LillyBob Birthday Bash, Pt. One

When your brown-eyed girl (with the small, angel face) sweetly asks you for a SpongeBob birthday party, you are going to have to put aside your distaste for the yellow "Goofy Goober" and start planning a shin-dig.  Bikini Bottom style.

Plywood and a little wood stain goes a looooong way to create a "pineapple under the sea" ambiance; a "Welcome to Bikini Bottom" sign to adorn the front yard.  (And to hide the dying rose bush.)

Add inflatable marine life (found at a party supply store) and a paper palm tree to complete your "outdoor decor."  While climbing the steps to your humble abode, your guests will realize they are about to embark on an exciting, oceanic adventure!

If "nautical nonsense be something you wish," you might want to consider taping blue, plastic table cloths to the walls.  (I found mine at the dollar store!  Hooray!)  Tape bright-colored cutouts of tropical fish to the blue plastic and....viola!  A par-tay under water.  Sort of.  (About this time my McMan was starting to wonder if I had "gone overboard;" taken a "dive into the deep end."  I looked him square in the eye and proudly called it, "bubbling over with creative genius.")

Note:  That IS a SpongeBob table cloth in the second pic.

 
Oh boy howdy (that was for you, Kate), we are not done yet!  Remember the brown-eyed beauty?  With the big, dreamy eyes and the supplications  of  "pretty, pretty please," to the SpongeBob party?!  Well, we MUST NOT disappoint!

Continue to mimic an "under water experience" by hanging blue crepe paper streamers from the ceiling, to resemble waves.

Get your shell on!  Craft stores sell bags of shells (tongue twister?), which are fairly inexpensive.  Glue the shells to some cheap plates.  They make fun platters for veggies and pickles.  (Side note:  Cam seems obsessed with pickles lately.  He loves a Vlasic dill pickle spear.  How crazy is that?!  He hangs from the fridge handle and looks at me imploringly and says, "Pee-kull?  Pee-kull?")  ANYWAY...You can also put shells in small vases you may have lying around.  (I placed mine on an end table, next to a baby picture of the guest of honor.  It was a nice, cute touch.)

Whew!  After decorating for the birthday bash, you may want to "drop on the deck and flop like a fish."  It's a lot of work, and it may be a bit exhausting, BUT...when your cutie pie five-year-old sees what you've done, and starts jumping up and down and twirling circles and screaming, "This is the greatest and the bestest birthday ever"... it's totally worth it.