So TIPical Me

Recipes & TIPs for Everyday Living!

  • Home
  • About Me
  • My Networks
  • Privacy Policy

Birthday Pool Party

July 1, 2013   |   1 Comment

After looking through the old photos of my daughter’s 5th birthday party, she wanted to do something similar this year (9).  We only decided this a week prior to the party so I didn’t have a lot of time for prep.  I got most of the items from Dollartree and Target.

First were the goodie bags.  I had blue lunch sacks that i previously purchased at Target.  Then I got some sea life sticker sheets (.99ea) from the dollar spot.  In each bag, we included an inflatable pool ring ($3), bubbles (3-pack for $1 at a dollar store), a Hawaiian lei (3-pack for $1 at a dollar store), and a snack size bag of Goldfish.

 
We also bought beach themed plates and napkins, cute straws with little palm tree embellishments, 2 pails, 2 plastic tablecloths, an inflatable beach ball and 2 pool noodles (also from dollar store).  The pool noodles were game prizes.  We had a “biggest splash” contest, then we played limbo.  There were only 6 girls, so 2 prizes was enough.
 
At Target, we got two sand molds that were used as table decorations, two blue mini pails and the snacks.  She chose goldfish, popcorn and Swedish fish.  I added sliced watermelon which was very refreshing on such a hot day.  We made punch from Sprite, rainbow sherbet and juice.  I already had bottled water, cups, utensils and some salt water taffy, which I also used. 
 
 
 
 
If you have seen my previous post for the Kids Beach Party, you saw the beach cupcakes I served.  My daughter asked for a cake this time, so I did something similar.  She requested a vanilla cake with white frosting and chocolate filling.  The white frosting ended up being cream cheese flavored, which is her favorite. I purchased a French Vanilla cake mix and followed the recipe, only I added 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract.  The cake came out more dense than your average cake mix.  It reminded me a bit of pound cake and tasted more like homemade.  I used a 9×13 pan and let the cake cook overnight.  
 
The next day, I sliced the cake lengthwise and made two layers.  I used chocolate frosting for the middle, then flipped it upside down.  It was a flatter, smoother surface to work on.  The cake rose in the middle during baking.  Normally beach cakes call for graham cracker crumbs for the sand.  She isn’t a big fan, so I put vanilla sandwich cookies in the food processor to make the crumbs.  Since there was the creme mixed in, I found that they stuck to the cake much better.  I covered half the cake with the “sand”.  
 
For the ocean, I decided not to use blue frosting.  Instead, I kept it white and on the ocean half, I made several small points that looked like choppy ocean water.  Then I used blue sugar sprinkles to cover the remaining part of the cake.   I think it looked so much better.  It created an effect of the white foamy water over the deep blue sea.
 
 
I used a cocktail umbrella, fruit roll-up for the beach towels, gummy savers for the life preservers and dots for the beach balls.  The palm trees came from a party store in the luau section.  Target had some gummy sea creature candy and we used the starfish around the sides of the ocean.  I didn’t get a good photo of the cake from the party.  This was the only good one I got, sorry.  
 
The party was a success!  It was {simple} and looked more impressive than I expected. The birthday girl was happy, her friends were happy, so mom was happy!
 
Update: We did another pool party this year and here is the Swimming Pool Cake we made.
IMG_0758
 
 

 

Filed Under: children, food, party

Trackbacks

  1. Luau Birthday Party For Kids - One TIPsy Chick says:
    July 3, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    […] finally was the cake! My daughter wanted another beach cake. I made a similar cake for her last party, but she liked this one much better. This time I made a vanilla […]

    Reply

Share Your Thoughts Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Find Me Here

 

Search

Categories

Follow Me On Pinterest!

Follow So TIPical Me's board So TIPical Me on Pinterest.

Copyright © 2014 · Charming Theme by The Bloggerette Studio.