A Nautical Themed Birthday at the Tunstall’s

I tend to be laser focused on all things teaching when it comes to this blog, but today I feel like sharing a touch of home life!  I hope you’ll take a tiny break from lesson planning and join me!

My daughter had her 15th birthday party this weekend!  Her name is Morgan and we have some special nicknames to describe her personality.  The main one being, Morganized.  She is not only very organized, but artsy and creative too!  So let me show  you how we Morganized this party!

She decided on a pool party with a nautical theme.   We started with food, of course.   Party and food are pretty much synonyms if you ask me.

I found these adorable canisters (They are plastic!) at Walmart in the party aisles.  I got 4 of them!  We used twizzlers for octopus legs and pretzel rods as driftwood.

The bait is a combination of swedish fish and gummy worms.

I saw some really adorable croissant sandwiches that looked like crabs on pinterest and wanted to make them, but Morgan begged me to go the easy route and said submarine sandwiches would still be nautical.  Ya’ll those girls mowed down this entire tray.  Swimming can make you very hungry!

To go with the submarine sandwiches…

This lobster went face down in the onion dip. (so did I) Sssshhhhhh

There was no shortage of treats at this party.  We made sea stars out of krispy treats and placed them on brown sugar for the sand.  Walmart also had this sea glass in the party section so we sprinkled it around for some decor.  The burlap place mats came from hobby lobby and I stole them from our dinner table.

 We had ocean water on tap for the evening.  This is blue Hawaiian punch and sprite.

  We have a dark counter top and it just wasn’t working for me, so I found a drawer full of sheer  curtain panels from 2009 and used them as our sandy beach picnic blanket.   Because I am a teacher, I had tons of little extras for staging in my hoarding closet, like the shells and the big nautical net.

On the day of her party I put up the decorations and set out the gifts.  I let the balloons do the talking when I could.

In our dining room I set out her gifts, the gifts for her friends, and some fun party games.

These girls spent most of the time huddled giggling and talking.  Yearbooks came out at one point, but in the middle of it were these fun games that I had found on pinterest.  I am so glad we had them because they induced a lot of bonding and conversations.

This truth or dare came from Mom of 6.   She has it as a printable.  I changed my lid toppers and bottle labels but otherwise she saved the day for sure!

We also found some other fun party games that the girls loved.
Would you Rather was a big hit.  It’s another printable!  I found it on landeelou along with the road trip games which you really don’t need a road trip to play!

Besides the party food, the only other money I spent was on a few little special things like these jellyfish I got on Etsy here.  They came in a set of 4.  The other two are hanging outside.

I also got this sweet little tassel banner which my daughter now has in her room.

I really wanted to make each girl that came to Morgan’s party a scuba gear party favor gift, but because it is technically fall, there really isn’t much to find for fun pool party gifts.  Instead I went with the sleepover idea.

Each girl got a little fleece blanket with her name and a life saver.

And a little journal, scented markers and washi tape.  It was so neat to see them all with their blankies.  I will do anything to keep them young! 🙂

While Morgan was at school I tidied up her room.  We surprised her with this vanity and stool.  She recently got contacts and I thought this would make it a little easier for her to adjust.

 Tucked inside the little drawer is the bible verse, Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.  Proverbs 21:35

This sweet, precious, little lady is turning 15 on Monday!  I am so proud of her! She is caring, empathetic, and smart as can be!

We grabbed two packs of glow sticks and tossed them in the pool at night.  This kept my son and his friends happy and occupied.

And now…we recover…..