Mermaid Birthday Party Games and Activities

Picture this: It's a sunny afternoon in June and your darling child has just turned another year older. They have requested a mermaid themed birthday party. You prepare a variety of fun games and activities and laughter and cheer can be heard all around. All is well.

That's the dream when you're planning your kid's birthday party. You want the perfect food and perfect decorations. That's all nice and pretty, but without fun games and activities, such a party would be pretty boring. No one wants that.

In this article, I'll be sharing some games and activities that will leave the kids satisfied and establish your party as one that will be the talk of the town for years to come.

Activities

Cookie decorating

Before the party starts, buy some seashell, star, and mermaid shaped cookie cutters, and bake some sugar cookies with them. You don’t have to make the cookie dough from scratch. Store-bought is just fine. During the party, when it’s time to start decorating the cookies, bring them out and provide colorful frosting in pastry bags and sprinkles. My go-to place for baking supplies is Michaels. It’s a craft store, but they have a section for baking supplies, candy making, and cake/cookie decorations. You can also find enough decorating supplies at the grocery store. Cookie decorating is a fun way to get creative and leave guests with a yummy treat.

Underwater photoshoot

For a summer party with a pool, get an underwater camera. Kids love posing for pictures and filming themselves underwater. It creates unique souvenirs and tons of fun in the pool. Don’t forget at least one pair of goggles, so it is easier to aim at your subject for underwater photos. The kids can do underwater dances, silly faces, fun poses, or whatever their imagination comes up with.

Photo station

Get yourself an ocean backdrop and have little photo props and accessories like hats, masks, large glasses, boas, and crowns. Have someone there to take pictures of the kids as they have fun posing while they are all dressed up. The kids can pose with nice smiles, or make silly faces. It's good to get some of each.

Make sure to print out copies and share with the other parents.

Mermaid hair/braids

Learn some different braids to try out on each other. French and fishtail braids are great looks. There are many video tutorials you can find on Youtube. Add mermaid hair accessories to complete the mermaid look.

You could also get colored hairspray or hair chalk in pink, blue, purple, and green and have kids get colorful mermaid hair.

Mermaid karaoke

Buy or rent a karaoke machine to have the kids sing songs. They could learn how to sing the Little Mermaid songs. The Pearl Princess from Barbie has great songs to sing along and dance to. Check out the song Mermaid Party.

If you have a karaoke machine that doesn't have any good mermaid songs, you can easily find a karaoke version of a song on Youtube by typing the name of the song and "karaoke version." These videos will play the song without the vocals, while displaying the lyrics on screen.

Mermaid movie

You can’t go wrong with a movie at a party! This is an especially good idea if it’s a slumber party. Some of the best kid-friendly mermaid movies are The Little Mermaid, The Thirteenth Year, Aquamarine, Scales, and Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. Peter Pan is also a good movie that features mermaids, albeit mischievous ones.

Facepainter/mermaid makeover

You can hire someone or try your hand at face painting to give the kids makeovers to look more like mermaids.

To find a professional face painter check out Gigsalad.com.

If you want to learn how to do face painting, grab yourself a face painting kit that comes with a guide book and get practicing weeks before the party will take place.

Mermaid temporary tattoos

Temporary tattoos are a great activity. An adult could apply them, or have children apply them for each other. I love these tattoos that have a pretty art style and include mermaids and other sea creatures.

Crafts

Here are some great craft ideas

• Painting seashells

• Mermaid coloring book

• Sand art

• Decorating crowns or masks

Check out this magic wand craft:

Games

Games are always a fun addition to any party. Some games can be just for fun, but you can also include prizes.

Prizes

• Candy

• Plastic diamond rings

• Stickers

• Bubbles

• Temporary tattoos

• Coins

Here are some fun mermaid party games:

Walk the plank

This game would work for a pirate aspect of the party, if you decide to go that route. Set up a board on top of cinder blocks and have a tarp underneath with water on it. Make little shark fins that will stick up and have kids walk across it like a balance beam. You could also set the plank up to lead to a kiddie pool.

I once had a party in which I asked trivia questions, and each kid had to answer them correctly, or face walking the plank after a few wrong answers!

Guess how many shells

Get a fishbowl full of shells and have slips of paper so the kids can write down their name and their guess, which would go in a separate container. Kids can add their guesses at any time during the party. At the end of the party see who has the closest guess and give them a prize, or they could win the jar of shells. You could also use m&m's for the bowl.

How well do you know the birthday girl/boy?

You’ll see games like this at baby showers and bridal showers. The host will print out some quiz papers and guests fill them out at their leisure to see how well they know the guest of honor. This kind of game is perfect for a birthday party, as well. There are many different variations of these kinds of games. One might be “this or that,” where you pick the person's favorite of two things. Do they prefer ice cream or cookies? Fairies or princesses? Soda or juice? You get the idea. These can easily be made or purchased.

Here you can find a great set of mermaid party games, that I designed.

Pool games

There are many fun game to be played in the pool. Try having swim races, playing beach volleyball, or marco polo. Other activities include practicing tricks like underwater backflips and handstands, swimming through hula hoops, jumping off the diving board in creative ways, and throwing pool toys to the bottom of the pool and having to swim down and collect as many as possible.

 These mermaid dive toys are sure to be a crowd-pleaser!

Treasure hunt

Hide things all around the yard and give each kid a checklist. They have to try to find as many things as they can.

Things to hide:

-Rubber ducks

-Pirate dubloons

-Seashells

-Starfish

-Mermaid toys

-Fishy toys

-Small treasure chest

-Fork ("Dinglehopper" from The Little Mermaid)

Freeze dance

Turn on some music and have a little dance party. Have someone tend the music and every thirty seconds or so, they pause the music. The kids have to stop dancing when the music stops and try to stay still as a statue. If they move before the music starts again, they are eliminated.

Mermaid music:

• Little Mermaid songs (Live action and original)

• Moana songs

• Beach Boys songs

• Baby Shark

• Theme songs of Mako Mermaids and H20

• Ukulele music

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole cover

• Pirates Who Don’t do Anything from A VeggieTales Movie

• Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Bobby Darin

• Ocean waves sounds

• Wipeout by the Surfaris

• Mermaid Party from Barbie The Pearl Princess

• Mermaid by Train

Musical chairs

Play musical chairs and use songs from the music list above. Have a circle of chairs with just one less than the number of kids. While the music is playing they walk around the chairs and when the music stops they have to quickly try to sit in a chair. Whoever doesn’t get one is out. Make sure to take away a chair each time someone is eliminated. Last person to get a chair wins!

Pinata

Get a mermaid tail or fish pinata from your local party store, find one online, or make your own. Fill it with candy necklaces, chocolate coins, Swedish Fish, and Sixlets (a candy that looks like pearls). Kids take turns hitting it to break it open. Make sure before the kids start smashing at the pinata that everyone is well out of the way. Give them each a little baggy so they can collect their candy when it breaks.

Mermaid bingo

Bingo is a classic party game that keeps kids entertained while adding a fun element of chance. Try this bingo set.

Canon balls

For an action-packed game, fill up some black water balloons and label them as “canon balls.” The relevance is that mermaids and pirates often go together as a theme. Mermaids live in the ocean, pirates roam the seas. It makes sense to pair them together. Pirates launch cannonballs at other ships, so this game is perfectly on brand. If your party is in the summer, this game will be a hit! No pun intended. For extra fun, use cardboard boxes to make ships for kids to hide inside and behind. I did this once for a pirate party I had. It was loads of fun and I even enjoyed painting the boxes to look like ships.

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Now you’re ready to throw the most mermazing birthday party! Have fun, make magical memories, and enjoy shellebrating your little mermaid’s special day.

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About the author

Shello! My name is Mermaid Liv, a professional mermaid and content creator. I share my love of mermaiding through this blog, along with my Youtube channel.

If you've never heard of it before, mermaiding is a hobby, profession, and sport that involves wearing mermaid tails made for swimming.

I began making tails in 2013 and have continued my mermaid journey, starting my Youtube channel, working at a mermaid festival, performing at gigs, and being featured in the Netflix Docu Series MerPeople.

Follow me on Instagram for mermaid photos and videos: @the_real_mermaid_liv and be shore to check out my Youtube channel.