"Splish Splash" First Birthday Party

Who says you can’t have a pool party in the dead of winter??  Not Tabitha of Fresh Mommy Blog, who wanted to celebrate her 1 year old’s birthday in a way he would love – splishing & splashing in the water!  Tabitha was able to rent out a local aquatic center for the party, and proceeded to incorporate mini beach balls, sun glasses, bubbles, and beach pails, in a blue and orange color scheme.   In her own words, Tabitha describes the party… 
Decor:  Behind the Guest of Honor’s highchair was a photo wall of prints clothesline-pinned onto strips of ribbon to showcase the birthday boy’s first year (100 photos). To incorporate the color theme as well as keep the look a bit modern, we used the classic, beachy blue and white stripe throughout the party as well as an orange and white polka dot pattern to keep it sweet.
Menu:  When planning the party menu, we did a fusion of what we like to order from a poolside cabana (burgers and fries), and easy, kid-friendly food! We were able to cook burgers on site, so we offered Poolside Sliders (mini-burgers), and since we couldn’t cook fries there, we instead had veggie fries… perfect finger food for one-year olds, which were served in individual portions in snow cone cups, and held into a “pool” of foam with wooden skewer sticks. We also had Gnarly Noodle Mac-n-Cheese, Blue Lagoon Jello Shots (each with their own gummy fish swimming in it and alcohol free, of course!), Goldfish crackers, blue gummy sharks, and orange slices.

To add a little more sweetness to the already sweet occasion, we served orange crush, topped with mini doughnuts and held onto the bottle with a fish straw (to give the illusion of a fish floating on a blue inner tube), and the kids (and adults) loved it! We also served snow cones with blue or orange topping to add to the “Summer” affair.
Coordinating signs to show off the menu were printed and held in slim white Ikea frames and matching labels were attached to Crush bottles and water bottles to keep it all consistent.
Favors: Each child took home their fish straw and beach ball, along with their own customized sand pail filled with a squirt gun, “Fish” ring sucker, sunglasses, “Shark Tank” bubbles and a little shark that squirts water, which they found on the gift table with a custom sign that read, “Thanks for making a splash at Brayden’s first birthday bash!” and smaller tags attached to the pails that said the same… and they were able to take their favors to the pool area for even more fun.
Of course, we couldn’t have it all without something cute for the birthday boy to wear, so we had a shirt made to match the theme. I just picked up the shirt and polka dot fabric from Hobby Lobby, and an embroiderer did the rest!
Everything went by so quickly because the main gist of the party was pool time. Once we finished up the cake and presents it was time for the hit of the party… announcing, “It’s time to swim!” and watching all the kids run around in circles until we directed them to the pools and water slide!

Thank you Tabitha for sharing your party with us, and giving us some great inspiration for a Summer pool party too!

Resources & Credits:
Photography – Relish Studio
Mini Donuts – Dough a Deer
Bottle labels (water & soda) – Online Labels
Fish Straws – Birthday in a Box

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11 Comments

  1. I just adore the concept and quite frankly will be incorporation some of your ideas into my son’s first birthday this weekend. It is pool theme as well. So I have to ask, how did you make the pool of foam that held the snow cone cups. and the jello shots? Thanks you so much for sharing.

    1. Hi Tomica, the jello shots are just blue jello with gummy sharks inside. The cones have a wooden skewer poked through the bottom that will insert into the foam and stand upright. The foam is covered with blue floral beads.
      Good luck!

  2. Very cute! I love those frames everyone is using, I think from Ikea. The double sided ones. I just ordered a few myself!

  3. What a fun-looking party! I love orange, blue + white for nautical parties! It's so fun and bright!

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