The Coolest Outdoor Mermaid Birthday Party Ideas

For my daughter’s eighth birthday, we threw her a mermaid themed pool party. We had just moved into our new Florida home that had a pool so throwing pool parties was definitely new to us. But we managed to put together this really great party with elements from Dollar Tree and Amazon. For convenience, I’ve listed the shopping list below. Scroll down to see all the details!

Dollar Tree Purchase List

• Starfish
• Blue pebbles
• String
• Mermaid dolls
• Jewelry for a treasure hunt
• Folding poster board
• Purple paper
• Purple tablecloth
• Silver tablecloth (used as a runner)

Amazon Purchase List:

• Balloon Garland
• Tattoo
• Cupcake Toppers
• T-shirts
• Bathing suit

Tips for Throwing a Party in Your Backyard

Throwing a party in your backyard comes with its own set of things to consider. Here are the must-haves for the perfect outdoor party.

Bug Repellent & Sunblock

We bring this up first because this can be the most annoying thing for guests. They shouldn’t have to swat away flies and mosquitoes. Make sure to place a basket full of bug repellent and sunblock for their convenience. You should also include citronella candles or lanterns.

Plenty of Shade

When throwing outdoor parties, make sure you have enough seating under shade so guests can keep cool and comfortable. It can be under a lanai, an umbrella, a tent, or even a tree.

Keep Hydrated

Related to shade, it’s important to keep plenty of water around for party guests. Consider coolers full of water (not alcohol!) or large drink dispensers with refreshing fruit-infused water. Mind/cucumber or lime/strawberries are great combinations.

Have Enough Towels

For a pool party, you will need to make sure to have more than enough towels. Kids will come in and out the entire time and will want to try towels, especially if it’s not super hot. We also recommend setting up a place where they can dry. These hooks work well. Have the kids pick a color towel so they know which one is theirs and can continue to use that same one once it dries. 

Back-Up Plan is a Good Idea

Finally, you can’t control the weather so make sure you know what to do in case you need to move the party indoors. You will need to consider where you’d place all the tables and the general flow of the party within your space.

Easy Mermaid Birthday Party Ideas

The first thing to do is pick your color scheme. Most mermaid parties are a combination of purple and teal. But you can also throw in some pink or coral.

There are so many ways to create fun beach-themed decor. Things to include are seashells, starfish, rocks, sand, sharks, jellyfish, pearls, crabs, fishing nets, and coral.

You should also find ways to incorporate mermaid theme elements like tails and scales. You can create a mermaid scale pattern using almost anything. You can layer different colored card stock, tablecloth, or paper plates.

Ok, now let’s take a look at our party details!

Mermaid Outfits

Since this was going to be a pool party, I knew I wanted to get my daughter a pretty mermaid bathing suit for her special day. This cute three-piece outfit came complete with a mermaid tail cover-up. I then bought the rest of the family these great t-shirts. My husband wore the “Mermaid Security” t-shirt, my son wore the “MER-BRO” t-shirt, and I was of course “Mermaid Mom”. 

Entryway sign

This sign is very easy to make. All you need is a printer. I designed this on Canva.com and then printed it out on a regular sheet of paper. Then I placed it on our front porch.

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Balloon Garland

Admittedly, this was the first balloon garland kit that we purchased on Amazon so we were a little skeptical. I have to say, it worked out really well! The kit came complete with purple, teal, and white balloons, small star balloons, a large mermaid tail, and even a sparkly teal fringe background. I used this balloon pump to blow up all the balloons. Then I strung them together with the plastic garland that came with the kit.

Custom Birthday Banner

On top of the fringe background, I added this custom banner that I made myself with purple and white cardstock. I actually originally made this for Ameila’s communion. I simply changed the letters to turn them into a birthday banner! I used these silver letters and then grabbed a matching 12×12 silver sheet from Michael’s to cut out the fins.

Table Decor

For the dessert table, we kept it really simple. First I placed a plastic purple tablecloth and then added a sparkly silver tablecloth as a runner. Then we sprinkled starfish, seashells, and teal pebbles all around the table. You can find all of these items at your local Dollar Tree.

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Party Favors

For party favors, I bought some cute purple water bottles and filled them up with cute things for little girls. I included star-shaped tea lights, purple and teal nail polish, Swedish fish, and compact mirrors. For the boys, we did a slightly different package that included water guns for them to take home at the end of the party. And yes, we purchased all of this at the dollar store.

Another cute party favor idea is a wooden treasure chest that the girls can take home to put trinkets in. You can label your party favor “Thank You For Making My Party a Splash!”

Underwater Coral

I tried to make the decor feel like we were underwater so I bought a bunch of curly string from Dollar Tree. Then I added these garlands of various sea creatures I found on Amazon. These are great because you can put this garland anywhere and it’s not heavy to hang.

Another option for hanging decor is to make your own jellyfish lanterns. You can purchase round hanging lanterns from Dollar Tree and add long pieces of streamers of the same color. No time to make them yourself? Then purchase the pre-made jellyfish lanterns.

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Pool Decor

We had to of course throw some stuff into the pool to surprise the little guests. Dollar Tree had a bunch of these mermaid dolls so I just threw a bunch in the pool along with a bunch of balloons. The kids had so much fun swimming and playing with the dolls in the pool.

Mermaid Themed Party Food

Cupcakes

Instead of one big mermaid cake, we purchased pre-made cupcakes from Publix with white icing. We then added these cute mermaid cupcake toppers. The cupcakes looked great on this tiered tray.

Snacks

Coral Reef – All you need is a store-bought vegetable tray.

Shark Teeth – Use triangular tortilla chips to represent shart teeth (the lighter the better).

Fish – This one is very easy – goldfish crackers!

Fishing Rods – Use small or medium pretzel sticks.

More food and drink ideas:

• Make mac and cheese with shells. Label this “seashells and cheese”
• Place blue Hawaiian punch in a large dispenser. Label this “ocean water”
• Serve blue shark gummies. Label these “sharks!”
• Make your own chocolate-covered pretzels. Label these “Ursula Tentacles”
• Artichoke dip can be “Seaweed Dip”.
• Gold chocolate coins can be the treasure served in a small treasure chest.
• Crabs – Glue googly eyes onto toothpicks. Then sand up the eyes on slices of apples, oranges, or croissants.

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Mermaid Party Games & Activities

Besides swimming in the pool, we had two mermaid-themed activities. First, we had a really fun mermaid treasure hunt. You can put this together with a few fun items from Dollar Tree. All you have to do is make sure there are two of the same items. One is for the board so they know what they are looking for. The other is to hide around the yard. So we used a set of bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and rings. Make sure you don’t reveal the board until your guests are ready to actually play the game or else they will get a head start!

We also had a fun tattoo station. We ordered these glow-in-the-dark mermaid tattoos and the kids had so much fun adding them all over their bodies.

More Fun Mermaid Party Activities:

• Have the little guests paint seashells.
• Hire someone who can do mermaid face painting.
• Do some fun sand art where guests fill up cute bottles they can take home.
• If it’s really hot and you don’t have a pool, open up a sprinkler or have a water balloon fight.
• You can purchase tail-shaped sacs to have a mermaid race.