I’ve been DYING to to share this party with you and I’m SO excited to finally post it! It’s a little late because I just got back from being on vacation in Jackson Hole for a week AND I entered the party in a contest over at the amazing entertaining website, Pizzazzerie and we had to wait until the winners were announced before posting the designs on our own blogs. And No, I didn’t win 🙁
I decided I wanted to have a party for my son Jackson and his friends to celebrate the end of school/beginning of summer. We live in Utah so we’re nowhere near a beach, but I wanted that theme because when I think of summer, I think of the beach! And, my 8 year old LOVES sharks, so I thought we could use both ideas for the overall design. I found an invitation on Etsy designed by Sarah at Chachke Designs that was exactly what I was looking for – I seriously loved it!
I came up with the idea of having surfboards for the backdrop of the dessert table and thought I could easily make them out of cardboard. My husband quickly responded that cardboard simply wouldn’t work and that we needed to make them out of wood. So that’s what we did! We cut 8 foot tall surfboards out of plywood with a jigsaw and then painted them fun stripes in the colors I had decided on for the party…orange, blue and green. Most of the paint came from the ‘reject’ paint cart at Home Depot, so it was really cheap! They took a little time to make, but I thought they turned out GREAT!
For the main table, I used a white tablecloth with a simple blue net as an overlay to give it more of a beachy feel and created the “Hit the Beach” banner out of scrapbook paper. I couldn’t find printables to match the theme/colors exactly, so I created the dessert labels myself using a digital paper design. But, Sarah (who made the invitation) now has matching printables, so you can order everything for your party from her!
For the center of the dessert table, I filled my apothecary jars with candy in the same 3 colors, with striped ribbon to match…orange slices, peach gummy bears, gummy sharks, cotton candy, blue raspberry jelly beans, green apple licorice and lime taffy. The kids took home a treat bag filled with whatever candies they wanted from the table.
For the desserts, I went to my wonderful cake designer, Sprinklebelle Cakes, for some fondant surfboard and shark cupcakes. I sent her a picture of the surfboards and just told her to make something that matched the colors, and as usual, I absolutely LOVED them!
Push pops are all the rage lately and I knew I wanted to use them in my table. I created layers of orange, green and blue jello in the push pops with a gummy shark in the blue layer. The pushpops were displayed in fun green cardboard suitcases.
I found plastic shot glasses in the exact colors of my party at Dollar Tree and knew I had to use them for something…M&M shots is what I came up with – the kids thought they were great!
I also had a local lady make the wonderful shark and surfboard sugar cookies with buttercream frosting and they were as yummy as they look! The details of the sharks were just amazing!
I had another small table to hold the party food…hot dogs, chips, fruit, nutter butter flip flop cookies, drinks and paper products.
This kids played outside with water balloons, big squirt guns and raced on the slip-n-slide until it got too cold to be outside anymore.
The weather wasn’t exactly perfect for an outside water party. You may have noticed the dessert table was set up INSIDE the house with the lanterns on the floor…about an hour before the party started, as I was setting up the dessert table outside, it became really windy and a huge gust of wind knocked EVERYTHING over…ladder, table, surfboards and all!! Luckily I hadn’t put anything except the tablecloth on the table yet! I had to move the table inside and thanks to some wonderful friends and family we got it set up inside the house, just in time! I guess that’s what you get for June in Utah – you just never know!! 🙂
A big thank you to the always amazing Laura Sheneman for capturing photos of everything!!
You did such a great job on this party! I love the theme, and the dessert bar AWESOME!! So many fun details!
Andrea, so good to hear from you! Hope you’re enjoying your summer there in AZ! Thank you for your sweet comments!!
Gorgeous party– love the color combinations and the surf boards!
Jenny, thank you!!
I entered too, and I’m a ‘loser’ too 🙂 but this is a fabulous party and perfect for the summer! I would love to share in my next Fiesta Friday roundup!
Dawn – yeah, too bad there were lots of losers 😉 I just checked out your summer stripes entry on your blog and it was darling and very original!! Thanks for stopping by!
you should have won!!!!! LOVE it!!!! VERY original!!!! 🙂
Oh thank you, Marcie!! You’re too kind! By the way, I’m a fan on Facebook and love to see your posts…keep em comin’!
Very creative with the surfboards! I love the color and the view from your backyard!
Thank you, Marina!
I love the colors! Of course it is perfect! I can’t wait to see what is next!!!! You are awesome!
Thank you Lynette!! 🙂
Stunning! You did a fantastic job! I would love to share on my site. Let me know if that is okay.
Thanks Natalie! Yes, I’d love it if you would share! I’m a fan of your work – amazing!!
LOVE it!!! The theme and colors are amazing!!! Your husband sounds like mine, I did a milk and cookie bar for end of school year and didn’t know what to make backdrop from and my husband hit Home Depot and made a wood free-standing backdrop! Gotta love that they want it to be perfect for us!! lol
Thank you, Vicki! Yes, those husbands can be helpful sometimes 😉
ADORABLE! I love the color scheme, love the surfboards, love the table netting. Love EVERYTHING!
This is too cool. I really love the backdrop, I’m also thrilled to hear your husband got in on the decorating!
Amazing party!! It just screams Summer!!
I love the colors..and the flip flop cookies – LOVE!!!
That color scheme really pops! And you planned every last detail around it (and the cute Surf’s Up theme) so perfectly!
I LOVE the surfboard backdrop, and the flip flops!
Love this party and the colors! I just did a surf party and used boogie boards from Big Lots like you used your surf boards….I love yours more! 🙂 I am featuring your party tomorrow on my blog….your parties are awesome!
Michelle
https://www.maddycakesmuse.blogspot.com
Thank you, Michelle, for sharing on you blog!!
LoVe the surfboards! Such a fabulous way to celebrate summer!
Thanks, Do! Big fan of yours!!
I’m seriously in love with this party! Such an adorable idea… love the color schemes… in love with the desserts and the surfboard back drop! Amazing! I have a post written up to share this with my readers this Thursday – please swing by to check it out! 🙂
Fabulous job!!
Cammi, thanks so much!! I’ll definitely check out your blog tomorrow!!
What a stunning party. Love the surfboard backdrop and paper lanterns. I’m a new FB fan.
Thank you Christine! I’ve been a fan of yours for a while now. The vintage sewing party was so dang cute!!
Awesome details!! Everything looks SO fun!!
We are hosting a two week “party” shabang featuring awesome party ideas next month!! We would love to have you join us with this awesome party? If you’re interested please email us at [email protected] for more info!! Looking forward to hearing from you 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
Kristine
https://www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com
I love this party! The colors are great! The surfboard and shark fin cupcakes are adorable!
Hi Deanna, Thanks so much!!
OH MY STARS! Totally A.W.E.S.O.M.E! I’m doing a Luau carnival for my daughter & have been contemplating just doing a fabric backdrop for the food table or photo booth or surf boards. I think you’ve pretty much sealed the deal for me. Do you mind sharing how tall/wide you end up making your surfboards? Thanks!
Hi Michelle, sorry for the delayed response! Yes, the surfboards ended up being 2 feet by 8 feet tall. I started with 4 x 8 sheets of wood and had Home Depot cut them in half, to make 2 x 8. Have fun! Any other questions, let me know!!
What a fun party. I love the surf boards. So creative. The nutter butter flip flops are hilarious!
I wish you were in AZ and I could rent these surfboards from you for an upcoming party. Not sure I have the time or money to DIY my own, but they look SO fabulous! Looking forward to chatting with you again at SNAP!
Hi Kendra! Yes, I have rented them out to people here in Utah! Too bad you’re not closer and I’d totally let you borrow them! I am SOOOO looking forward to catching up at SNAP! Only a month away – yay!!
xoxo
Holly
How much are you renting your surfboards for? They are adorable!!
Thanks Robin! Depends on how long someone needs them for, but about $25 a day.
Hi There, Where did you find the net you used over the table cloth?
Hi Vanessa, I found it at Michaels craft store. You might try your local party supply store in the hawaiian/luau section or even Hobby Lobby.
Thank you so much!! 🙂
LOVE love love!!! I’ve been searching for a fun theme for my 1 year-old boy’s birthday party over labor day weekend. This is perfect for an end of the summer party…and we live in MI, so I’m excited to bring as much beachness as I can to the ‘burbs of Detroit! 🙂 I just ordered my printable party pack from Sarah and I cannot wait to get started on everything! Thanks so much for sharing your ideas! Surf’s up!
Carrie, thanks so much for your sweet comments, I’m so glad you like the theme…it’s a fun one, both for the beginning and end of summer! Have fun with the party, I’d love to see pics when you’re done!
I loved the party idea and the surfboards! Too bad we’re not in utah…because we would definitely rented them….by curiosity what did you use to get the shape of those surfboards? a print out of some sort?
Thanks! We actually just drew the shape onto the wood with a pencil, measuring from the top and sides to make sure they were all about the same size.
Hi Holly….
I’m from Brazil and searching for new ideas, I found your site…..Great ideas !!!!! I loved your site.
Thanks so much for your sweet words! xoxo Holly
Love this party! So bright and fun!
Do you mind sharing where you got the aqua netting on the table? I’m styling a shark party for my som’s birthday and have looked all over for aqua or turquoise netting with no luck.
Thank you!
Thanks Rachel! I got the the netting last year at Michaels craft store so I’m not sure if they have it this year or not 🙂 Have fun!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this party! I am planning a “Stitch” themed party for my soon-to-be two year old son (as in Lilo and Stitch) and I was struggling to find a way to include lots of Stitch-y details without going too girly. I didn’t want to do a true Lilo and Stitch themed party, but I needed another dimension other than just Stitch. So now I will mix it up with the “Surfer Dude” theme also!
Thanks Annie, I’m glad you like the party and I’m happy that I could give you some inspiration for your Stitch party – it sounds so fun!!
Do you have any tips or tricks to making the jello push pops? I really want to do plankton push pops with green jello for my son’s spongebob birthday but worry that all I’ll make is a huge mess.
Hi Stephanie! When I made them I didn’t think it through and I had the containers sitting on a baking sheet and put them in the fridge to let each of the layers set up. When they were ready to display, I couldn’t add the stick part because it would just push the jello out. If I did it again, I would use a cookie cooling rack with the stick part hanging down through the rack and set up some sort of risers in my fridge for the rack to sit on. I don’t know if that makes sense, but maybe it’ll help 😉
Love this! The colors are great, and the surfboard backdrop is awesome! I’d be honored if you would come check out some of my party pics at https://www.kellygenelife.wordpress.com ! One question: if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your average party budget?
LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!!!! planning my second sons, 1st birthday party and we went to Hawaii last year so we wanted a surfer themed party! Same main three colors and everything! !! So classy and fun! Can I rent any of your stuff,?? Its just awesome! !!!!!! And anymore advice! I’m totally excited after seeing how wonderful yours came together and thank you for sharing! !!
Hi Angela, thank you!! I do rent some items from this party, do you live in Utah?
I live in MD! I would pay for shipping! ?? However, the surfboards may be pretty expensive! You just did such an amazing job , it was wishful thinking! !
I just came across your blog! Love this theme. I have a son and daughter with birthdays in August and would love to rent the surfboards from you. How do I do this?
Hi Deena! If you live in Utah I’d be happy to rent them to you. They are $25 for the day and you would need to come pick them up and bring them back the next day. Send me an email: [email protected] if you’re still interested!
I live in Utah and know a lot of creative women…you however are my idol!
Oh my gosh, that’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard, thank you – you made my day!! Michaels crafts stores sell the push up pops and if you need a large quantity I would go to Amazon.com 🙂
where did you get the container for the jello push up pops?
Are these decorations/printables available for purchase?
I don’t have the decorations available for purchase, sorry!
this is soooo cute!!!! love it! <3
Thanks so much Nikki! I’m glad you like it!!