Beach Bash

The school year is coming to a close which means it's time to party!  Dream Bashes, my party planning company, was hired to do some decorating and food for a beach-themed end of the year party.  That was the only direction I was given: beach theme, 5th graders, end of the year....go to work!

Because this party was in the classroom, it had some unique decorating challenges, mainly that I didn't have much time (about 30 minutes) to set it up while the kids were at lunch.  Therefore, I had to keep the decorations pretty simple.  Here's what I came up with:

As you can see, I went with a blue, green, yellow, and orange color scheme and kept the decorations pretty simple...a backdrop of streamers, a fun beach umbrella, and a couple hanging beach balls.  Oh, and I threw a fish net on the table for some more fun.

As a former teacher, I know the real highlight of these parties is the food, so that's where I focused most of my energy.  

I put out some buckets filled with chips and cookies.

I had seen the idea of a goldfish bar on Pinterest awhile back and LOVED it, so of course, I replicated that with various flavors of Goldfish crackers.

The two highlights of the party, though, were my Starfish S'mores (I made star shaped marshmallows, dipped them in chocolate, and coated them with graham cracker crumbs):

And fruit beach ball, a fun, beachy twist on the classic fruit pizza:

And in case you're wondering, the kids also had some pizza (a school party must!), but I didn't take any pictures of that:)

So, there it is...another party in the books:)