A Mermaid Party!

My girlfriends and I were supposed to have a Girls' Weekend at the beach.  My Hubbers is still recovering from a stroke and Rheumatoid Arthritis issues and we've had family drama that has emotionally drained us.  I thought it best I stay home with him so I cancelled on going with the girls (we are trying to reschedule something!) My daughter asked if my granddaughter's birthday party could be held here, she wanted a Mermaid-themed swimming party.  Being that I was now staying home, I said yes.

Well, if you know me, you know I can't have a party here and not get creatively involved! Off to Pinterest I went, looking for inspiration.  First up was a banner.  Using my Silhouette Cameo machine I cut some mermaid tails.  I then punched umpteen-million circles.  Ugh, that was a drag! With the assistance of my granddaughter, we glued all those circles to make the tails look like they had fins. I glittered the fins.  I should've known better than to do this in my craft room as I had glitter everywhere!  Eventually, I wisened up and finished the task on the back patio! The banner served as the backdrop to the candy/snacks table that my daughter set up (and I neglected to get a picture of the finished table, only one while it was in process!)

Next up was sugar cookies.  It's become my trademark to make sugar cookies for family parties.  I already had a mermaid cookie cutter from another granddaughter's birthday a few years ago.  It took me all day to decorate the cookies as each design element had to be done in steps. I'm slow and not the best decorator but they looked like mermaids! The birthday girl loved them and each of her guests got to take one home.

Finally, I made cupcakes. They turned out just how I envisioned them! I used a fondant mold to form the melted chocolate into the mermaid tails, then dusted them with edible glitter.  A buttercream frosting and lots of sprinkles completed them. They were a hit!

My daughter found this clamshell pool float on Amazon.  She set up a photo booth area with a lot of little props.  The kids did that for a while but eventually the float ended up in the pool where it was used by all. We also set up an inflatable pool slide, which got a lot of action, too.  There was so much laughter and yelling in that pool, I'm sure my neighbors were glad when the party was over!  But, what fun to hear the laughter of children!

Before the party, while she was waiting for the guests to arrive, my granddaughter looked around and said "I'm going to have the most awesome party!" I think she did!