Best Beach Party Ideas

Beach parties are the best way to celebrate birthdays, bachelorette celebrations, get-togethers, baby showers, and kid’s parties. In the following sections, we have a complete guide on themes, décor, invitation, activities, and food ideas you may choose from.

1. Beach-Themed Party Ideas For Adults

Ocean-Theme Party: Ocean-themed parties are best for both outdoor and indoor settings. If you have already secured a seaside setting, ask the guests to wear ocean-themed t-shirts and flowy dresses in various shades of blues and greens. You can set the mood with matching décor, food, and music. Beach Luau Party: This Hawaiian-style traditional Luau party is perfect for those who are adventurous and prefer an authentic and elaborate beach party experience. You can make it interesting with tiki torches, live music, bright lights, and hula dance. Luau parties are perfect for evenings. You and your friends can dance and sing along with traditional music and enjoy food cooked by fire pits during this event. Beach Bonfire Party: Bonfires are a great way to spend a fun and quiet time with family and friends. A bonfire beach party is usually accompanied by all-night activities like music, dancing, and singing culminating in a wood-burning event. First, however, make sure to take necessary permits from the local recreation board or book a beach shelter with bonfire pits, tables, and grills.

2. Beach Birthday Party Ideas

Christmas In Summer: If the kids love Christmas, you can plan this party to cherish the memories of the holidays and have fun. The kids and adults can build a sandman (like the snowman) and decorate it with sea-themed ornaments. The Nautical Party: If you are looking forward to celebrating birthdays with close friends and family members in a relaxed setting. This is more like a picnic and is easy to plan with light refreshments, beverages, and nautical-themed party decorations like pillows, fabric banners, and color-coordinated blankets and balloons. The Mermaid-Themed Beach Party: From mermaid-inspired theme cakes, cookies, and décor to sea-inspired dresses, you can let your imagination run wild while planning for this party. This theme is best for someone who is planning for a colorful, fun, and lively event. You may ask the guests to dress up their little ones in mermaid and pirate costumes for extra fun.

3. Beach Bachelorette Party Ideas

The Beach Babes: Book a beach shelter, pick up matching swimsuits or “bride and babes” t-shirts, and head straight to the beach for a fun-filled day before your wedding. You may get some floaties, streamers, and banners and set up photo booth props to make it a fun event. Cocktail On The Beach: This is a great idea for a relaxing yet fun tropical-themed weekend bachelorette bash. You can arrange either for drinking games or keep an array of refreshing cocktails and get the party started. You and your bridesmaid babes can wear vintage heart-shaped personalized sunglasses and play games like Dirty Minds or Bingo. You can also arrange cute personalized gifts for your bridesmaid to make the party memorable. Retro-Inspired Beach Party: Get your ’50s playlist ready and set the scene with movie-inspired or a beach club-inspired décor that includes floats with fun messages, ice cream-colored blankets, and pillows. You may ask your girls to gear up in vintage beach attire and arrange for cocktails in faux coconut shell cups. No matter how much fun you are having, the party is incomplete without food and appetizers. Here are some beach party food ideas you can check out.

Beach Party Food Ideas

  1. Salads And Fresh Fruits If you are health conscious or have kids at the party, salads and fresh fruits are a good option. You can prepare veggie stick bowls with mayo or hummus dips, serve fresh fruits on a stick, and keep fruit and veggie trays arranged in the shape of a sandcastle.
  2. Finger Foods Finger foods are great party appetizers, and once the guests start arriving at the venue, you want them to have something to nibble. You cannot go wrong with appetizers like deviled eggs, bruschetta, chips with guacamole, salsa, prawn or chicken bites, and shrimp flavored popcorns, and chocolate-coated pretzels.
  3. Fish And Chips Fish and chips are an excellent choice for the mains because they are deficient in fat and tasty at the same time. Moreover, you can make them even more delicious by adding sauces such as ketchup or mayonnaise.
  4. Caribbean Fruit Skewers Caribbean fruits skewers are easy to prepare, and they taste like heaven. After all, who doesn’t love sweet-tasting foods? You can cut pineapples, kiwis, bananas, and strawberries into small pieces and then place them on a skewer. You can even add some chocolate sprinkles or miniature marshmallows to give it some flavor.
  5. Tropical ice cream Tropical ice creams are one of the best desserts you can ever have at your beach-themed birthday party. They taste absolutely delicious and look charming. You can use vanilla ice cream as the base and mix different tropical fruits such as mangoes, cherries, strawberries, and blueberries.
  6. Tropical Smoothies Tropical smoothies are a great beverage to serve at any party because they taste like heaven. You can combine different fruits you want and then blend them to make the perfect tropical smoothie. Beach party décor has to be practical as you do not want the breeze to blow away the paper decorations. Check out the ideas we have shared below to get inspired.

Beach Party Decoration Ideas

  1. Keep It Natural You can blend the décor with the seaside venue to keep it as natural as possible. Use sea-inspired décor items like shells, driftwood, rocks, and sea glass.
  2. Beach Balloons Beach balloons are great decoration items and can be used for birthday and bachelorette parties. You can customize them to add quirky and funny messages or match them with the color theme of your event.
  3. Beach Photo Booths Beach-themed photo booths are a great idea because the guests can take the photo prints as keepsakes and a reminder of the time they enjoyed. You may rent or hire photo booths or go the DIY way and use sea-themed party props, tropical flower vines, etc., to create a cozy corner where the guests can click photos and selfies.
  4. Beach-Themed Centerpieces Centerpieces for a beach party are the perfect way of adding some color to the event. To decorate the tables, you can use seashells in a bowl, tropical flowers, candles in beach-themed holders, or miniature palm trees.
  5. Beach-Themed Chairs You can decorate the chairs with beach-themed props and décor items like seashell throw pillows or cushions and beach towels.
  6. Beach-Themed Lanterns You can get beautiful hanging paper lanterns or string lights to add a tropical vibe to your party setting. For birthday and bachelorette parties, you may use sea-inspired patterned lanterns like jellyfish lanterns. If you want to keep it minimal, you may use glass candles with rope wrap and seashell tops. This one is good for small parties and get-togethers. Once you have taken care of the venue, food, and décor, the fun part comes – games and activities. Scroll further to check out fun beach party games ideas.

Games And Activities You May Plan

  1. Fun Games And Activities You can play games like Voyage Around The World (where one person has to travel from one part of the venue to another without getting caught) or Pass-The-Game (where clues are given out to figure out a word or a phrase). You can include water activities like bungee run contests, inflatable slides, and obstacle course races.
  2. Sandcastle Building Contest Both kids and adults can enjoy this game, where the participants get to build sandcastles within a particular time. Ensure that everybody is equipped with the proper gear like shovels, buckets, and wheelbarrows.
  3. Sand Sculpting Contest Sand sculpting contests are more commonly done on beaches with fine sand, so if you’re planning to host one of these events, you better look for a beach that has fine sand. Sculpting is usually done with wet sand as it sticks better.
  4. Beach Frisbee Golf This is a fun blend of traditional frisbee and golf. Set the targets with common items like towels, umbrellas, or paper cups. Divide the teams, and each team gets to aim the frisbee at the targets. Whichever team gets the maximum points wins.
  5. Beach Treasure Hunt This is a great party game for kids. Divide the teams and give each a list of items they need to collect (like shells, driftwood, crabs, feather, etc.). The list can be extensive or short. You can name the items or just leave clues (like “something round” or “something blue”). Once you have planned everything, it is time to work on sending the invitations. You can go DIY and use hand-painted cards that match your party theme and add short and sweet messages for your guests. Here are a few tips you may consider.

Tips To Design The Perfect Beach Party Invitation

Choose The Design: You may use online templates. Look out for designs with a tropical backdrop with lots of greenery. You may use simple ocean backdrops or bright imagery like palm trees, coconuts, watermelon, waves, or a sandy shore. Add Fun Words: Beach parties are all about enjoying the outdoors and having fun. So, let the words reflect that sentiment. You can craft your words around the theme of the party and occasion. Color-Coordinate: It would be better if the color of the invitation matches your venue’s color scheme and party décor. You may even choose to use various shades of blue and green. Mention The Details: Do not forget to mention the venue and timings. Also, if you have a dress code, you can mention that too in the invitation.

What should teens take to the beach? Check out our infographic to find all the necessary details about organizing unique beach parties. Hurry up! Favorite food items, drinks, board games, appropriate dress, and a friend to tag along with are the best options for teens attending a beach party. What should I bring to a beach BBQ? A music system, hats, sunglasses, picnic blankets, and a change of clothes are a few basic things you can take to a beach BBQ. What time is best for a beach party? Summer evenings are perfect for beach parties that can also extend to nights.