Boat Birthday Party

Plan a boat birthday party to celebrate an important birthday with family and friends in style! Research local cruise lines and yachts to make an appropriate selection for the boat themed birthday party. The other option is to use a family-owned boat if available. Arrange for food, drinks, cake, entertainment and favors to be served on the boat.

• Food and Drink: Hire a local caterer and bartenders to serve food and drinks throughout the event. Arrange a bar and have the bartender create a signature drink with a sea-worthy theme. Work with the caterer to prepare appetizers, a main course and dessert. Appetizer ideas include shrimp cocktail, mussels, cucumber boats and cheese and crackers. A great idea for the main course is a buffet with seafood. Serve cake and display a dessert table for all the sweet-toothed guests.

• Cake: Boat birthday cakes are perfect for boat themed birthday parties. Purchase a boat birthday cake from your local bakery or make one yourself. Here's how:
  • Bake two vanilla or chocolate rectangular cakes. Once they're cool, frost one cake and place the other on top to create a layer cake (position vertically). Use a knife to cut the cake in the shape of a triangle and round the top point of the triangle. Frost the cake with white frosting and use light brown frosting to create the deck of the boat. Make and shape rice krispy treat mixture to form two rectangles (around 1" x 3" in size). Cover the two rectangles in white fondant frosting and place them on the boat to create a spot for the steering wheel and a bench (place them around 1” away from each other). Add black frosting to the top of the bench and use the same black frosting to create a steering wheel on top of the other fondant-covered rice krispy piece. Use blue fondant frosting to make waves on both sides of the boat. Add the last name of the birthday guy or gal to the side of the boat for a fun touch!

• Entertainment: Hire a band for the evening to entertain the guests on the birthday party boat. Ask the band to formally introduce the guest-of-honor, along with immediate family members at the beginning of the evening. Base the party music playlist around the likes of both the guests and guest-of-honor.

• Favors: Send party guests home with boat themed birthday party favors. Hire a photographer and have them take a picture of each guest or couple with a life preserver that says, “(NAME)'s 30th Birthday on a Boat!” Use the boat and water as the backdrop for the picture. Once the photographer has a snapshot of each guest or couple, print each picture with a portable photo printer and place them in boat themed frames. At the end of the party, meet the party guests at the dock to hand out the favors.

Take advantage of all the flexibility a birthday party on a boat allows and anchors away!