Thursday, August 1, 2013

Shark Birthday Party


I saw this shark head, believe it or not, on Pinterest from a Martha Stewart designed Shark Wedding.  I started searching on the internet, but couldn't find it ANYWHERE.
I went to VA Beach with my girlfriends for a few days.  We went to Forbes Candies to look for souvenirs, and there it sat on the shelf.  Since I will be throwing a "Don't Let Turning 31 Take A Bite Out of You" shark party for my daughter at the beach, it seemed the perfect time to use it.  Of course, since it's SHARK WEEK and we were playing Mahjong  in VA Beach, I had to put it on the serving table.  The ladies loved it.  After the beach, it's going to the office Margarita party to hold shrimp cocktail sauce in the shrimp serving dish.  ( I looked on the box for a manufacturer for you, but there wasn't one.)


I am updating this with the insulation foam shark I finished last night.  This was the left over piece from the Uncle Sam I built for the Fourth of July.  When I blew the shark jpeg up in Print Master, I used 4 x 4 sheets (20 pages) to make him 42" long.  I used the burning wand I bought to make Uncle Sam....only this time....I didn't stand on my porch saying, "I'm melting.  I'm melting."  I painted the sides and back flat black, then used the pattern I'd enlarged to make him.  See the darker blue and gray.  I used Sharpie Paint Pens with water to make the striations.  I am going to put him on a long dowel so that he can go to the beach AND INTO THE OCEAN.
 I found this little guy on Amazon.com after typing in RESIN SHARK HEAD ORNAMENT FOR AN AQUARIUM.  It was only $9.  It might be too small.  He's pretty much useless unless I am putting him in a small platter of shrimp.    Update:  I found the large plastic shark head from www.agiftcorp.com  at a Forbes Candies in Virginia Beach for $24.  




                 Below is one of the shark fun foam photo op masks I am making.



 Since Bethany Beach, Delaware is close enough for her friends to come over for the weekend (some stay all week with the family), beach themed parties are fun.
Last year's theme was a sailor theme, because she was saluting her twenties goodbye.    Anyway.... her friends like to take lots of photos...and play games.  So, I am making up some shark fun foam props.  You peek through the shark's mouth.  I have also make up a pattern in blue, but I haven't glued it together so that I can trace it onto the foam.
I haven't decided whether to keep it two-toned or just one color.  Below is a picture of the two most used items at the beach.  I found the first one, the orange lidded jar and straw at Costco and Target.  I bought as many different colors as I could find.  Every day, the family and friends grabbed one and filled it with their beverage of choice and took it down to the beach.  I bought the handled buckets to bring lunches down to the ocean.  One day, though, we floated one in the baby pool the house had and tossed the squirt sharks below into it for a game.  Everyone liked that.  We were chased from the beach a couple of days due to vicious biting flies.  A neighbor told us they came 5 times a year with a westerly wind.  So the game came in handy.



I ordered two dozen of these on Amazon.com to play "shark pong" on the deck of the beach house.  It's played like beer pong, but with sharks.  I'll bet you figured that out.  I bought these fabulous plastic handled  mason mugs.  We can use those as targets.

I am also building one of my insulation foam sharks with my new burning tool.  I made a sample with the fun foam glued onto it.  Then I soaked it thoroughly with the hose on my deck.  I wanted to see if it was semi waterproof.  I'm thinking since it's big, it might end up in the ocean for some photo ops.  If you'd like to see last year's beach prop, go see Sailor Boy Prop here.




The birthday girl is in the middle.  They loved the shark hats.
Shark Placemat I Made

If you want to make a shark cake, look me up as FunJani on Pinterest and go to my shark board.  I am making the cake with two round pans. Update, make sure to have confectionery sugar on hand for egg white frosting.  I used a can.  The family thought it was hysterical and looked like a muppet, but I was disappointed.

So...the next day I put the left over pieces in my large cake pan, frosting and all.  I spread a half gallon of vanilla ice cream on top, then added a meringue topping.  I baked it at 425 degrees for ten minutes.  The kids all watched in amazement as the ice cream did not melt.  This was a big hit.  Below are two pictures to prove that the insulation shark really was waterproof. 




























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