June's 4th Birthday | A Mermaid Party!

Our sweet June spend the second half of last year talking about this "mermaid birthday party" she was going to have for her 4th birthday. She told everyone she could and never wavered on wanting another theme. At one point, she did ask me to add "confetti, gems and dancing" to the theme list, but I ended up sticking primarily with mermaids and she was thrilled.

If you know me at all, you know I love a good themed party. But! I also believe in doing things with simplicity and not stressing yourself out over a silly little kid's birthday party. Which is why I am quite proud of myself for the mermaid party, if I do say so myself. I felt like it was the right balance of decoration and themed ideas, but at no point did I think to myself "Why did I commit to all of this?" or "Why did I spend so much money on a birthday party?"

I found some free mermaid coloring pages on Pinterest and printed them out for the girls to color, and then added a little ring pop, jar of crayons, and pipe cleaner “mermaid crown” at each of their stations.

Want to know my favorite party decorating tip?

Here it is -- only choose 2-3 places in your home to decorate for every party.

Instead of coming up with all of the places and all of the ways you could decorate for the party, simply select 2-3 places that will be seen during the party and stick with that. Do those well and let that be enough. I promise you that it will be!

For June's Mermaid party (and most special events in our home), I decorated the doorway "arch" that connects our living and dining room. It's an easy place to hang balloons and garlands. You see it right when you come in the door and makes our entire downstairs feel festive!

The second thing I chose to decorate was the wicker lampshade that hangs above the dining room table. I hung tissue paper from it to make it look like a giant jellyfish! Super easy and cheap.

Lastly, I chose to decorate/give my attention to the girl's lunch plates. Instead of spending more money on extra decor or a big lunch, I chose to fill their plates with simple foods kids love and create little under the sea scenes. It was actually really easy and you can totally do it too if you're wanting to do a mermaid theme!

What I love about this tip of only decorating 2-3 places is that it's predictable. And in the best way! I mean, don't you remember the places that were "always festive" in your childhood home? The mantle, or front door, or the chair you sat in for your birthday dinner? Create a little tradition by picking these 2-3 places in your home and making them festive for your kid's parties!

I adore these photos of her blowing out her candles!! It made me realize that for her previous birthday's we must not have had actual candles on her cake because this was the first time I'd ever seen her blow candles out! It kinda caught me by surprise that she knew what to do after we sang to her.

June was thrilled as if you can't tell from the photos below, to open her gifts from her friends. She got surprise toys, a new bathing suit and towel for swim lessons, a new donut purse, and more.

You can watch the entire video from June's 4th Mermaid Party Birthday right here. It's a good one, because we got her blowing out the candles on video, and the girl's doing "gymnastics" at the end. I will treasure the video we got from this party for years to come, I'm sure of it!

What are your favorite ways to celebrate your kiddo's birthdays? Do you have parties or do some sort of experience type gift?

Happy Birthday June Bug! You are sweet, silly and one of the best things to ever happen to us. :) We love you more than you'll ever know!