Partying in Lugano - Dolphin Party

Well, the party was a hit! The dolphin theme chosen by Expat daughter seemed to be most adequate given that a one point we had 23 children in our pool. (The neighbors must love us today!)

Yesterday I gave away the secret of a scrumptious Lemon Yoghurt cake recipe. Today - as promised- some ideas for a dolphin party.

The Dolphin Cake:

Amazing what one can do with a Coop newspaper....

Chocolate ganache kindly provide by my baking queen friend...

....makes all the pieces stick together....

..and the end result: a Dolphin cake.

As invitiations we made "messages-in-bottles." Simply fill clear plastic bottles with sand, mini sea shells, glitter, etc. Write your invitations on parchment paper, then roll them into scrolls, and insert invitations into bottles.

As decoration we taped multi-colored blue, green and yellow crepe paper streamers to the ceiling of the play room. We turned on a fan so the seaweed could sway in the "currents".  Let the kids know they are in the kelp bed! A floor covered with blue latex balloons will create an "ocean atmosphere." We also cut out starfish, seahorses, and other sea animals from construction paper and taped some them onto the streamers.

We covered table with a blue tablecloth and sparkled a few blue and transparent glitter stones as well as shells across the table. We added ocean themed party supplies such as cups, napkins and plates, plus flatware in blues and greens.

Here are some Dolphin/Under the sea games:

1.) Water balloon race: Mark a course with chalk or orange cones before the fun begins. Have kids race by running a course with water balloons alternately tucked under their chins, under their arms and between their legs. Kids can't touch the balloons with their hands. If the balloon falls and breaks, you're out. If it survives, pick it up and keep going. Big Hit!

2.) Pin the tail on the dolphin: Used Dolphin clip art but mixed things up by using tails from all sorts of animals - mermaid, tiger, horse, whale, peacock, dragon, etc., for the kids to try to place in the correct spot. Very funny results!!

3.) Octopus Alert: Choose one person to be an octopus. Arrange everyone else in a big circle around the octopus. Have the kids in the circle toss a water balloon back and forth, trying to keep it away from the octopus. If the octopus pops the water balloon by batting it out of the circle, the person who threw it is out. Last child left in the circle wins.

4.) Sinking Ship: Divide the players into two teams and place them in two lines. Give the first players on each team a pie plate full of water. Players must pass the pie plate over their heads to the player behind them until the pie plate reaches the end of the line. The team with the most water left in the pie plate - wins.

5.) Musical Towels: Play this fun beach birthday party version of popular Musical Chairs game. Spread out towels - one fewer than players - and put on the summer music. Children must dance around the towels when the music is playing. When it stops, they must stretch out on a towel like a sun-bather. The person left without a towel is out of the game!

6.) No party is complete without a pinata! Just make sure your kids stand in a big circle in order not to get hit with the baton.

In case you wanted to make a pinata yourself, check out this lovely site with step by step instruction for a home made pinata: www.thesweetestoccasion.com/.