Celebrating on a Budget — A FIN-tastic Dory Party

By now, you know that we all LOVE to CELEBRATE!

This week, we celebrated Sophie, my firstborn, turning THREE! I can’t believe it! She decided that she wanted a Dory party a couple months ago and has been anxiously waiting for it since! Once she had made up her mind, I got right to the idea board. I knew I needed to find fun ideas that would not break the bank for her party! So, I started with my party go-to’s…

Pinterest is where I always go to get my creative juices flowing. I look at what other people have done and either create my own ideas from that or try to recreate what has been done before. It is also just a great way to get ideas organized in one place and to start honing in on a theme.

Party Purchases…

Party City is a great place to look for specific themes and colors. They had a few fun Dory favor and decor items. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a variety of plastic serve ware in all different shapes and sizes that worked great for this party – and they were great prices too! I was also able to find a 20% coupon to use in store which was an added bonus!

Walmart has the best prices for paper products and simple decor like streamers. They have some themed items, as well.

Oriental Trading has so many options for party items- fun favors, treat bags, decor and more! They often have discounts on their websites, too!

I even used Ebay for this party to find some unique favors!

JOANN Fabrics is the place to go for theme fabric. We used fabric for a party dress for Sophie, table cloth, and the fishing game drape. For previous parties, we have also made backdrop and decor garlands with a variety of fabrics. Start looking early for the fabric you want because there are frequent discounts and you’ll want to know what you want to get when you see the best promotion. We were able to get 40% of Disney fabric for our Dory party!

Amazon is always a great place to compare prices. I found with the promo codes at places like Party City and Oriental Trading the prices were not as great but its nice to look for more unique things like ocean theme cookie cutters or last minute items that you can get in a couple days with Prime!

A great way to stay on budget is to decorate with streamers – they are so cheap and so fun to combine different colors that goes with your theme. Since Sophie’s theme was Dory we did two different blues over the window sills twisted to look like the ocean.

Photos are another great way to decorate. Its a fun way to look back at the fun memories from the year and a great excuse to get pictures printed in this digital age!

FUN IDEAS

Goldfish Bar

We got 4 different kinds of goldfish and put them in various sizes of fish bowls (round vases from Hobby Lobby) for our Goldfish Bar

Fruit and Veggies Ocean Platters

We used different fruits and vegetables to make various sea creatures like a bell pepper Hank, apple crabs, a bell pepper crab, and more. We added hummus, pita chips, crackers, and Bamba (delicious and looks like bait) in pails, as well!

Candy Bar

We had a candy bar, “Candy Cove”, with ocean theme candy including swedish fish, gummy worms, sour octopus, sour straws (“kelp”), and a new found snack, Simply Balanced Fruit Ropes that we used as “kelp” and more!

Fishing Game

We did a fishing game for the kids to get their favors! We used our little nook area, a few simple supplies like a piece of fabric, 3M hooks, a dowel, twine, and a clothespin- and the kids had so much fun! They fished for a plush fish, Dory stickers, a Dory slap bracelet, a handprint fish craft and a treat bag to fill up at the Goldfish Bar, Dessert Table or Candy Cove!