|
Cakes
Decorate a round cake to look like a life preserver
Decorations
The color scheme should be Navy blue, and pick another shade
of blue. Then accent with white, or maybe a soft yellow.
Make
a centerpiece of a small wooden row boat filled with
sea shells, flowers, OR a wide, open glass bowl filled with sand and
seashells
OR a glass bowl or a vase with goldfish. Yes, real, live goldfish in
it, water
too, obviously.
Lay a navy colored
runner down the center of the table. Down
the center of the runner lay a white rope, tied with square knots every
eight
to twelve inches.
Fold maps into
little paper sailing boats. It’s a boat
party, right?!
Hang up a fishing
net lined with seashells.
Randomly set out
seashells on the buffet table.
Set out fishing
poles, minus the hooks, of course.
Hang white twinkle
lights.
Print out a port
hole and tape it to a wall.
Put out glass
containers filled with sand. Use varying
shapes and sizes. You can pick these up from a thrift store or use
cleaned jelly
jars, vases, etc. Wrap the jars with a ribbon coordinating with the
boat party
colors.
Use a bubble
machine to fill the air with bubbles.
Costumes/Dress
up
Captain’s hat
Sailor hat or bandana
Games
and Activities
Fish
Pond (ages
3-8)
Make a fishing pole by tying a string to a dowel rod with a clothespin
tied at
the other end of the string. Spread a sheet across a corner of a room.
Have
someone hide behind the sheet and attach small toys or candies to the
fishing
pole and tug like a fish so the guest knows when to pull up.
Pin the Fish on the Hook
(ages 3-8)
Play this just like the classic
Pin the Tail on the Donkey game. On a poster board draw a boat with a
fishing
pole and a fishing line that goes down with a hook on the end. Give
each guest
a print out of a fish, with a bit of tape. Take turns blindfolding the
guests
so they can try to put their fish on the hook. The fish closest to the
hook
wins.
Duck Pond (ages 3-8)
Use a net to scoop up ducks from a
small wading pool, or a bathtub if you want to try that. Write numbers
on the
bottoms of the ducks to determine the prize won.
Island Hopping (ages
3-12)
Place large cut outs of numbered
islands in a circle and have the children march around to music. When
the music
stops the children stop. Pull a number out of a cup—the child standing
on the
number wins a small prize and gets to watch the rest play. Continue the
game
until all have won.
Lifesaver
Toss
(ages 3-16)
Take turns tossing a life saver to save someone–a teddy bear
set in the middle of the room or yard. You can use a floatation ring
for swimming
and tie a rope to it for easy recovery.
Swim Relay Races (ages
3-16)
Run while doing swimming strokes
with arms, breast stroke, butterfly, free style, doggie paddle, back
stroke and
side stroke. That’s what you do when you have a capsized boat party!
Sink or Float (ages
4-16)
Sink the boat or save the boat?
Split into teams and race to fill the boat or save it. The boat is just
a large
cardboard box sprinkled with packing peanuts. Give each guest a cup or
serving
spoon to scoop the peanuts into the box or out of the box, depending
which team
they’re on. Let them scoop for a specified amount of time and when time
is up
the team with the most peanuts where they want them, wins.
Nautical Word Search
(ages 8-16)
Find the nautical terms in this
boat party game printout.
Crafts
Fishing Time (ages
3-8)
Give each guest a print out of
fish to color and cut out. Then add a paper clip on each fish. Tie a
magnet to
the end of a string, tied to a dowel rod and go fishing for your boat
party!
Make
a Fish (ages
3-12)
Cut out two outlines of a fish. Decorate each cut out with
circles cut from colored paper or magazine ads; glue the circles to the
fish.
Staple shut – fill with crumpled shredded newspaper/magazine papers.
Decorate
a Paddle
(ages 3-16)
Use a wooden cut out from craft store or cut the shape of a
paddle from poster board for each guest. Decorate with paint, markers,
stickers, flowers, shells, glitter glue, etc.
Build
a Boat (ages
5-16)
Give each guest the same amount of drinking straws, masking
tape (can be wrapped around a craft stick), and craft sticks with
instructions
to build a boat with the materials. Then try to float them on water in
a sink
or tub. Try stacking pennies on the boats, one at a time. How many
pennies can
each boat hold before it sinks?
|
