7 Fun & Modern Shark Party Ideas // Hostess with the Mostess®

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Planning a shark-themed birthday party? 🦈 🥳 You’re in the right place! Read on for 7 creative (and totally doable 🙌) shark party ideas that are easy on the budget, yet still big on style.

I also designed a Shark Party Printable Collection that can be personalized to feature the name & age of your child, the food & drinks you want to serve, and more! It matches super well with party supplies you can find at Target, especially plates, napkins & decor from their Shark Party line.

What does this mean for you?

For starters, it’s easier than ever to bring a beautifully styled AND personalized shark party to life!

Here’s the plan:

Shop for easy-to-find 🦈 party supplies
Customize paper party details (signs, labels, invitations, etc) that coordinate perfectly with your supplies! Here’s a peek at how easy this part is:

So with that in mind… let’s *dive right in* to the 7 ideas! 😉

1. Modern Shark Birthday Cake

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What’s a birthday party without a fun cake to *BITE* into?! 😉🦈

Click here for the step-by-step tutorial of this playful shark party cake. It includes instructions for a two-tone, 4-layer cake + a personalized paper topper. Feeling pressed for time? Order a cake from your favorite bakery instead, then just add the topper yourself. ✨

2. Shark Table Centerpiece

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This modern twist on a shark party centerpiece is so much fun AND easy to make! 🎉

It’s basically a glass bottle/vase embellished with printables and filled with sand and balloons-on-a-stick. I also used a small circle craft punch + a regular hole punch to make matching paper “confetti” to sprinkle around.

P.S. Double-sided frames are great for tables. You can display different designs on both sides:

3. Blue Ocean Punch

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You really can’t go wrong with an ice cream punch! Especially when kids are involved. 😉

This playful blue drink is a simple combo of Blue Typhoon Hawaiian Punch + Sprite, garnished with vanilla ice cream and gummy sharks.

4. Shark-Inspired Snacks

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The snack menu doesn’t have to be complicated! Sometimes all you need are simple treats with new (clever) names. Of course, you’ll need some cute matching labels for that. 🤩

Here’s a list of creative shark party food/names to get you started:

PB & Jellyfish – PB&J sandwiches (optional: use a cookie cutter to make them shark-shaped)
Shark Teeth – cheese wedges, Bugles corn chips
Life Preservers – gummy candy rings or powdered donuts with red fruit roll-up “lines”
Shark Bait – goldfish crackers, Swedish fish, etc.
Driftwood – pretzel logs (plain or chocolate-dipped)
Shark Fins – tortilla chips, triangle quesadillas
Coral Reef – rock candy sticks
Shark Attack or *Shiver – gummy sharks (*This is what a group of sharks is actually called!)
Seaweed – licorice, sour belts, sour straws OR spinach salad, spinach dip, etc.
Shark Bites – small cupcakes, sliders, pizza rolls, etc. (basically anything BITE-sized)

5. Shark (Table) Settings

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Shark-shaped snack plates add instant fun to the kids’ table! Layer them on top of plastic black plates to make the design really pop.

Simple striped napkins, black cups, & silver forks complement the look without distracting too much from the cute shark plates. I used a black and white shower curtain by Project 62™ as the “table cloth”. 😉

For another playful touch, glue printable party flags to black & white straws. These flags say “DA NA DA NA” and “JAWSOME”.

6. Adopt a Shark Favors

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You can use this “Adopt a Shark” party favor idea with any favorite shark-shaped gift! Shark keychains, plush sharks, toy sharks, shark-shaped sugar cookies, etc.

Display your favors next to a sign so that guests know they can take one. You can also personalize them!

These shark keychains are personalized with printable “fancy labels” and would look cute as creative place cards on the kids’ table, too!

7. JAWSOME Balloon Backdrop

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Wanna make a big *splash* at any party? Set up a styled backdrop! While most commonly used for photo areas or behind a styled table, you can display them anywhere, really.

Metallic foil curtains are a great backdrop option for shark parties. The shimmery foil is reminiscent of light reflecting on ocean waves!

You can also use letter balloons to spell out the guest of honor’s name OR a shark-themed word/phrase on top of the curtains. Things like JAWSOME, JAWS, OR “DA NA, DA NA” work well. 🦈 I used the JAWSOME Balloon Pack from Target as part of the backdrop here.

Printables & Supplies

You’ll find all these designs & more designs in my full Shark Party collection.

Don’t get overwhelmed though! Just use the pieces you need. I like to offer a lot of different things so you have options, but even a handful of personalized designs will make a huge impact on your party. 🤩