Sharks are fascinating creatures and make a really sensational party theme! Here’s a round up of the party ideas we love, including shark costumes, craft makes, party games and party food ideas.

Look shark fintastic

There are lots of simple ways for kids to dress up like sharks for a party. The easiest is to sew white material teeth onto the hood of a hooded top, and perhaps a couple of fabric eyes too (you can then remove them after the party!) – pull up the hood for an instant shark head!

Or make a cardboard shark cut out costume, you just need cardboard, scissors, paintbrushes, paint and a pencil. Click here for the instructions. This is also a fun craft to do with the kids at the party! Wooden shark spoons make an exciting party craft session too– all you’ll need are wooden spoons, craft foam, scissors, grey paint and glue, check out it here.

Enjoy shark party games

Here’s three of our favorites:

Feed the shark.

Make a large cardboard cut out of a shark’s head pointing upwards, with an open mouth cut out showing the teeth. Cut out lots of little cardboard fish shapes, painting them different colors, and on each write a letter or a number. You can tailor the game to suit the guests’ ages. For toddlers get each child to take a turn to find the fish with the letter, number or colour you call out – and then pop it into the shark’s mouth! For older kids you can call out several letters to spell out a word. The game is finished when all the fish are used up. You can also use the shark’s head for a beanbag tossing game as well!

Escape the shark jaws.

Take a large cardboard box, one big enough for kids to crawl through, remove the top and bottom flaps and lay it on the floor so it forms an open tunnel. Tape an image, or do a drawing, of a shark with wide open jaws on each side of the tunnel. Pop some music on and get the kids to line up to crawl through the ‘jaws’ (tunnel). Stop the music at random points, kids inside the ‘jaws’ at this point are out the game. Keep on playing until one player, the ‘shark survivor’, is left.

Shark bites.

Like freeze tag, but the player who is ‘it’ is the shark. When the shark ‘bites’ (tags) a player, they must freeze and wait for help. Another player has to tag the frozen player to cure the shark bite. Play continues until any one player has been bitten three times. Upon the third shark bite, that player becomes the shark. Continue until everyone has had a turn being the shark.

1. Metallic Shark Concertina Card 2. Jawsome Tattoos 3. Under The Sea Dinner Plates 4. Shark Platters 5. Giant Shark Balloon 6. Shark Candle
7. Shark Sticker Love Notes (Only available in the US)

Special shark party food

You can really go to town (or should that be to sea?!) with shark related party food. See our favorites below. Also, don’t forget to team the food with shark themed partyware for a real impact - we’ve got a great range of plates, cups and napkins featuring shimmering sharks and fish as well as shark platters.

Lifesaver donuts on shark-infested waters.

On a blue platter spread out powdered donuts, on which you’ve put red icing crosses on to make them look like livesavers, and place gummy sharks ‘swimming’ around them.

Shark marshmallow pops.

All you need are marshmallows, blue candy melts, edible eyes and a black edible writer. Melt the candy melts in the microwave, dunk in the marshmallows (which are placed on the end of wooden skewers, with the sharp ends cut off), stick on the eyes and leave to dry. Add teeth and gill details with the black writer, then stick a paper shark fin on the stick for extra effect. For the full instructions go here.

Shark attack punch.

Make a fruity punch with a reddish tinge to it (add cherryade or cranberry juice) and add in some gummy sharks. Serve in a large glass or clear plastic punch bowl or clear glass/plastic jug so you can see the sharks ‘swimming’ in the ‘blood’. Kids love a bit of gruesome fun!