Surf’s Up Birthday Party

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This post is in partnership with Oriental Trading.

Our Surf’s Up Birthday Party was a huge hit with all the kids, even though we live in the desert. This is a simple birthday party for boys, with just a little help from Oriental Trading and our community pool.

Every little boy with a summer birthday needs to have a surfing birthday party at least once. We had a blast planning this party, but mostly the kids just swam and ate. Easy party for me!

The kids loved having the surf backdrop and an inflatable surfboard for pictures before jumping in the pool.

My son had to pose with all his friends as they arrived for the party and the photos are just totally adorable. It’s the first time we’ve ever had a little backdrop and it’s going to be a regular thing for us now!

I used my all time favorite Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe and my Amazing White Cake recipe for the cupcakes. I frosted with a delicious Almond Buttercream that is to-die-for. I just did a basic swirl frosting and topped with a paper surfboard.

My table was fairly simple with some tiki torches, giant tropical leaves, metal buckets in various colors, and to raise the platters of jello, I added crushed shells to clear glasses to just add to the decor.

With all the sweets and snacks, we had to have some veggies. I love serving them this way because even kids who don’t normally grab veggies from a platter will happily grab one or two of these. I used plastic shot glasses so they were small and disposable.

    What’s a surfing party without a bucket of fishes (gold fish), inner tubes (small powdered donuts), and shark attack jello?!?!? And aren’t these surfboard chalkboard signs so cute?!?!

The Shark Attack Jello was probably the biggest hit of our Surf’s Up Birthday Party. It’s just blue jello (I had to order it from Amazon as no stores around me actually carried it), shark gummy candies, and cute clear cups.

A big fish bowl filled with gumballs became beachballs.

    I found a couple bags of seashells at a local craft store and filled some buckets and scattered them around. I also went to the candy store and bought a selection of gummy sea animals to put in a fish bowl.

The kids loved this inflatable surfboard cooler with all their juices and water.

I filled clear cellophane bags with sweedish fish and tied a ribbon with a surfboard lollipop as party favors.

Looking to add some party favors to your celebration? Check out my post about Party Favors on a Budget to help you stay focused and save some money when planning your favors.