Best beach party ideas for kids | FULL PARTY GUIDE
If you are throwing a beach party for your kids’ birthday and are thinking up super fun ideas for games, activities and delicious party food, then you are in the right place!
Whether you have big party guests, or little ones, a beach party is a perfect way to get everyone outdoors, enjoying nature and having a great time at this birthday celebration!
A beach party is a great option for a low-key, all-inclusive party, where any friends are welcome and there are plenty of ways to have fun at little expense!
The rest of this article provides loads of great ideas for beach party themes, party games, beach party activities, beach decorations, beach BBQ ideas, party favour inspiration and some tips about beach party organising logistics!
Theme ideas for a kid’s beach party:
One sweet idea for the beach party is to give it a beach theme! Here are some suggestions as inspiration for how you could do this! As well as being good fun, the theme can be a great way to inform the rest of the decisions about decorations, food and games!
- Tropical island
- Under the Sea Mermaid party (for more mermaid theme ideas check out our mermaid party plan)
- Pirate Party (we also have extra pirate ideas on our pirate party page!)
- Nautical Sailor Theme
Game and activity ideas for an epic beach party:
Here are some great group activities and fun games to play at the beach!
- Sandcastle Building Contest
- Beach Animal Olympics (crab walks, turtle crawls and dolphin leap relay races!)
- Beach Scavenger Hunt (where you have to collect or find a list of items and bring them back as fast as possible!)
- Beach frisbee
- Limbo by the Seaside
- Shell mosaic contest
- Treasure Chest Pinata
- Sand Tic-Tac-Toe
- Tug of war
- Beach Relay Races
- Kite Flying
- Water Bucket Carry Relay
- Shell Painting
- Beach Obstacle Course
- Giant Sand Hopscotch Course
Some other classic party games that you can have great fun playing on a beach:
These are great fun, classic party games for a kid’s birthday and are great to play at the seaside where there is plenty of space and a sandy beach to run on!
- Musical Statues
- Simon Says
- Duck, Duck, Goose
- Sack Race
- Three-Legged Race
- Egg and Spoon Race
- Charades
- Tug of War
- Bean Bag Toss
Beach sport ideas:
An open sandy space is also a fantastic location for a big group sports game, the best way to get everyone involved in play on a hot summer day and to welcome a bit of friendly competition energy to the group!
- Sand Soccer
- Beach Volleyball
- Beach Baseball or Beach Cricket
- Giant group ultimate frisbee
- Football or rugby with giant beach balls
- Beach Badminton
- Beach Bocce Ball
- Sand Bowling
Decoration ideas for an awesome kid’s beach party
While an actual beach doesn’t really need decorating, this is a great opportunity to have some fun and turn a beachy feel into a fun beach party vibe! Beach party decorations is a fun way to add some creativity into your beach-themed party so if you feel like going all out, here are some cute ideas you can try:
- Spread colourful beach towels or sarongs as a giant picnic tablecloth
- Inflatable Palm Trees and Tropical parrots or water creatures like ocotopus, crabs and even shark!
- A DJ booth large speaker set up to create a festive sound atmosphere
- Create a canopy of beach umbrellas or straw parasols for a decorative, shady nook.
- String up bunting or colourful lanterns on umbrella poles. This is a great idea if you want to add colour to a space, without leaving things in the ground to get sandy!
- Set up a tiki bar with fun, tropical drinks soft drinks as part of the decoration..
- Create a beach sign with directions to “The Party Zone” or “Josh’s 12th Birthday”.
- Vibrant, tropical flowers in sturdy vases. These look gorgeous and festive and absolutely stunning on the beach for a summer party vibe.
- Create a cute beach-style photo booth with beach props like sunglasses and hats in a perfect sunset or bright midday sun location. You can use a phone on a tripod with a selfie button for this, it doesn’t have to be high tech but it’s a cute decorations kids can interact with! You could even use a polaroid and string up the pictures once they’ve developed (but make sure it’s in the shade!)
- Use seashell-shaped plates and cups for serving.
- Provide beach blankets or colorful beach mats and giant pillows for seating..
- Create a “message in a bottle” station for guests to leave notes to the birthday child!
- Create a beach bonfire area with logs or beach chairs for guests to sit around
- Display a surfboard with a welcome to the party sign attached.
Awesome ideas for a birthday beach BBQ:
Beach parties go perfectly with hot dogs and slider! But there is also so much barbeque opportunity to cook up an absolute beach feast. If you are inviting whole families to join, why not try cooking some of these amazing beach, meat, sea food and vegetarian barbeque options and salads!
- Grilled Pineapple Skewers
- Coconut Shrimp Skewers
- BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
- Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa
- Grilled Corn on the Cob with Chili Lime Butter
- Beach Burger Sliders
- Grilled Veggie Kabobs
- Watermelon and Feta Salad
- Potato salad
- S’mores Station
- Teriyaki Glazed Salmon Skewers
- Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Balsamic Glaze
- Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings
- Cilantro Lime Grilled Shrimp
- Pesto pasta salad
- BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Grilled Sausages with Onions and Peppers
- Veggie and Halloumi Cheese Skewers
- Teriyaki Pineapple Chicken Burgers
- Avocado and Tomato Bruschetta
Cute ideas for beach themed party favors!
Although party favors aren’t necessary, they are a sweet way to show appreciation for the guests! If you are keen to organise some, here are a few cute ideas that will be genuinely useful presents for the little ones as well as cute gestures of appreciation to the parents. These are all beach themed items
- A mini beach bucket take home gift filled with candy for each party-goer. Beach buckets will be a super useful gift as well as a super cute contained for the party candy.
- A personalised beach hat for every attendee! This is a fabulous present! You can find these online and although they are inexpensive they will be forever useful and perfect gifts for the beach party theme!
- An inflatable beachball! This is another party favor that hits the next level for fun, practicality and festiveness! Particularly if these gifts are given towards the end of the party, kids can have a great time playing with them before they go and they are so fun and bright!
- A san toy set, like a bucket and spade
- A message in a bottle kit! (make sure these are eco friendly versions)
- Beach grass skirts
- A tropical ocean theme fruit basket with coconut macaroons and coconut dusted chocolate treats hidden among exotic fresh fruit.
- A beach hula hoop for each guests. These could be great as a fun thing to play during the party and then a perfect take home present that will lead to hours of fun!
Logistics for a beach party!
Whether you can park up on the beach or need to walk a little way, you will likely have a lot to carry and get in place what with all the food, decorations, party games and equipment and regular beach essentials like towels, sun cream and what ever else. So we recommend beach trailers as a perfect way to do this. They are like little buggies you can fit a lot into and wheel on the sand. Part this up with giant cooler boxes and buy freezer packs which can be frozen in advance to keep the boxes cool and fresh!
One clever idea of you are having lots of guests at the party is to ask each family to bring a cooler box filled with pre-frozen ice or ice packs. Having these as extras will be essential if you’re keeping lots of drinks cool or are wanting to offer ice cream to the kids!
Another clever idea, is to keep food items on raised tables and sand-free mats to keep things sand free.
Make sure to scout out the best place to set up in advance. If it’s hot it will be somewhere shady, if its cold, maybe somewhere with a bit of wind shelter. Spending a bit of time selection your space will make the whole event much easier.
Goodluck!
We hope you’ve been inspired by some of these beach birthday party ideas and that your mind is racing with some of the beach games. beach activities, decorations, and food ideas that you’d like to use in your party planning!
The most important thing about this beach themed birthday party is that your little birthday child have a super good time with all their friends, and that the atmosphere is high and excited (without stress!)
Do whatever it takes to manage this is as simple a way as possible to help with that!
Summertime beach parties as so much fun, best of luck with the planning and congratulations on this age milestone for your little one!
Best of luck, Zoe x
