Fishing Party Ideas - Birthday Theme

If your child loves to fish, then having a fishing party for him or her should be a ton of fun!

Just follow the ideas from this page to help you plan a great event.

Resources:

Invitations

For your fishing party invitations, draw and cut fish shapes out of sturdy paper. Ask your child to help you color the fish on one side, and draw party information on the other.

The invitation wording can start with "You are o-FISH-ally invited to ____ (birthday child's name) __th birthday celebration!" Next, attach a small plastic bag filled with gummy worms to the invites. Finally, deliver the invitations to the guests.

For a different idea, you can take a picture of your child wearing fishing outfit and holding a real fish. Print that image on the front of white invitation cards. Then include party info on the inside.

Ask the guests to wear fishing clothes.

Decorations

For fishing party decorations, try to use as much blue, green, and orange colors as you can.

Drape fishnet over the fence (or over a fixture in the yard), and attach plastic fish as if they have been caught. Put up some fish posters around the area, and hang plastic fish from the tree brunches on fishing lines.

Place an inflatable fishing boat in the backyard. Put a sign near the front entrance that says "Get Hooked on Some Fun for a Fishing Birthday Party!"

Hang blue and green balloons in bunches inside the house. Hang green "seaweed" streamers from the ceiling, chairs, or from the top of a windowsill.

Cut fish shapes out of colorful construction paper, and attach them to some of the streamers. Spread out fishing gear: nets, boots, overalls, flashlights, and so forth.

Cover the table with blue or orange table cloth. Sprinkle some multicolored confetti around it. Place a small fish bowl with a goldfish for a table centerpiece. Mount a personalized "Happy Birthday" sign nearby.

Guest Arrival and Introductory Activities

*Coloring Pages: Print some black and white fish coloring pages off the internet. Provide crayons and markers, and invite the arriving guests to color as they're waiting for others to show up. This activity works especially well for a younger group of kids.

*Outdoorsy Craft Kit: Invite the kids to glue foam pieces to plastic magnifying lenses, and then explore the great outdoors!

Favors

Fill fishing party goody bags with candy bugs and worms, plastic and squirt toy fish, flashlights, removable tattoos, and so on.

Fishing Party Games

*Pin the Lure on the Fish: Draw a large fish on a poster board. Paint and cut fishing lure shapes out of construction paper. Print guests' names on the "lures."

At game time, blindfold the kids one by one. Spin them around, and get them to pin their lures as close to the fish mouth as they can.

*Dig for Worms: If you live in the part of the country where soil is rich with worms, then use this activity during the event.

Give the kids small shovels and get them to dig for worms. As they bring up mounds of dirt, have the children sift through them with their fingers to locate the worms.

Tip: it's a good idea to water a small area in you backyard before the party. That way the worms will be easy to find near the surface of the ground, and the kids don't have to dig far below the surface.

*Gone Fishing: Before the party, decorate and cut fish shapes out of sturdy paper. Then attach one or two paper clips to the mouth of each fish. Place all fish shapes in an empty kiddie pool or decorated box.

Create a fishing rod out of a sturdy stick by attaching fishing line and tying a horseshoe magnet to it. Get the guests to catch "fish" with the magnet.

*Fish, Fish, Shark: Invite the kids to play a theme version of Duck, Duck, Goose game.

*Water Balloon Toss: This activity is particularly fun on a hot summer day.

Prepare lots of water balloons before the party. At game time, split the group into pairs and get partners to toss the balloons back and forth.

For added fun, put some shaving cream on children's hands to make the activity a bit more challenging.

*Fish Jigsaw Puzzle: Buy an inexpensive theme jigsaw puzzle from a party store, and have the kids put it together as a team.

Or, if you have time, you can make your own puzzle. Simply glue a large fish image on a piece of cardboard. Draw jigsaw shapes with a pencil, and then cut them out.

*Fisherman's Race: Before the game, prepare two identical sets of oversized fishing clothes: overalls, hats, boots, and so on.

Divide the group into 2 teams and have a relay race. The players must put on the clothes, run their relay leg, and then take the clothes off and pass them on to the next player who repeats the process. The team to finish the race first - wins.

*Design Your Own T-shirt Craft:

Fishing Party Food Ideas:

*Sandwiches cut in various shapes: starfish, seahorse, crab, goldfish, etc.
*Tuna salad
*Hot dogs
*Hamburgers
*Chips & salsa
*Pretzels
*Fish crackers
*Gummy worms
*Swedish fish
*Jell-O giggles cut in a fish shape with a cookie cutter.

Fishing Party Drink Ideas:

*Ocean Floats: Fill cups half full with blue cream soda. Add 1 scoop of pineapple sherbet. Carefully add more cream soda and serve.

*Fish Cubes: Place gummy fish in ice cube tray slots, then fill with water and freeze.

Serve the "fish cubes" with ginger ale or any light-colored soda.

Kids Fishing Party Ideas