Graduation/18th Birthday Beach Themed Party

I wanted to share my Pinterest inspired Graduation/18th Birthday Beach themed party.

**PSA--if you decide to blog about something that inspired you via Pinterest, do not delete the board until you blog about it!!  I deleted my "graduation party" board on Pinterest so I had find all my inspiration all over again and some weren't found :(  Oops

For some reason, I was adamant that the party was a California Beach theme and not a Luau theme...I think it worked out :)

Let's begin with the invitations I made.  I found this inspiration via Pinterest for the invitations.  I was all ready to spend the weekend cutting out sandals and making the invitations...but then I texted my husband and told him that I "needed" to buy a new Cricut cartridge--Life is a Beach.  I am so glad that my local Joann's had it on sale and it was in stock.  It made my life so much easier.  

Using Cricut Craft Room, I was able to make the sandal fatter and shorter than just cutting it from the cartridge.  I also used the Fleur de Lys from the Teresa Collins Sophisticated Cartridge and added bling to the sandal.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to use buckets to put the chips and snacks in and I did...I just forgot to take a picture!!!

Here is the gift table which I placed a bucket on for cards.

My daughter decorated the tables.

We used spray glue to keep the sand and glitter down onto the table.

Also found via Pinterest was the photo display...for the life of me, I cannot find the idea on Pinterest or anywhere on the internet!  I had a bunch of ideas in mind, but when I ran across one that used fisherman net, I knew I had to do that.  I wish I would have just gone with the heavier duty brown net instead of 2 of the flimsy blue nets though.  I spray painted clothes pins from the dollar store orange.  I wanted to use something (paperclips perhaps) that looked like fishing hooks, but the idea was vetoed by  my husband and 2 kids :/

It came out cute though.  The photos were a bit time consuming though.  I could have just printed 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 photos (or cut them to fit) and pasted onto white cardstock and wrote the events and dates.  But instead, I used Photoshop and had them printed on 4x6 photo paper then cut a strip off the bottom to look like Polaroids.  

Here is a close up of one of the 4x6 pictures I had printed.

I did not make the cake, but I found a bunch of good ideas on Pinterest.  Of course they have the multi layered cakes with fondant, but I just wanted a sheet cake.  We went to Peter's Bakery in San Jose...one of our favorite bakeries.

I was a little scared that it wouldn't come out just like I had envisioned, but it did!!  I took four photos to  them (This one, this one, and this one.  There was one more, but of course I can't find it!!)  I did find this one on Pinterest, but I wasn't interested in the dead body washing up onto shore look!  I know someone really tried their hardest, but they could have gotten a tan looking doll instead of an alabaster looking one.  But not this bikini wearing Barbie because this one is just plain wrong...gross!!!

I was so happy when the lady taking my order asked "but not Luau theme?" without me even telling her!! :D  I did have to go back and let them know I wanted Orange and Blue though (school colors) and I was afraid the second lady wouldn't know what the heck I was talking about.

It was perfect!  The "sand" was a bit sweet though, but it looked so real.  My cousin's 4 year-old wanted us to take off the sand...she opted for the water--poor girl will be tormented the rest of her life that there was sand on a cake--ha ha ha.  It was pretty cute.

Now for the not so great.  I wanted to do a PhotoBooth.  I had been collecting items for ever!  But with so much going on I was going to ditch it.  But my daughter really wanted it and told me the day before she already told her friends.  During the party, I got a sheet and did a sad version of a photo booth.  (There were so many kids running around, I couldn't just leave my camera on the tripod, so I took a good amount of pictures of her and her friends.)

See my crappy make shift PhotoBooth--boo!

Yes, it is easy to crop and fix, but I wanted to print the photos with my Epson PictureMate Charm right after...I did print the ones with my daughter and her friends acting silly...it was fine and not so much distraction like this one ha ha ha.

One thing that I really wanted to do, but didn't, was have this wall of envelopes and have people place advice inside.  I just didn't do it on time...because I am a slacker...she knows to behave and have fun...not sure what else people would tell her anyway :)

A week after her party, I remembered this story (again found via Pinterest) about a dad giving his daughter the book "Oh the Places You'll Go" which he had been having teachers and coaches sign for the past 13 years!  Too cute...of course I wouldn't have been able to go back in time, but I could have had the party patrons sign it for her.  Oh well shoulda, coulda, woulda...

Thanks for reading and getting to the end!