There’s something so nostalgic about birthday parties celebrated at home surrounded by your friends and family.

I remember my own parties playing pass the parcel and musical chairs eating cheese and pineapple on sticks and  jelly and ice cream they were the good old days eh! 

Living in Dubai it’s easy to get swept away, dirhams sometimes become Monopoly money and we loose concept of how much things are actually costing us. We had a wake up call whilst pricing a 2 hour children’s birthday party at a soft play for our eldest 8 years ago and decided we would throw an ‘old school’ party at home instead! 

Fast forward to 2023 we have 3 daughters and I can happily say that every party at home has been a success and saved us a small fortune! (It just so happens they are all born in June so it’s a triple whammy!)  

So here is how we do it..

Lottie's mermaid 'under the sea' party 

Lottie our youngest who just turned 7 chose ‘under the sea’ this year 

I usually make the birthday cake but this year ran out of time so last minute decided to pick up a honey cake from the bakery at Waitrose and added the foil mermaid toppers and glittery candles - it went down a treat! 

*cake toppers - boxfetti

Decorations 

I wanted to keep the decorations quite simple and I’m very grateful to my friend Emma, owner of @meandrileyevents who kindly loaned the pallets that we used as the table teamed with a pink linen tablecloth and some gypsophila, we added shells from the beach and a sprinkle of confetti along with mermaid cutlery, plates and cups from @boxfetti 

It looked beautiful and Lottie loved it!

https://boxfetti.ae/collections/mermaid

 Food

The party food was a mix of viva & M&S as over the years I have learnt that less is definitely more when it comes to the food and although sliced veggies and fruit look fantastic and Pinterest worthy the reality is they will only eat the crisps and chocolate because it’s a party and you’ll be left with a bunch of soggy waste!

Entertainment 

For entertainment they played ‘Just Dance’ and made mermaid Hama beads which also doubled up as party gifts.

https://boxfetti.ae/products/hama-midi-hanging-box-mermaids?_pos=4&_sid=589dece4c&_ss=r

We also created a face glitter and tattoo station which was a huge hit and the big girls loved helping out and being part of the fun! 

After 2 hours the giveaways were handed out and we congratulated ourselves after another successful party and a wonderful 7 year old! 

Shopping list 

Seashell shape paper plates - 38aed for a pack of 6

Seashell plates iridescent - 19aed for a pack of 6

Mermaid shell paper plates -39aed for a pack of 8

Seashell napkins - 29aed per set of 16

Magical mermaid cup set - 38aed for a pack of 8

Mermaid confetti - 26aed per pack

Magical mermaid cake toppers - 39aed

Mermaid cake topper- 18aed

Mermaid nail stickers - 26aed

Mermaid tattoos - 28aed 

Mermaid party bags - 62aed for a set of 8

Mermaid Hama pegboards - 12aed each

Hama Bead colours - 16aed per pack 

Foil number balloon - 48aed including helium

Small foil balloons - from 38aed each including helium

Cake Waitrose - 60aed 

Flowers Waitrose - 50aed 

Food - 150aed 

Face glitter set - 50aed

You can browse the entire mermaid theme and pick up all these items easily at https://boxfetti.ae/collections/mermaid or pop into the Boxfetti warehouse in Al Quoz.