Landon’s bedroom is a nautical theme. Some of his clothes are nautical-themed. So, when the birthday boy turned one, we threw a nautical birthday party.

Here are some things I put together to celebrate my big man turning one with a nautical-themed birthday party. You can apply these tricks to almost any theme, including a bridal shower (but a nautical baby shower is super cute too)!

Nautical Themed Birthday Party Ideas

First, welcome people into your house with a sign that says, “Welcome Aboard” at the front door. A perfect way to do this is by creating an ocean backdrop and painting those words on an old fence, weathered wood of a fishing pier, wooden anchor, or front porch posts.

All you need to do is find creative ways to name a food that fits your theme and place it strategically on a party table to serve as focal points. Get ready to set sail with creative juices as I share some nautical party ideas.

For example, I bought Kool-Aid thinking it was blue. I was going to label it “Ocean Water.” Well, it came out red and turned into “Red Sea Water.” Chalkboard signs are great for displaying the party theme to party guests.

Also, when it comes to displaying things, put them into a themed shape – as I did with his cupcakes to make a boat anchor shape on the dessert table. As another example, I cut a pepper into an octopus (or crab depending on who you asked) and stuck it in the veggie dip. Turning food into nautical decorations is a fun, easy way to create edible party decorations.

Party planning tip: Don’t spend money on anything other than food and balloons. If you want to get some nautical party supplies, you can, but most of us have access to computers and printers… use them! For designing anything and everything on paper, I recommend Canva. It’s what I used to design Landon’s 1st birthday invitations!

When I created this nautical 1st birthday invitation, Canva didn’t have templates yet. Now they do, so it’s so much easier to create a stunning birthday party invitation. You can include shark fins, mini treasure chests, mini sailboats, and other such iconic details with a background in blue and white stripes.

For Landon’s invitation, we made it look like a boarding pass to jump aboard a cruise ship.

Remember those food tips above? Well, here are a few in action. (Another one not pictured: I labeled the meat and cheese tray “Shark Bait.”)

If you don’t have a wooden sailboat to display, then turn a watermelon into a sailboat as I did. Another fun way to play up this theme is to make sailor party hats or paper boats.

I mixed goldfish with chips to call it “fish and chips” and called licorice “nautical rope”. Then, I just threw in some nautical words, like “seaweed dip”, and “chocolate-covered seashells”. Because life preservers are the same shape as lifesavers, that’s a perfect treat too!

What kind of decorations are you creating for your nautical theme party? You can even have fun with birthday party favors for the memorable vent like putting gift bags together with different nautical accessories. Something that is fun for older kids is providing squirt guns or laser beams as if they’re pirates.

Find me on Instagram at @ChristinaAllDay and show me your party ideas!