Fun Shark Party Ideas to Set the Mood

Cover the party table with a disposable, blue-colored table cover. Make a treasure chest centerpiece to place on the table by covering a large shoebox with brown construction paper and strips of gold foil or glitter paint, or just buy a ready-made treasure chest. Fill the chest with shells, plastic necklaces, craft "jewels," and plastic gold coins, and scatter sand, faux pearls, and seashells around it. Alternately you can create a sea-life centerpiece using stuffed bean bag toys and other stuffed animals. (These make great decorations to place throughout the rest of the party area, too.)

Make scuba masks by cutting 1"-wide, oval-shaped borders out of heavy paper and taping clear cellophane behind them. Fasten a length of elastic string to the left and right sides of each mask so that your partygoers can wear them. Set a mask at each place setting on the party table. Complete your party table decorations by purchasing Styrofoam rings from a craft store and wrapping them with red ribbon to make life preservers; hang one on the back of each chair around the party table.

Hang or float bunches of blue and green latex balloonsinterspersed with fish and shark balloons for contrast. Twist together blue and green streamers, and hang them along the walls and doorways of the party area. For a fun touch, hang long strips of streamers in a row across the main entryway to the party area, creating a curtain for your guests to pass through as they come and go.

Cut out shark and fish shapes from our Shark Cutout Sheet, construction paper, or a coloring book. Hang them from streamers or tape them to the walls throughout the party area. You can also cut triangle wedges of Styrofoam, spray paint them gray, and place them throughout the party area to give the appearance of groups of sharks.

Shark Party Snacks

Create a Shark Cake by baking a rectangular sheet cake and a small square cake. Cut a wedge shape from the square cake, and place it on top of the rectangular cake to form a shark fin. You may need to secure the fin with a wooden skewer if it will not stand; just be careful to remove the skewer before serving. Ice the sheet cake with blue frosting and the fin with gray frosting. You can add gummy fish, an icing octopus, or a small boat as decoration, too.

Make "Sea Water" by coloring pitchers of apple juice with blue food coloring. You can even add in some plastic plants purchased from a local aquarium or pet-supply store to complete the effect.

Make "shark bite" sandwiches by preparing several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cutting jagged "shark bites" into a corner of each.

Use homemade or store-bought cookie dough to make Shell Cookies. Press your thumb into the bottom half of each circle of dough to make an indentation, and then make four or five shallow cuts along the top to create a scalloped edge. After you bake the cookies, add a dollop of your child's favorite jelly to the indented area. Alternatively, or in addition to the Shell Biscuits, you can serve shark-shaped cookies made from our Swimmingly-Swell Sugar Cookies recipe.

Make Octopus Ice Cream Balls by placing eight licorice strings on each child's plate, followed by a large ball of ice cream. Use icing or candy, such as M&Ms or Skittles, to give your octopi faces.

Get more shark party ideas from our sister site, BirthdayinaBox.com