Backyard Beach Party on a Budget

by Jillian Leslie on

beach-party-on-a-budget

Melissa Newell from My Party Passion, is back with her first post of the summer on how to throw a budget backyard beach party!

Hello everyone – It’s summertime here in NY and we are gearing up for some nice warm weather. Today I am sharing some tips and tricks, on a budget of course, to throwing your own backyard beach party!

When our son turned seven, he wanted a Beach Party. My first thought was how am I going to turn our backyard into a beach theme? Well, if you know me, you know my first thought is BUDGET!

Now this party was more (money) that I original wanted to spend, however, there are a ton of “budget” friendly ideas that you can easily duplicate at home.

 

DECOR: 

Centerpiece – I used a recycled large plastic pretzel container, filled it with water, and added blue food coloring. I slapped on a pair of dollar store goggles (you might already have some) and I added a hat from the dollar store. This made a big impact and all were talking about it!

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Cake Stands — Again, off to the dollar store. I bought 6 of the beach themed sand sifters and hot glued them to a tin can that I had put colored duct tape on (but any craft paper would do). These were so cute in displaying our beach themed cookies.

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Beach Balls — One of the biggest bangs for the buck, hanging beach balls over the goodie bag table caught everyone’s eye. It was so easy and affordable.

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FOOD:

Sandwiches – Using the Pepperidge Farm goldfish bread you can put tuna or chicken salad on them. I did some with PB&J too.

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Corn Dogs – When I think of the boardwalk or the beach, I go to corndogs in my head. I bought mine in the frozen section, heated them up, and stuck them dog side up in a cute display that I made with wrapping paper and a cardboard box. They were snatched up in 10 mins flat!

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Snack Shack — If you ask any of the children at the party what they loved the most, most would say “shoveling” their own snacks. Again, using new dollar store buckets with shovels,I put snacks in them, tipped them and the kids were able to help themselves at their leisure! The Snack Shack was just for them. I found sea creature cups in the store for them to fill up.

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ACTIVITIES:

Keeping the kids entertained is so important at a party. It let’s the parents relax a little, too! Besides the obvious of a using sprinklers and kiddie pools, I had a few games planned for the kids that cost next to nothing.

Fill the Bucket — Using recycled milk jugs (I saved from a few weeks prior), and a dollar store sponge, each team had to soak the sponge in the bucket with water and squeeze out the water into the milk jug. Once the jug was filled, that team was our winner!

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Water Balloon Toss – You can get the parents into this one too!

Sandcastle Building –- if you already have a sandbox – this one is a no brainer!

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Photo Booth — Now this one I got real creative with, but it did not cost me a lot of money! I wanted to create a “beach’ for the pictures of everyone (and I mean everyone got into the photos).

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Using a backdrop I found at a craft website, and a few play yard bags of sand , the beach was born!

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I had a basket of props for everyone to pick from. They had a great time with this!

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It’s not that hard to pull this party together and celebrate with friends! I hope you found some beachy ideas and until next time friends… hang ten!

Thank you, Melissa, loving the beach photo booth you made with real sand! To learn more about Melissa, visit her at My Party Passion.

Comment

2 comments

  • Melissa N

    Melissa N wrote:

    This was such a fun party to throw and my most detailed yet!

  • David H

    David H wrote:

    Some good games ideas for my kids. Sometimes it becomes difficult for me to find the perfect game for my kids to play while we enjoy the sunset and having a peaceful and relaxing time on the beach. I hope these game ideas help me on my next trip to beach.