Rainbows, unicorns, and mermaids! Oh my! While planning this party we lovingly called this combination the “trifecta”. A positive thing about these themes is that all three – rainbows, unicorns, and mermaids – are extremely popular themes. It’s easy to find decorations, which we used, but I still added a few DIY components that made a big splash… get it? Mermaid joke there!
Rainbow Cake
A rainbow surprise inside
I have limited baking skills so I don’t mess around with fondant. What I can do is fun cake shapes or dye the cake and make the inside look cool! Sidenote – I can bake cakes but I’m not good at cupcakes… it’s weird.
This rainbow colored cake is easy to execute! First I made a double batch of cake mix. Then I separated it into 6 even amounts. I used gel food coloring to make red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple layers. The last step is baking for slightly less time than normal and applying lots of frosting!
After not finding any cake toppers that I liked the look AND price of, I tried making my own. So, I found clipart images online and printed out two copies of each after flipping one vertically to make a mirror image. Then I cut them out, glued the two pieces together and inserted a toothpick in the middle.
Easy to make, big impact, on theme – check, check, check
Rainbow Wand Craft
Every party needs a craft right?
These rainbow wands were a big hit! However, I severely underestimated the amount of ribbon each kid would use. I expected each wand to use 3-4 ribbons, maybe in their favorite colors. But, I did not expect each kid to really commit to the rainbow theme and want to use all the rainbow colors!
I went to Walmart and spent a lot of time choosing ribbons in the craft section. I cut all the ribbon down to 18” long pieces. The kids would fold the ribbon in two, loop it through the key ring, and then loop the loose ends back through and pull tight. Or they could knot them on if that was easier, but I wasn’t introducing glue!
The sticks were dowel rods. We took apart old keychains to reclaim the keyring and chain part. Then my husband lovingly, and forcefully, shoved them together.
Mermaid Coral Reef
aka Crafting with Pool Noodles!
The mermaid portion of this party was largely covered by swimming in the pool. I struggled to find decorations that I liked enough to spend money on. So naturally this led to creating a very cool pool noodle coral reef!
My husband and I spent a few nights experimenting with cutting pool noodles and fabricating two coral reef structures. Very quickly we learned that a bread knife is perfect for cutting pool noodles neatly! Then, after cutting a few different pieces out, I used toothpicks to connect the pieces together.
I really enjoyed making these simple pool noodle fish. Adding googly eyes or gem stickers brought them to life. My daughter was happy to have different sizes of fish so they could be a family.
Assembling the Pool Noodle Coral Reef
Our first structure was built off the chandelier over the kitchen table. There wasn’t a lot of open floor space and we also didn’t want the babies and toddlers to instantly destroy it.
This structure also included a shark head that was actually made from pipe insulation, foam triangle stickers, and googly eyes. It was a labor of love from my husband after spending multiple nights cutting and assembling – it now sits in my office!
The second location made use of metal wall art in the living room. I incorporated this metal sculpture of trees in every holiday and party. Sure, you might not have something like this readily available. But the point is to think outside the box! Look around at what is in your space and ask yourself “Can I cover this thing in pool noodles and tissue paper and make it look fabulous?” I’m telling you now, the answer is YES!
The bottom of this metal structure is a fence that I couldn’t cover well with the pool noodles. So, I folded and crumpled bright colored tissue paper to fill it in.
