Tropical Beach Birthday Party

My kids LOVE the beach! I also LOVE the beach! I love that my kids entertain themselves by searching for rocks, sifting for shells, digging holes in the sand, scooping water into buckets, and wading up to their waists (they are still learning to swim). All of this made a beach party location perfect for their 3rd + 5th birthdays! Also, having a newborn, I wanted a comfortable place to snuggle and nurse her… on a lounge chair, under an umbrella, while watching her sister and brother play. Duh!

We obviously don’t have a tropical climate here in Chicago, but why the heck not have a tropical party!? Lake Michigan’s gorgeous water and beaches look like the ocean… minus the sharks, jelly fish, and other scary ocean dwellers. Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know most of these don’t bother you…. mostly.

To make our lake party into a tropical paradise, we rented lounge chairs and umbrellas that are conveniently located at North Ave Beach. We also picked up pre-ordered food and hauled adorable self-curated partyware. Thank goodness we had lots of helpful guests to wrangle our kids and haul food! We kept everything as simple as possible. I learned from a past party with a newborn, that you have to allow lots of snuggle time with your baby otherwise you will be stressing about not being with the baby!

The day of the party we were hit with some chilly weather… could there be anything worse for a beach party (well, yes)!? Luckily, North Ave Beach has lots of entertainment besides swimming. We walked along the Lakefront Trail, rented a double surrey, played in the sand, played ring toss, and (of course) ate lots and lots of cupcakes. It was still one of the best parties I have thrown. The beach has a very relaxing ambiance that exudes on the guests. It also provides so many fun activities for all ages… even in the chilly weather!

FYI – some of these pics were obviously not take the day of. I just loved the tropical backdrop in our neighborhood… it got us all excited for the big day. Also, the awesome leaf float was basically a beach chair during the party. The chilly weather also brought wind making the water too choppy to use it. Luckily, the birthday boy and girl had tried it out a few weeks prior in a pool!