found the wooden board at a local antique shop, and it worked perfect to line the cupcakes on.

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.

What to Serve at a Nautical Party

Keeping the food simple and on-theme makes a big difference, especially for outdoor or kid-friendly parties.

Easy Party Foods

• Mini cheesecakes with blueberries
• Cupcakes with themed toppers
• Powdered donuts (simple and crowd-friendly)

Fun Themed Treats

• Anchor cookies
• Blue and white desserts
• Ice cream bar with toppings

Savory Snacks

• Simple snack cart setup
• Chips and easy finger foods

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 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!

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.

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. 😉

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 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. 😉

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.

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.

Kid Drinks

Since it was a kiddo party, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of kid-friendly drinks. Fruit Punch and water took up the main stage in my drink dispensers.

  

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

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.

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

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!

Nacho Bar Ideas: An easy “serve yourself,” style of food bar for a party or event. Topping ideas, and my favorite way to serve the cheese!

As a party planner at heart, I decided to style an easy nacho bar since food bars are my favorite!

We invited a few of our closest friends over on a Friday night, with a Facebook invite saying,

It’s Nacho Birthday, it’s his!

We then told them to plan on coming over to our house after school & work that Friday evening, for a nacho bar & some brew. (Juice boxes for the kiddos.)

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Everyone LOVED the nacho bar idea! They were able to make their own… just the way they wanted it, and it was the perfect way to vedge out, on a Friday evening.

The idea started, when I saw a sign out front of the party rental store in my home town that said,

“NOW CARRYING A NACHO CHEESE MACHINE.”

I just about rear-ended someone, because of my excitement. I literally planned this party days later. 😉

Nacho Bar Ideas

How to Make a Nacho Bar

I literally bought almost everything already pre-made and pre-cut. It was by choice to make the guacamole and pico de gallo. But a nacho bar is PERFECT for a last minute party idea because it was literally all ready in no time.

My easy guacamole recipe is a HUGE hit on Pinterest, and my top most-visited recipe post every year if you want to snag it too:

Type of Cheese for Nacho Bar

In the recipe card below, you’ll find instructions for making your own cheese for the nacho bar, or you can make our Rotel Dip with Ground Beef!

However, you can also look in to a nacho cheese machine rental, or you can usually also find the large cans of nacho cheese at grocery stores!

Chips for a Nacho Bar

Feel free to use your favorite tortilla chips (corn or flour)! Or, add a variety of chips, such as nacho cheese chips (like I use in this easy Doritos nachos recipe, lime chips, or even something fun like black bean chips!

It’s fun to pour chips in to a basket, to serve them that way, instead of leaving them in the bags.

But if you don’t have a basket, they’ll also go great in a large bowl!

Toppings for a Nacho Bar

A nacho bar isn’t complete without salsal (try my rotel salsa), sour cream, and green onions.

(I had this wooden “plank,” left over from my son’s Nautical Birthday party,” and I thought it would work perfectly to add a little boost or height to the table.)

Shredded lettuce, black olives & Pico de Gallo…

refried beans, fajita chicken, & jalapeños…

oh…. and guac. Guacamole. My weakness.

Mmmmm, & Chili. I do love a mean chili-cheese-nacho.

What to serve nachos in?

I found the cutest “boats,” & wooden utensils for the nachos, and they worked perfectly! No dishes to wash! (Well… besides the platters and small bowls on the table.)

The best part? People were coming and going all night, and they were able to snack as they pleased. This will definitely be happening in our house again.

Nacho Toppings Ideas:

• Salsa
• Sour Cream
• Green Onions
• Lettuce
• Black Olives
• Pico De Gallo
• Refried Beans
• Chicken Breast
• Jalapeños
• Guacamole
• Chili

…of course don’t forget your chips & cheese.

If you’re able to rent a cheese machine, do it! The kids (AND ADULTS) loved the heck out of that thing. I’ll admit… I had “cheese,” with EVERYTHING the entire weekend, that I had this glorious invention, rented.

More recipes to serve, if desired:

If you’re looking to serve a few main dishes along with this, you may like the idea of these Crock Pot Enchiladas because they’re easy and can be in a slow cooker!

Nacho Bar for Birthday Party

Since you’re probably thinking of doing a nacho bar because it’s easy, then I wanted to make sure you saw my easy birthday cake that I did for my son. (In case you’re doing a nacho bar for a birthday party too!)

For my parties, I usually hire out for the cake, cake pops, or cupcakes. But this year, since a big “to-do,” wasn’t taking place, (and only our closest friends would “see,” the cake), I thought I’d give it a whirl.

Now… I can make a cake. That’s not the problem. It’s the DECORATING the cake. 

  There’s a cake on Pinterest, that had itty bitty balloons sticking out of it, and I thought… I can do that! I just grabbed wooden skewers, small balloons, and super glued them to the skewers, and stuck ’em in. It worked, right?!

Party Favors and Games

I couldn’t send our guests out the door empty-handed. While my normal “stroll,” through the Target dollar bin, I came across playing cards & play dough, and thought they’d be the perfect little items to throw into goodie bags and to keep the kiddos busy on the car ride home.

I placed a rolling cart that I have from World Market, by the front door, and stuffed the goody bags in it… with a sign that said, “Take 1.” It worked out perfectly, and there wasn’t ONE favor left, by the end of the night. 

If you’re looking for birthday game ideas for your nacho bar party, these 40th birthday party games are fun to keep in mind!

So there it is! It was my “It’s Nacho Birthday, It’s His,” nacho bar party!

P.S. My little guy LOVED his cake… & the nachos. He’s a “cruncher,” like his momma and loves anything salty and sweet. Ok, ok… he’s like his momma because he’ll eat anything.

More Food Bar Ideas!

If you love hosting food bars like I do, then you’ll also love these 51+ Food Bar Ideas too!

Or, see some of our favorites, below:

Other Party Ideas by Fantabulosity

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