June 13, 2012

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:)  



3 comments:

  1. Cool! How did you make the marshmallows into shapes?

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    1. Rachel...it was actually amazingly simple. Just melt a couple of bags of marshmallows. Prepare a 9x13 pan (or two) by lining it with aluminum foil. Then grease/butter the foil. Mix 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/3 cup powdered sugar and sprinkle the foil (bottom and sides) with the mixture. Once the marshmallows are melted, pour them into the pan(s) and then top the marshmallows with more of the sugar/cornstarch mixture (this keeps it from begin too sticky to work with so apply liberally!). Allow them to set for at least 4 hours, then use a cookie cutter of your choice to make your shaped marshmallows. Be sure to dip the cookie cutter into the sugar/starch mixture before using it each time! Hope that helps:)

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  2. I love this! My birthday falls on June 1, and I'm totally a kid at heart, so I think I might use some of these ideas for a little birthday party for me next year :)

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