Mermaid Baby Shower for under $75

I am going to start out with not a birthday shower, but a baby shower. I planned a baby shower for my sister, she loves ocean creatures. So naturally we had an ocean theme. Here is a break down of what we did.

Decorations Total cost $15

Decorations were very simple. I took green and blue streamers, glued little ocean creature confetti, I found on clearance at Party City, and taped them to the ceiling. To look like ocean waves. Total cost about $3.

I also bought twirly decorations to hang from the ceiling 3 for $2.50.

For my centerpiece, I made a simple diaper cake. I used diapers that were already given to my sister. Three bottles for the center of the cake, which I already had since I have a one year old. I bought the ribbon at Michaels for $3.99. I found a very Cute My First Mermaid Doll at Wal-Mart for $2.99 for the cake topper. And I decorated it with the same confetti I used for the streamers, $1 a package. I also bought a cake board for about $1 and covered it with blue tissue paper for the base. Total cost on diaper cake: Less than $10.

 One last thing I did was I bought favor boxes that look like treasure chests and placed them around the living room. I used these as favors at the end of the party and included them in the favor budget.

Food Total cost $30

• For food I made little sushi rolls out of bread, tuna, cucumber and carrots. I made some with tuna and some without. Here is the recipe I used from Happy Little Bento. These sandwiches cost about $5 to make, but they were a lot of work. I put the sandwiches on teal plastic trays that I bought for a $1 a piece. If I were to do a party like this again, I would use tortillas instead. I arranged to have guests bring fruit, vegies, and spinach dip.
• For beverages I provided, Tropricana juice 2 cartons at $1 a piece, coffee and iced tea which I already have in the house.
• For the cake I adapted a mermaid cake I found at Family Fun to look like a pregnant mermaid, by using a 6" round cake cut in half. I find most of my cakes at Family Fun, they are pretty simple and they look great. I used 3 box cakes, three batches of frosting, and 4 packages of Neco candy.  To get the skin color for the mermaid, I added one drop each of red and green food color until I got the shade I wanted. The base is a cardboard box, I had laying around the house covered with a dollar store table cloth. Cake total: Less than $10.
• I bought generic heavy duty paper plates and clear plastic cups for the refreshments (about $5). I bought a ocean themed table cloth and desert plates and napkins ($3.50 for table cloth and $5 for plates and napkins) for cake. I added confetti around cake and on table.

Games and Favors/Door Prizes Total $27

• I downloaded a fun ocean play list onto my smart phone. Absolutely free. The music set the mood and many people commented on the songs I pick.

1. Yellow Submarine (The Beatles)
2. Sea Cruise (Frankie Ford)
3. Under the Sea (Little Mermaid)
4. Les Poissons (Little Mermaid)
5. Baby Beluga (Raffi)
6. Come Sail Away (Styx, Finding Nemo)
7. Octopus's Garden (The Beatles)
8. Hymn of the Sea (Titanic)

• All the games I found here. We did four games. First we played baby bingo (this game I did purchase for $2). 
• Second game was guess the tummy size. Each guest took an amount of toilet paper they thought would go around the mom's stomach. The person who was closest won.
• Third, we took paper plates put them on our head and drew a baby with a color crayon. The mother got to pick her favorite for the winner.
• Fourth, we wrote the baby's name down on a index card. Each guest searched their purses for an item that started out with each letter of the baby's name. This game was great. It was so much fun to see all the junk woman carry in their purses. 
• Other than the $2 I spent on the bingo, I didn't spend anything on games, since I used things I just had around the house.
• We also had diaper raffle. Each guest was told to bring a package of diapers or wipes (if it was the gift it still counted) to have their name entered to win a door prize. The door prize was $10 and consisted of little things, I picked up, chocolates, pens, lotion, notepads, magnets. This was wildly successful, every guest brought diapers or wipes.
• The prizes for the games were $1 notepads/magnets, I picked up at Michaels. Total $5
• I also filled the little treasure boxes with Swedish fish, which I gave out to the young girls who came with their mothers. This was $10.