I can’t believe my baby is 2 years old! She’s growing so fast, I can barely keep up. I always want to make my kids’ birthdays special in my own way by creating fun DIY decor and games.
I asked her what kind of birthday she wanted. Without hesitation, she said “BABY SHARK!” So, just like her brother’s Pokemon birthday party, I hosted a budget-friendly, at-home, themed party! This time, we’re headed under the sea and celebrating as a shark family!
I’m going to share some great Baby Shark birthday party ideas so you can plan and host your own shark themed birthday bash. Get ready to dive into the ocean of creativity, where smiles, giggles, and that iconic “Baby Shark” melody take center stage. Let’s dive in!
Start with the ultimate Baby Shark backdrop
I love making backdrops and balloon arches for birthdays. For me, it’s the part of planning these parties that really create the ultimate themed vibe.
I do have a balloon pump which makes the process to much easier, too. It’s very useful, especially if you do a lot of parties. My machine can inflate 2 balloons at a time. This makes everything so much easier and faster, especially for creating a balloon garland. You need a lot of balloons.
Firstly, I found these foil Baby Shark balloons. I love using these foil balloons because they are really easy to inflate, even if you don’t have a balloon pump. They also have a little tag at the top with a hole so you can hang them up in whatever way works for you. A bonus is that they are self-sealing, so you don’t have to worry about tying a knot.
So for the garland, I used a couple of different shades of blue in different sizes. Since I was using this balloon garland tape, I needed to have some bigger and some smaller balloons to make it look full. I use this garland tape every time I make a balloon backdrop.
When you first start adding the balloons to the tape, make sure not to crowd them too much. Once the garland is up, you can see where to add more to fill in the gaps.
And finally, to create an underwater feel, I added green streamers to the silver backdrop. I twisted the streamers to look like seaweed and I think it looks great!
Let’s bust out the Baby Shark birthday cake
While I think every birthday cake should be special, I still like to keep things simple for myself. I use box cake and there’s nothing wrong with that! It’s easy to make, doesn’t cost much, and the kids love it. It ticks all the boxes.
I also use store-bought icing, but my trick is to add cream cheese. It’s really tasty and is a good way to cut the sweetness. In hindsight, I should have used my mixer to really incorporate the cream cheese, but I didn’t, so the frosting was a bit clumpy in places. Because of this, it wouldn’t spread on smoothly and I was feeling pretty disappointed at how it looked.
However, I got a few things to decorate the cake and they really saved it. First, I found these little sea creature candies that I stuck on the sides. They really saved the day. They looked so cute and helped hide all the spots in the icing that I didn’t want seen.
Next, I got these baby shark bath toys to decorate the top. I knew Sabrina would love playing with them after the party, which is great because it’s like a little extra present for her.
And finally, I got some colored chocolate wafers to melt and a silicone mold of the alphabet. This is a really cute and different way to write a birthday message on a cake, rather than piping on more icing. I melted the chocolate candy in the microwave and filled the letter molds to write “Sabrina Shark Doo Two”. (You can sing it to the Baby Shark song!). After adding all of these decorations, I was so pleased. It ended up looking so cute.
Baby Shark birthday party activity ideas to keep your guests busy
Honestly, I love this theme. It’s so colorful and cute. As you can see, I went all out and transformed our home into a underwater Baby Shark play space. I also had tons of fun coming up with creative and affordable activities for kids ages 2 to 8. These Baby Shark birthday party ideas will help you pull off an unforgettable birthday bash without breaking the bank.
1. DIY Baby Shark craft
I like having a craft activity to keep kids occupied, so I came up with this easy paper plate craft. All we needed was to cut up a bunch of shapes that the kids would glue onto the plates to make their own sharks. Plus, this is also something they can take home with them, which is always nice.
Since our party guests were as young as 2 years old, the craft needed to be fairly easy. This meant no scissors, only glue. I had to cut quite a few of shapes in advance, therefore, so I used my public library’s Cricut machine to cut them for me.
Lots of public libraries have objects that you can borrow, not just books! So, if you need something like a Cricut, but you only need it for one project, you don’t have to buy your own. You can just use the library’s, if they have one.
I made these shapes and designs using Cricut’s DesignSpace. If you’re using sheets provided by the library, you usually have to pay but it was only about a dollar each. For everything I cut, I think it only costs me like $5.00, so it was definitely worth it. I also got the paper plates at the Dollar Tree, so this craft was really inexpensive. Plus, the kids absolutely loved it.
2. Pin the party hat on the shark
The next game I wanted to include was a Baby Shark version of “pin the tail on the donkey” where the kids would stick a party hat on the shark. I got some poster board from the Dollar Tree in yellow and drew the shape myself. Since the shape was pretty simple, I actually drew it simply by looking at the Baby Shark balloons. I cut out some white poster board for the belly and glued it on the yellow.
If this is something you would also like to make, try to avoid my mistake if you can. I used Elmers liquid glue at first and, annoyingly, you could see it through the paper. To avoid this, just go with a glue stick. For the rest, I just cut out the necessary shapes and stuck them on to make Baby Shark’s features!
I also cut out some party hats (triangles) and added a sticker for the pompom, which made it easy for the kids to pin on the shark.
3. Fishing for sharks – in the living room!
In keeping with the theme of the party, I also made a fishing game for the kids. I got a blow up mini-pool and filled it with water, and bought some fishing rods with magnetic sea creatures for the kids to fish.
Sabrina’s birthday is not during summer, which means we had to have an indoor party. So while I did take a risk playing this game inside, I put a drop cloth underneath the pool in case of water spilling. However, the kids were really good, and we didn’t get any messes at all!
4. Bringing back an old classic: Pass the parcel
I got the idea of pass the parcel from my friend who recently hosted her son’s birthday party where they played this game. We used to play as kids, and I totally forgot about it! I remembered it being so fun so of course I had to introduce my guests to it, too.
Basically, you wrap a prize in several layers of paper. Each layer should be a different coloured paper. The kids pass the parcel around to the music and when the music stops, they peel off one layer. And so on until someone unwraps the prize.
The party favors
No party would be complete without a little something to take home, so I gathered some Baby Shark favors for our guests. I don’t like giving too many things just for the sake of it, so I’m choosy here. The party favors for Sabrina’s birthday included just a few things that I knew the kids would enjoy:
- A Baby Shark cup with a couple mini candy bars inside
- A Baby Shark coloring books
- A mini etch-a-sketch
The only hiccups I encountered with the party favors had to do with the bag. Firstly, there were no gift bags big enough to fit the colouring books, so I got some paper bags at the Dollar Tree. However, these bags were just plain, which could also be fine, but I really wanted to have Baby Shark bags. So I came up with the perfect solution.
Along with the colored paper bags, I bought a few large gift bags that did have Baby Shark characters on them. I used these to cut out the sharks and stick them on the plain gift bags. And voilà! Baby Shark gift bags.
Why I loved this Baby Shark party
Although my daughter is still really young, I still wanted to celebrate her birthday in a memorable way. But that doesn’t mean I have to break the bank to do it. Our kids don’t know how much money we spend on their birthday parties. And guess what? They don’t care. All they want is to have a fun day with their family and friends and feel special.
We had such a good time coming up with these Baby Shark birthday party ideas and preparing the crafts and games together. So, even if Sabrina doesn’t remember all the details of this party, I know she’ll remember laughing, and playing, and spending quality time with me.
I hope these Baby Shark birthday party ideas will help you feel more confident about hosting your own affordable party for your little one. This at-home DIY Baby Shark birthday party proves that a celebration filled with joy, love, and creative touches doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag.
The memories created on this special day will linger in your hearts, and the photos will tell the story of a magical under-the-sea Baby Shark adventure that brought smiles to the faces of your little one and her friends. So, until the next family celebration, just keep do-do-doodoo-doodoo-ing your best, and relishing the precious moments of parenthood!
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