For the mermaid tail balloon garland, I purchased a kit off of Amazon (https://amzn.to/3jJzcDe). I used a weight from the Dollar Tree and balloon string from Target for the vertical garland. You will also need a balloon air pump. I purchased mine off Amazon (https://amzn.to/2VRnhem). For the horizontal garland, I used only the balloon string to connect balloons to one another. To make the garland. You tie two blown up balloons together. Do this again. Twist your two pairs together to make a quad of balloons. Put the string in the middle of the ballon quad. Do figure 8 motions around the balloons with the string to keep in position. I made the garlands a day before, left them in the house, and set them up the day of. When in doubt, watch YouTube videos. I watched tons of videos before deciding on my approach.
For the backdrop. You will need a backdrop frame (https://amzn.to/3lT53E7) and the mermaid scale backdrop (https://amazon.to/2XaY6Us). The backdrop frame is expensive for a first purchase, but I use this every party I have, so it has more than gotten enough use to be worthwhile. I used a rectangle table cloth in carribbean blue from party city and added a table skirt from Amazon (https://amzn.to/3AycwfH).
For my cake stand, I used a plastic, white cake stand from Target. For the Candy, I used clear, plastic containers and silver scoopers from Party City. For the other desserts, I used white, ceramic trays/plates purchased from Home Goods. For dessert plates, I purchased mermaid plates from the Dollar Tree and napkins from Party City. I purchased fishing nets (https://amzn.to/3lVX2y4) and Starfish (https://amzn.to/3lWKSVU) from Amazon to finish off the decor. I bought the blue jelly beans at Party City. I bought the Sour Belts, Rock Candy, and Gummy Sharks on Amazon.
To make this cake, I used one box of white cake mix. I separated that mix in 3 to make 3 layers for my cake. I used a 6 inch cake pan. In between each layer of cake, I used store bought butter cream. Once all the layers were in place, I used the store bought butter cream to cover the entire cake. Then, I made the Wilton Recipe for Buttercream Frosting to make the frosting for my cake. I used dye, which I bought at target, to color half of the frosting blue/green, and half purple. You will do one vertical line at a time. Put a glob of the colors you want in a line. I did 5 globs. Then, use the small cake knife to smear the globs. Continue to do this the entire cake. Once the sides are done, you can do the top. Start on the outside and work your way in with the same technique as the sides. Once your cake is frosted, add a toothpick decoration that says ONE. I purchased mine on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3s7zTKl). As stated about the balloon garland, YouTube is your friend. I watched a lot of videos to learn how to do this. I also did a practice cake that did not turn out as cute for Quincy’s smash cake Photoshoot a week before her party. I advise practicing and learning.l before the special day. If you do not have cake and cupcake decorating supplies like I didn’t, I purchased a starter kit at Michaels.
I used the same type of boxed white cake to make these cupcakes. 1 box made 24 cupcakes. I also used the same Wilton recipe for the buttercream frosting. I used Wilton Chocolate melts for the mermaid tails and molds purchased on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3ABsZ2M). I used mermaid cupcake papers purchased from Amazon (https://amzn.to/3jKQ6RU).
For the sprinkles on these cupcakes, I bought them off of Etsy. To save on sprinkles, only dip the sides of the cupcake in sprinkles because you will not see the middle due to the additional frosting and mermaid tail. Lastly, I used mermaid themed labels I bought on Etsy and card stock to label the desserts. I made the mermaid tailed 3 days before the event and let them in the freezer, baked the cake the day before the event, and frosted and decorated the day of.
For the Chocokate covered Oreos, I used a mold to make them perfectly shaped (https://amzn.to/3xHj1uZ). Put some chocolate in the bottom, then insert the Oreo, and then put chocolate on top. Lastly, put sprinkles on top (https://amzn.to/3ySRacR). Stick them in the freezer for about 15 minutes, and they are done. I stored in ziploc baggies until the event. I made the chocolate Oreos 3 days in advance. One tip: Take them out of the freezer about 30 minutes in advance because they were too frozen to eat when I put them out.
We followed the Rice Krispie box recipe to make these Rice Krispies. To dye them, add the food coloring to the butter marshmallow mixture before putting that mixture on the Rice Krispies. Then, drizzle Wiltons chocolate and sprinkles on top of the Rice Krispies.
To make these, we started 3 days in advance. We made the chocolate seashell pieces (mold: https://amzn.to/3sbMBHH) 3 days in advance, we made the cake balls 2 days in advance, and we put sticks in the cake balls, dipped the cake balls, and decorated them 1 day in advance. I used Wilson’s Candy Melts for the chocolate and Wilton Pearls for the sprinkles. I used a box of white cake. Next, you crumble the cake and use half a can of store bought buttercream. Knead the mixture with your hands until it is solid dough. Make the dough into balls. Then, stick them in the fridge. The next day, dip the sticks in chocolate, then place those sticks in the dough about half to 3/4 of the way. Put those in the fridge for an hour or two. Finally, dip the cake balls in the chocolate and add your decorative pieces. The Wilton Candy Melts make very thick chocolate, so it is very difficult to make a smooth surface. Try your best!
I hope this article helped you see the planning required to create your own dessert table. My wonderful mom helped me with the baking and decorating of the cake pops and Rice Krispies. I made the cake, cupcakes, and Oreos. I also made the balloon arch, and my mom helped me put it up the day of. I definitely suggest having a helper. I absolutely loved this mermaid themed dessert table, and I learned a lot in the process. Hopefully, you learned something too! Thanks for reading!
Ashleigh Marie: Teacher to Mommy 