Getting ready for a 1st birthday!

We are getting ready for Lucky's 1st birthday! We were planning on a carnival theme in our backyard, but it is way too hot and way too wet with all the rain we've been getting! So we decided on going to the beach and having a beach party. I love different little craft and decorating ideas so if anyone has any for a beach theme please share them!

For Ace's first birthday we did a Crayola theme and I made the cake to look like a box of crayons and everything was crayon related. The kids made crayons, played pin the party hat on the crayon, ate chocolate dipped pretzel crayons, etc.

For his 2nd birthday we did a Home Depot Construction theme. We gave all the kids construction kits, HD aprons, Bob the builder lollipops and I decorated with Tonka trucks filled with dessert "dirt" and brownies, etc.

For his 3rd and 4th birthdays we decided to do the parties at home in our yard and we did a farm theme. We had hayrides, campfires, potato sack races, bobbing for apples and all the old school games. I wrapped candy and glow sticks in bandanas and tied them to the ends of sticks and gave them all cowboy hats.

I try to get the most bang for my buck by making everything myself and buying from really inexpensive companies like oriental trading.

So now with Lucky's birthday right around the corner, I initially felt kinda bad doing the beach theme being that it's so overplayed here in Florida. But the kids all have a blast and we all love the beach so we're doing it. I figure we can have water balloon contests, sandcastle contests and they can each paint their own seashell and make a seashell necklace. We used to have a gift shop before we moved in a very touristy location and now my in-laws still have it so we have as many shells and beach related items as we need.

Here's the cake and cupcakes and totally cool pool pops by Bakerella I plan on making: