Originally for Tess’s party I was brainstorming on doing an Elvis themed birthday party since the song I sing to her at bedtime is “Love Me Tender.” But once Tess watched Finding Nemo for the first time I knew we had to change the theme to a Finding Nemo birthday party!
She LOVES Nemo and even started sleeping with both Nemo and Dory because she loves them so much. It was a great theme for a summer party and with the release of Finding Dory it made it super simple to find supplies that fit the theme (not always easy when doing an older Disney movie theme).
I’m SO happy with how this entire party came together. So many great ideas! It was a very busy time for our family but it all worked out and made for a perfect day for our precious girl!!!
P.S. If you’re looking for more party themes, be sure to check out this roundup of the best party themes for kids!
Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links
Finding Nemo Birthday Party Decor
We used a lot of orange and white for Nemo and blue and white for Dory! The netting and balloons turned out even cuter than I’d pictured and were a fun detail!
I used photos that I took of Tess in her outfit as decorations along with Nemo books and toys (Dollar Store had a ton of little figurines!)
Finding Nemo Party Ideas: The Food
We had some much fun making the Finding Nemo and Dory themed party food! Most of these are super easy and only require basic ingredients you can find anywhere!
Peanut Butter and Jellyfish Sandwiches. All you need is a jellyfish cookie cutter!
Spinach Dip and Chips as “Seaweed Dip”
Fruity Fish Bites!
Cheetos as Coral Reef
Shark Tooth necklaces
Gotta have shark bait! (Swedish Fish and Goldfish mix that included Dory!)
Rock candy for more coral reef!
Green grapes on a skewer for seaweed!
I loved the idea of cutting string cheese to look like octopus especially with Hank being in Finding Dory. It was trickier than it looks on Pinterest though to make it work!
I always do chocolate covered Oreos and Pretzels for parties…I LOVE how these all turned out though! I bought blue melting chocolate (Hobby Lobby) and used graham cracker crumbs, small white sprinkles, and gold fish to complete the look!
With the rest of the frosting and fish, I did some chocolate covered pretzels as “fish sticks” 🙂
Blue Hawaiian Punch served as P. Sherman Punch 🙂
I couldn’t find Squirt soda anywhere but did find Crush (Turtle names from Finding Nemo)
Finding Nemo and Finding Dory Cake!
I cannot get over how ADORABLE (and delicious!) the cake turned out! It was simply PERFECT!!!
More Finding Nemo Decor!
The birthday banner turned out great, too!
I always put together birthday slideshows for each of my kids on their special day, I think Tess appreciated hers more than any child has yet! You can view the full video here 🙂
Finding Nemo Themed Birthday Activities
If you have access to a pool, the activities basically take care of themselves because it basically becomes a pool party! What says Finding Nemo more than to just keep swimming? 🙂
In the event of rain I did want to make sure to have a few activities if swimming wasn’t an option! This ring toss game was a perfect back up plan 🙂
We’ve been working to complete our outdoor kitchen area, we hung these new towel hooks just in time for the party. Aren’t they so cute?!? They are from The Noteworthy Nest!
Each of our kids always has a special birthday balloon and Daddy surprised Tess with a HUGE one for her special day 🙂 A simple craft is a great way to keep the kids busy!
The kids each got a wooden fish to color and decorate and then keep!
The photo wall area was probably my favorite. I took green streamers and made the seaweed. Then I just found images of the characters online and printed them off and cut them out. I attempted to make my own jellyfish lanterns but I failed MISERABLY so I found an amazing seller who worked with me to get them to me QUICK. They turned out awesome and I love that our house wall color works so perfectly for the “ocean” backdrop 🙂
Can’t have a photo backdrop without some props! These were masks made to look like the main characters, but I just unattached the elastic and hot glued them to sticks to make them easier to use!
Easy fish tank!
I’m pretty hardcore on budgeting, especially for parties. But I broke the bank on the party favors this time around.
I was going for easy and was thinking more about price per person for the favor rather than on the actual amount I was paying for what the favor was.
The cookies were ADORABLE and a HUGE hit but it was the first time Zach’s ever been disappointed in me for my spending on something. It was a bummer and I felt a lot of guilt and we won’t be having such fancy cookies in our house again anytime soon!
I am SO happy with how everything came together for this Finding Nemo birthday party! The food was VERY simple but so cute and I love when the theme flows so well throughout all the details and cool ideas.
If you’re looking to put together your own Finding Nemo or Finding Dory Party ideas here’s where I bought all my supplies to make this one happen 🙂
Party Supplies and Details:
Invite: Lucky Pixel
Tess Dress: Disney Store
Tess and Britt’s Bows: Muffin Tops and Tutus
Orange and White Dot Party Supplies: Target
Jellyfish Lanterns: All Themes Possible (no longer on Etsy but you can find similar ones!)
Nemo and Dory Masks: Ariel’s Custom Designs (no longer on Etsy but here are some similar ones!)
Food Name Tags: RBH Designer Concepts (here are some similar ones!)
Jellyfish Cookie Cutter: Amazon
Cake: Lorin’s Adventures in Cake
Shark Teeth Necklaces: Oriental Trading
Birthday Banner: Printz N Things
Shark Toss Game: Oriental Trading
Dory Balloon: Walmart
Wooden Fish to Color: Oriental Trading
Cookie Favors: Yaya’s Sweets and Treats
Inspired to do your own Finding Nemo/Dory party? You can see my “Pins-perations” here!
Looking for More Party Inspirations? Here’s All of The Parties I’ve Planned:
- Football Birthday Party
- Finding Nemo Party
- Donald Duck Party
- Hawaiian Christmas Party
- Mickey & Minnie Mouse Party
Looking for even more party planning tips and inspiration? Be sure to check out my Pinterest boards for ideas and you can also see over 35 of the best kids party ideas here! Happy Planning 🙂
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