Sound the Octo-alarm!

Layla turned five!  We celebrated Layla's birthday last week with an Octonauts' party.  Layla is obsessed with this show and so it became our party theme for this year (I was pulling for a dollhouse/miniature party!) The party was supposed to be held at a  little beach by our house.  I was so excited for another simple party and to introduce people to this hidden spot in our town.  But then the temperatures dropped and we were facing 60 degree weather.  Yikes!  So we switched a couple days before to a house party.  Cue the craziness!  Ryan worked like a madman on the yard and I tried to pull together a party that would entertain all of the kids!  Whew!

*Thank you to my friend Stephanie for many of these pictures!*

Favors.  I bought these way in advance with a great coupon at a party store.  I searched high and low for the best pails at the best price and scored these pails (tools included!) for just a few cents over a dollar.  I thought the pails would be fun entertainment at the beach.  Hopefully the kids still get to use them over the summer! 

 

Thank you to Beth for making the tags, water bottle wraps and stickers for me.  

Layla (and Shea!) was so thrilled with everything Beth made for us.  I had everything printed at OfficeMax for a couple dollars.  I wanted to save my ink at home :)    

 

Soap boat races.  I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to incorporate into the party.  We had planned on doing soap boat races (plastic gutter, soap and water) over the summer, so we just bought the supplies a bit early!

Ocean in a bottle.  Water, oil, blue food coloring, sequins, mini shells and glitter make for a fun little project.  Layla is obsessed with reusing items (I am trying to figure out if she is a future environmentalist or hoarder?!?) so this was a great project to reuse bottles.  Cassie hot-glued the tops on for the kids.  Thanks, Cass!

Leave your handprint in the sand.  Thank you to my friend Stephanie for coming to this party and helping so much!  At this station, kids made their hand prints in the sand and Stephanie poured a plaster of paris/water mix into the hand print molds.  Some turned out and some just never dried all of the way.  Just keep making fresh batches of plaster/water mixes and I think you will be fine!

Food table!  Thank you to Cassie for pulling this together at the last minute. The cake pops are in sand pails and in the balloon stands that Ryan made for me and the fishnets were from the Dollar Tree.  I made octopus hot dogs (not pictured and picture without the little faces) and they were really easy and I think the kids got a kick out of them.

Cake pops!

Presents!

And lots of playing!!

Ryan created some fun Octonaut games.  You have got to love anyone with a P.E. teacher background.  They make kid friendly games and lead groups of kids really well.  This also makes for fun dads and party helpers :)

 

Happy birthday, Layla!  We are so glad you had so much fun celebrating with all of your friends!