There are many creative ways to invite the crew on a sailing adventure. Hand-delivered invitations could be sent as a message in a bottle complete with a little bit of sand and a couple of small seashells. For a pool party, the invitation could include wording like, “Ahoy! Set sail on the [Child’s Name] sea for some sailing adventures!”.
Location
A Sailor party doesn’t necessarily have to be held near the water, but turning this theme into a fun pool party is certainly an added bonus. An indoor pool, outdoor pool or beach area would be a great setting for a sailor-themed party. Alternatively, a spray pad park or a picnic area by a river would be a cute setting as well. If you’d like to stay away from the ‘sea’ for this party, a party in a playground would be fun too because you can create some fun sailing challenges around the playground area.
Decorations
Any variation of blue, red and white work well for a sailor theme in solid colors, stripes or chevron prints. Great places to shop for sailor party supplies include a party supply store, a discounted home décor store or an outdoor sporting store.
The door to your party area could include a sign or banner to say, “Welcome Aboard” along with a personalized “Happy Birthday” banner above the buffet table.
Some cute additions to the party area include:
• An anchor
• A ship’s wheel
• Fishing net (as a tablecloth or a backdrop for the food table)
• Sailor cap or captain’s hat
• Life preserver
• Tin pails
• Small raft to use as a drink cooler
• Crumpled blue crêpe paper around serving trays to look like waves
• Stuffed pelican toy
• Plastic fish, crabs and lobsters
Food
Food for a Sailor party can include a mixture of food from the sea and land so that you have something to suit everyone’s tastes.
Delicious ideas include:
• Battered fish & chips with tartar sauce in small navy portion cups
• Chicken nuggets labeled as “Catch of the Day”
• Octopus (hotdogs sliced to look like octopus arms)
• Onion rings labeled as “Fried Squid”
• Clear cups filled with blue jello and topped with a gummy fish
• Gummy sharks, gummy fish and blue whales served in mini tin fishing pails
• Bottles of blue pop labeled as “Sea Water” and served with red or navy striped paper straws
• Salt water taffy
• White powdered mini cake donuts decorated with stripes of red icing to resemble life preservers
• Red, white and blue cake push pops
• Cupcakes topped with custom-made toppers resembling white sails
Activities
Build your own boat – With a little bit of google or library research, you can learn how to fold paper sailboats. This would be a fun craft for the kids to try and a cute addition to send home with them in their goodie bag.
Sea legs obstacle course – An obstacle course can be set up in your party area including safety cones to run around, hoops to hop through, plastic fish to catch using fishing net and streamer crêpe paper to hop over or climb under. What gives this obstacle course the ‘sea legs’ title is that you can set a rule that all players must spin around in a circle five times before completing each task (making them a little dizzy).
Simon Says – sailor edition – Have your children ever played Simon Says? Basically, you give the party guests directions but they aren’t supposed to do the assignment unless you first say, “Simon Says.” For example, if you say, “Simon Says jump up and down three times,” the kids must do as you ask. If you were to simply say, “Jump up and down three times,” the kids aren’t supposed to do the action because you didn’t start it with “Simon Says.” A fun way to use this game in a Sailor party theme is to give them sailor-type assignments, like running to grab plastic fish and place them in a bucket, do an action of hoisting a sail, steering to the left, steering to the right, etc.
Favors
The party favor area can be set near the exit to the party so that you don’t forget to send guests home with a goodie bag. The favor area can include a sign that says, “Bon Voyage,” along with favor tags that say, “Thanks for sailing by [Child’s Name]’s Birthday Party!”.
Favor ideas include:
• Plastic sand molds filled with gummy fish
• Plastic sand pail filled with sand toys
• Magnetic fishing game
• Fishing net filled with small outdoor toys
Happy sailing!
Cheryl is a married mother of one. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with a strong interest in parties and event planning. She is the owner and writer for Moms & Munchkins (www.momsandmunchkins.ca), which is filled with ideas for family fun, activities for kids, party ideas, party planning tips, holiday fun, moms’ night out ideas and more.
Calgary’s Child Magazine © 2024 Calgary’s Child
