Pool parties are so fun for summer, especially when there are slides, squirt guns & beach balls in the mix! Since Tabitha‘s son is already smitten with swimming the ripe old age of 12 months ;) – she appropriately threw him a super creative Pool Party First Birthday! Judging from the look of these pics, I’m pretty sure the party guests were quite happy with her choice of theme as well! And if you have older kids, this party has some great pool party ideas too.

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• “Crush your Thirst” (Orange Crush) Sodas topped with silly straws and mini donuts
• Tons of splashing, slides & water!
• “H20 Yeah” Snow Cones
• Painted buckets with beach & pool accessories as party favors

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Tabitha…

We recently threw a pool party for our little 12 month old, who was born with gills, I’m sure, because the little guy LOVES to swim.

There was music playing and a gathering of littles dancing around blue and orange beach balls, sunglasses and bubbles, squirt guns and sand pails, sweet and sticky things, blue and white striped beachy things, bright orange things, happy things and oh so many perfect little summery things.

And though I’m sure his twelve month old comprehension didn’t get the full magnitude of what this day meant to us, that one year separates us from that amazing day he was first placed in our arms… he knew. He knew the attention was for him and he soaked it all in. He knew he was surrounded by the people he loved and the things that put a smile on his face, balls and bubbles and pools and happy little faces.

When guests arrived, they were met with a floor covered in blue and orange beach balls… in the perfect size for little hands to hold, and I think that might have been one of the favorite features of the party for the kids.  An open floor and lots of balls kept them entertained while us adults greeted each other and made plates of food to fill the little bellies.  Sometimes it’s the simplest of things that keeps the kids entertained.

Decor

Behind the Guest of Honor’s highchair was a photo wall of prints clothesline-pinned onto strips of ribbon to showcase the birthday boy’s first year (100 photos). To incorporate the color theme as well as keep the look a bit modern, we used the classic, beachy blue and white stripe throughout the party as well as an orange and white polka dot pattern to keep it sweet. Since the venue’s pool served at the main part of the party, we supplied tons of blue and orange beach balls to keep it in line with the color theme.

Invitations

I had a small photo shoot with the birthday boy beforehand and designed his post-card invitations to show off the color scheme (blues and orange) and to let everyone know to bring towels.

Menu

When planning the party menu, we did a fusion of what we like to order from a poolside cabana (burgers and fries), and easy, kid-friendly food!  We were able to cook burgers on site, so we offered Poolside Sliders (mini-burgers), and since we couldn’t cook fries there, we instead had veggie fries… perfect finger food for one-year olds, which were served in individual portions in snow cone cups, and held into a “pool” of foam with wooden skewer sticks.  We also had Gnarly Noodle Mac-n-Cheese, Blue Lagoon Jello Shots (each with their own gummy fish swimming in it and alcohol free, of course!), Goldfish crackers, blue gummy sharks, and orange slices.

To add a little more sweetness to the already sweet occasion, we served orange crush, topped with mini doughnuts and held onto the bottle with a fish straw (to give the illusion of a fish floating on a blue inner tube), and the kids (and adults) loved it!  We also served snow cones with blue or orange topping to add to the “Summer” affair.

Coordinating signs to show off the menu were printed and held in slim white Ikea frames and matching labels were attached to Crush bottles and water bottles to keep it all consistent.

We used orange velvet curtains from Ikea (on sale for $10!) as the tablecloths for the food/dessert table, and hung a sweet birthday banner, purchased from Etsy, as a backdrop.

Favors

Each child took home their fish straw and beach ball, along with their own customized sand pail filled with a squirt gun, “Fish” ring sucker, sunglasses, “Shark Tank” bubbles and a little shark that squirts water, which they found on the gift table with a custom sign that read, “Thanks for making a splash at Brayden’s first birthday bash!” and smaller tags attached to the pails that said the same… and they were able to take their favors to the pool area for even more fun.

Of course, we couldn’t have it all without something cute for the birthday boy to wear, so we had a shirt made to match the theme.  I just picked up the shirt and polka dot fabric from Hobby Lobby, and an embroiderer did the rest!

Everything went by so quickly because the main gist of the party was pool time.  Once we finished up the cake and presents it was time for the hit of the party… announcing, “It’s time to swim!” and watching all the kids run around in circles until we directed them to the pools and water slide!

For all the party details, please check out my recent post here.