"The Seaweed Is Always Greener..."

"...Just look at the world around you/Right here on the Ocean floor/Such wonderful things surround you/What more is you looking for?"

After attending a very elaborate "Golfing Under the Sea" party thrown by my friend Tracy, Natalie was inspired to ask me to do an "Ariel Under the Sea" party for her 4th birthday. I agreed because The Little Mermaid was one of my favorites when I was a kid.

Lucky for me, Tracy was willing to let me borrow all of her amazing decorations!

Not only did Tracy let me use her fabulous glittery stuff, she also came over and helped me set everything up. The hard part of having a child with a birthday in early December is trying to decorate around Christmas. What a friend Tracy was for helping me figure it all out!

Ariel herself floated through some seaweed to greet Natalie's guests!

Loved this glittery stuff!

We always play Pin the __ on the ___, depending on the theme. This year, I attempted to draw my own Ariel so the girls could play "Pin the Flower on Ariel."

I made little purple flowers with a scrapbooking punch I had. I'm a pretty crappy artist, but I suppose if a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds can tell this was Ariel, then I'm not that bad.

Tracy has a gorgeous, cardboard ocean background that we used to cover up the built-ins in our addition.

We thought it would keep the kids out of the toys, but we should have known better. At any rate, it made for a nice backdrop.

It was Tracy's idea to hang glittery blue-green "seaweed" from the molding in the family room.

Then we hung some little seahorses, an octopus, and some fish from that.

We did the same in the dining room.

More seaweed and sea horses in the kitchen. Tracy hung a fishing net over the front window too.

I always use a little Christmas tree as a centerpiece and decorate it for whatever theme the party is. This year, I used some of my own sea shells and some of Tracy's glittery stuff and topped it with a glittery purple ribbon and pearl "bubbles."

I bought one Ariel balloon at the party store.

The rest were the white kind you blow up yourself and I decorated a few with left-over Little Mermaid stickers.

I know, I know. The ceiling fan in the kitchen is hideous. But there's not much we can do about it right now. I tried to dress it up with some more of Tracy's treasures.

Trying to save some money, I made the cupcakes myself this year.

T's mom still had an Ariel figurine that belonged to my sister-in-law when she was little-bitty. We borrowed it for Natalie's cupcake. She wanted pink icing, as you can see.

I made the toppers myself with a flower punch and more left-over Little Mermaid stickers.

First game of the day: Pin the Flower on Ariel

We didn't have a potato for "Hot Potato," so we played "Hot Flounder" instead and passed around a plastic Flounder figurine to the tune of "Under the Sea."

Then somehow the plastic jellyfish I had got lost, so the girls took turns trying to toss Flounder into the shark's mouth. No one seemed psychologically damaged by this game.

Prizes were rings and necklaces that my mother-in-law had leftover from a girls' church tea she did.

Time for presents!

I love how the girls always start sitting down, and as they get more excited they crowd around until it's one big wrapping paper fest!

Uncle Matt and Uncle Mike stopped by to give Natalie a new pink Barbie bike. It has training wheels, a bell, and a basket. I am a little jealous myself.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

I've never seen such a rush to get to homemade cupcakes, Breyer's ice cream, and juice boxes!

Goody bags! I shopped for these all year, so I didn't spend a chunk of cash at once.

Bubbles with a quote from The Little Mermaid on the front.

The party was over, so the girls rode off into the sunset on Natalie's new bike....

Time to start planning the next party! Michaela Byrd turns two in January!

PS. If you've never seen The Little Mermaid, it's the cutest! Here's a clip:

Linking to The CSI Project