Aqua Themed Pool Party Birthday Ideas

Pool Party Birthday Ideas: aqua themed pool party with ideas for DIY decor, party games and activities, and an aqua dessert table.

Today my daughter’s turning 10! Happy Birthday Paige! I can’t believe we’ve hit the double digits! This year Paige requested a pool party, so last weekend we got together with friends and family to celebrate. Today I’m sharing all my pool party birthday ideas with you.

We were so blessed to be able to borrow a party venue and have the party at my sister-in-law and brother-in-laws house, since they have a lovely pool and live only a few minutes away -thanks Keers and Steve. I did worry about rain -since it’s rained on Paige’s parties for about the last 3 years, but the forecast was for sunny skies. Despite the forecast about 15 minutes before we were set to begin, guess what? It started to rain. Picture me holding an umbrella over the desert table and praying. The prayers were answered, and it only rained a few minutes. By the time the guests arrived it stopped and it was time for the fun to begin.

Weather is one factor that you can’t control for a pool parties, but other than that it’s the perfect summer birthday theme. But, a summer pool party is a great idea even if you aren’t celebrating a birthday.

Pool Party Birthday Invitations

Paige’s favourite colour is aqua, and it went great with the pool party theme, so it became our color scheme for all the party details. For the invitations, since Paige loves art, we came up with the idea of ombre watercolours. I designed the invites, and then printed them onto watercolour paper with our home computer. Paige then painted with watercolours to create the aqua ombre effect. These were really simple to make and perfect pool party invitations.

Pool Party Activities

Water Table

The main event at the party was, of course swimming. But I had a couple other little activities set up, just in case. One was this fun water table. We’ve had it for years, and every spring I bring it out and it’s like a new toy. This worked great between lunch and dessert, when the kids were done but the adults were still eating. We set it up near the pool area and especially the youngest party guests really enjoyed it.

DIY Paper Boats

We also set up some origami to make paper boats. The paper boat idea became part of the decor and went well with our water theme. I just cut up some pretty aqua scrapbook paper and printed the instructions. Paige had fun teaching her friends how to make them and it was one of the unique ideas that everyone loved.

Pool Party Centerpieces

I wanted to add some centerpieces to the tables for part of our pool party decorations. We used the paper boats and some water -coloured with a few drops of blue and green food colouring to make aqua, to make easy centerpieces for the tables. Luckily we’d tried it at home first, and discovered that paper boats actually absorb the water and sink fairly quickly. We used parchment paper, and some basket liners that had a waxy finish to make the boats for the centerpieces and they worked great and lasted the whole party. These would be a fun addition to a beach party as centerpieces too.

We continued the origami boats into a bouquet of paper lanterns and pom-poms. I made lots in different aqua paper, and sizes, and strung them into a few fun garlands. I love how this turned out and gave a real wow factor to the party area, and was a nice reusable alternative to balloon garlands.  We hung them from the deck and over the lunch table. 

We also picked up some pool floats that matched our aqua color scheme. It was fun to scatter beach balls in the pool for the party.

One more tip, when your setting up your next pool party is to buy some extra swim goggles and beach towels, and have them available in a basket in case any guests at your kid’s pool party needs to barrow them. It’s also a good idea to have some extra sunscreen on hand and remind guests about constant sunscreen reapplication throughout the party.

Pool Party Lunch

For lunch, we had hamburgers, hotdogs, and salads around the pool. It’s always good to stick to the classics that are kid friendly for birthday parties. And an easy way to make it adult friendly too was with a variety of really yummy salads as side dishes.

Pool Party Games

We also played a few typical swimming pool games at the party, like Marco Polo, and colours. These are such fun games, that most kids are familiar with. It’s always nice to add some age-appropriate games to your child’s birthday party, as well as some free pool time.

Paige also wanted to have a “diving contest”. It was such a fun idea. The kids had to name their dive and then jump in -with marks for creativity.

Before the party, we printed out a few number signs and designated some judges. There were a couple younger kids who didn’t want to jump in the deep end so they helped judge. It was hilarious, and I highly recommend it for a birthday pool party.

Pool Party Dessert Table

After lunch it was time for dessert! We had a lot of fun putting together the aqua/blue dessert table. Weeks and weeks before the party, I happened to see at One Krieger Chick, an adorable ombre “Make a Splash” sign, so Paige and I gave it our own twist and used it as the pretty backdrop for the dessert table (and now it’s in her bedroom). 

To add some height to the table I used my vintage suitcases. I was reminded again how great it is to have serving pieces in white and glass -it doesn’t really take too much of your colour, here mainly just the actual food, to really create a great effect.

I also made a little drink table on the side, with cold drinks.

Now, for the desserts! -our favorite part.  

Cupcakes

I made vanilla cupcakes and decorated them with different shades of aqua blue icing. I just started out with the lightest shade, and then kept adding more gel food colouring as I went along. The little flags are made out of toothpicks and washi tape. I always like cupcakes instead of birthday cake because you don’t have to worry about cutting it up to serve it. Finger foods are always easier with kids or with a crowd.

Blueberries

I found fun mini Chinese takeout containers and used them for blueberries. It’s always nice to include some fresh fruit on a dessert table, and the blueberries fit our color scheme.

Rice Krispie Treats

When it comes to blue food, you have to get a little creative, so just think of your favourites and add a little blue chocolate. We made Rice Krispies and dipped them in blue candy melts. They were the first thing gone, and a fun way to include a blue treat.

Sugar Cookie Bars

I also made sugar cookie bars -they were a first and so, so much easier than sugar cookies, but with all the same great taste. I used the same icing as the cupcakes to make them ombre too. And the pom-pom pics are just pom poms from the craft store hot glued to a toothpick -love is in the details, and little touches like these help take your dessert table to a whole new level.

Candy

I also wanted to include some candy, and there were little bags so our friends could take some home too as party favors. We served:

• rock candy
• gummy sharks
• homemade lollipops. 

For the lollipops I used the same recipe and technique I used here, except we used aqua food colouring, and added lemonade flavouring this time. They looked so, so pretty. And this a really great make ahead treat for a special event. You can make them in any color or flavor to match your party theme.

Homemade Macarons

I also tried my hand at making homemade macarons for the party. They were my second attempt and still not perfect, but they were still really good. We made them blue and filled them with a raspberry butter cream. You can read all about my successes and failures in macron making here.  What I do love about these special little cookies is that you make them a couple of days before you need them and let them mature in the fridge, so it’s great for a party since it isn’t last minute.

Jello

Last, and almost forgotten in the fridge, which is why they aren’t in all the photos, classic blue jello, with a squirt of whip cream.  All the kids loved them and they were certainly easy peasy.

Pool Party Favors

One last detail, I used another vintage suitcase to hold the little goodie bags with the origami boats, bookstore gift cards, and candy from the sweets table.

Miniature Boat In A Bottle

The tiny little bottle, beside Paige’s picture, is a little origami boat in a bottle.  We used Pudding Fish Cakes  AMAZING video to make them and they turned out great.

One little issue, cause nothing is ever quite as easy as you hope it will be, was some of my boats started to sink. I followed the instructions on the video, but maybe because I had a different kind of resin or because of the heat and humidity when I was making them, after waiting the two hours for the resin to harden to a certain consistency I added my boats and noticed about 15 minutes later that they were sinking into the resin. After all the work of finding mini bottles, finding resin and chalk pastel, and then folding all those tiny, tiny boats I was feeling beyond sad to see the shipwreck. 

I put on my timer and used tweezers every 15 min. for about two hours to pull them up and reposition them, since they weren’t totally submerged, and I thought I could still rescue them. Some did sink too far, so I pulled them out and waited to add in new ones. At the end of the day it all worked out, but if I were doing it again, I’d do a test one to make sure before making 10 of them! Here’s a shot of the one beside my camera lens cover, just to show you the scale of how tiny they actually are. We put them into tiny organza bags and included them in the loot bags for our guests. These are not your standard goodie bag fair, but I thought they were a really special addition.

We really had a wonderful afternoon and successful bash celebrating Miss Paige turning 10 with an outdoor pool party.  With warm weather it really was the perfect to celebrate our girl. Happy Birthday Paige.

With all these great pool party birthday ideas, life really is a party!

More Birthday Party Inspiration

You might also like our Rainbow Art Party here.

Also check out our Rock Climbing Gem Party here.

You might also enjoy our Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party here.