Shark Birthday Party Fun

My little guy recently had a birthday, so I created a fun shark birthday party for him that I’m thrilled to share with you today!

I’ll be sharing all our shark birthday party printables, decorations, food, activities, and more.  So swim on over, put your fins up, and get ready for some shark-tastic fun!

Shark Birthday Party Decorations

My son’s shark party was a swimming party, which means that the kids had lots of fun and I didn’t have to put together party activities.  Double score!  Just inside the tiki hut by the pool was the perfect spot to set up our party table.  The tropical style matched the shark theme, as did the tropical trees and plants behind the hut.

This shark birthday party was actually pretty easy to put together, thanks to the awesome shark printables from JenTbyDesign.

Her shark printables set the tone for the whole party and can be seen throughout the party- the invitations, the customized garland hanging above the table, on the party sign just under the cake, around the drinks, on the party favors, and more!

The printables were absolutely perfect, and set the tone and color scheme for the whole party!  If you’re planning a party of ANY theme, you seriously need to check her out.  She was a dream to work with and will work with you to give you exactly what you want.

A welcome party sign was taped onto a wood crate in the middle of the table.  The cake was placed on top a little bit later in the party.

I dressed up a turquoise plastic tablecloth with multiple nets layered over the top.  It adds more depth and hides the lines and wrinkles in the plastic tablecloth.  😉

Shark Birthday Party Food

For the party I bought a few giant pizzas and then had a table set up with snacks, treats, and drinks.

Creative containers can make a big impact at a party, so I used galvanized buckets to serve snacks and add to the beachy feel of the party.  I filled two large buckets with oyster crackers and Goldfish, then used a metal scoop in each to serve.

Gummy sharks were placed in small paper turquoise containers, then placed on two light blue cake stands, one on each side.

I made some shark sugar cookies that I just love.  These little cuties caused a feeding frenzy at our party!  I placed them on a bed of “sand” made from brown sugar.

I decorated them with royal icing, then used a black food writer pen to make the eyes and gills.

These shark chocolate suckers were SUPER easy to make.  I melted gray chocolate melts in my electric chocolate melter (this thing has been such a lifesaver for me!), then poured them into a shark sucker chocolate mold.  After they cooled, I just popped them out and had these cute shark suckers.  Seriously, anyone can make these!

For the drinks, I bought two different kinds of Gatorade, then used some adorable drink labels that Jen designed for me to match the invitations and the rest of the party printables.

Shark Birthday Party Cake

I love birthday cakes that match the party theme, but I don’t love paying TONS of money from the bakery for a cake.  Plus it takes so much time to bake and decorate a cake , which can be a pain when you’re already spending tons of time planning the party.

I’ve got an easy solution for you!  I ordered a triple layer cake from our local Walmart bakery and had them put just plain light blue icing on it- no piping, no decorations, no sprinkles, nothing else.

Then I took the cake home and got to do the fun party- decorating!  I kept it simple since I was short on time.  My son has tons of Schleich toy animals, including a handful of sharks.  These toys are our favorite because they are so well made and will last forever!  Our grandchildren will one day play with these toys, I promise you.

I cleaned the shark toys really well, then placed two of them on top of the cake.

Around the base of the cake I arranged blue, silver, and white gumballs so they went around the entire cake.  This cake was so much cheaper than buying a fancy one from an expensive bakery, and took way less time than making it from scratch.  The shark cake got lots of ooohs and ahhhhhs from the party-goers, especially from the boys who wanted to keep the sharks, haha.

Shark Birthday Party Favors

I wanted to give small party favors to the kids that came to my son’s shark birthday party.  I asked Jen to design me a shark design that I could use as an iron-on to put onto muslin bags that I filled with sidewalk chalk.

They looked great, and the kids loved their shark party favors.

Thanks for sinking your teeth into our shark party!  My son LOVED it all and we had such a wonderful time celebrating him and the sweet boy that he is.

Have a great weekend!

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PS  Stay tuned for my daughter’s mermaid party on the blog next week!