Party Décor: Under The Sea

Hello everyone and welcome to another blog post!

When we think about an “under the sea” theme, the thing that comes to mind to most people is known characters like Nemo or Ariel. I know I’ve had the song “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid stuck in my head ever since I started drafting this article. So we’re going the unconventional route and get some ideas for a party that has no trademark characters but is full of diverse sea creatures! We won’t do a full party here today, the focus will be on the main table, but there will be plenty of ideas for decorating.

Materials used:

– Under The Sea design

– Sea Animals Silhouette design 

– Cardstock

– Small Pringles cans (they can be full or empty, the empty ones you can fill with other treats)

– Paper straws or skewers

– Coffee stirrers or toothpicks

– Glue

– Hot glue

– Foam tape

Cupcakes are not only some of my favorite sweets, but they also look beautiful on a birthday table. We will decorate them with a wave wrapper and shark and whale toppers.

Both the shark and whale designs are on the “Sea Animals Silhouette” set. You can cut it just as it is, or give it a little outline by adding a back layer (like I did). All you have to do is go on your software, trace it, make it a little bigger and cut it in another coordinating color. It also makes them stand more firmly if you have two layers.

Resize the shark and whale to fit the size of your cupcake and then cut. After you cut them (and glue the pieces if you added a second layer), you can use a hot glue gun to attach a coffee stirrer to the back (or between the two layers if you wish, it will look better), and then stick the topper onto your cupcake. If you don’t have the stirrers or if your cupcake is smaller, you can use a toothpick.

Above is the template I made for the cupcake wrappers. You can cut it by hand or trace it on your software, just be sure to resize it to what you need. I had large cupcakes, so I used it on A4 paper and it fit what I needed, but some cupcakes will need a smaller wrapper, so make sure to measure everything beforehand.

Cut the larger part of the wrapper in a lighter shade of blue and the smaller part in a darker one. Then, glue the darker one on top of the other. This, along with the white cream, will be our waves where our shark and whale will swim! You can use other animals as well, and have diversity on the table. It will look amazing, especially if you use lots of colors.

The cans are a triple win. One of the uses, of course, is to hold treats, be it the original chips or any sweets you decide to fill them with. The guests can eat them at the party or take them home as party favors. The other wins are that they fill the table so you don’t have to put too much stuff there, and lastly, they are heavier than other decorations, so they stand firmly. If you wish, you can play with the different sizes of cans, the height difference will look really good on your table.

They’re super easy to make. You just need to choose which decorations you want, I suggest pairing fish and other sea creatures with some algae or coral. Then, you need to resize them to fit the size of the cans (they are a little over three inches or eight centimeters high) and cut them in different colors. Then use blue paper (I used two different shades) to wrap the cans, and then glue the decorations on.

Be sure to pair colors that contrast with each other for a better effect, like the lighter blues with dark green algae or red corals with yellow fish.

And to close this party table planning, we are going to make a cake topper. It’s very colorful and has many layers, which will look incredible on your cake. The size of the design will depend on the size of cake you are going to have. Mine will be about 15cm (6 inches).

I’m using Silhouette Studio to put it together, you can use another software if you have another machine, or whatever software you are most comfortable with. It’s good to use the software to visualize the sizes and colors and to see if everything fits before you start cutting.

We’ll start by cutting a circle, which will be the backdrop, and hold everything together. We’ll use two shades of blue, darker for the back and lighter for the front. The circle in the front will be a little bit smaller. You can glue the layers or use foam tape between them.

Next, we will choose two different algae, give them a background, and cut them into shades of green. They will be on either side of the bubble. You can also choose one or two types of coral, I used only one.

Next, you can choose whichever sea creature you want to put in the middle. I chose some fish, turtles, starfish, jellyfish, sharks, and whales. I cut each one in a different color and used foam tape to attach some of them to the background. In some of them, I used a double layer, and for a few of them, I used glue, so it shows a lot of depth.

The last thing we have to cut is the Happy Birthday sentiment. I chose to print and cut because the font I used (Bubble Shine) is very intricate and the details would be hard to cut. You can add the name and/or age of the birthday person instead of Happy Birthday if you wish.

And the last thing to do is get two paper straws or skewers. You can glue them to the back or between the two circles (between the circles makes it look better, not that guests would look at the back of the cake, but it does look more professional that way). If you are using the skewers as I did, it’s best to use a hot glue gun. Now your cake topper is ready to be the centerpiece of your party!

Extra tip: Wall decoration

Although the focus of the article is the main table itself and it’s what I actually produced and have pictures of, I’m bringing some ideas for the backdrop as well.

Choose blue and white balloons to make waves on your wall behind the main table, and then you can cut pretty much every one of the designs used here, in the biggest size that fits the paper you have. You can also make some bubbles by cutting large circles with a smaller one to the side. You can arrange the designs you cut along the lines of the wave, the animals will look super cute among the balloons!

I hope you found inspiration for your next celebration! See you next time.