This Crab Shack Birthday theme has crab everything from crab decorations to crab desserts!
From crab decorations to crab desserts this Crab Shack themed birthday party has everything. I love the appetizer and sides ideas to go with a crab feast!

Being a Maryland native, my crab cravings begin when the weather gets here.  Lucky for me that’s when my son’s birthday is so, for his 2nd birthday (when he was still young enough that he didn’t get the whole birthday thing enough to demand a certain theme — oh, how I miss those days) I threw a Crab Shack Birthday Party!

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From crab decorations to crab desserts this Crab Shack themed birthday party has everything. I love the appetizer and sides ideas to go with a crab feast!

Kat & I started off by hand-making each and every invitation.  I love hand-making invitations, but it is only realistic if it’s a small party.  Handmade invitations just look better than anything you can print out or buy.  Layering different paper, material and embellishments make them one-of-a-kind.

For our table backdrop we made custom wooden signs . I purchased the wood plaques from A.C Moore and we stained the plaques with a tea solution (tutorial below).  Kat used the Silhouette Cameo to cut out different crab shapes in red and teal glitter paper, and I had fun giving each of them a set of googlie eyes.  We scattered those crabs throughout the house as fun decorations.

For the favors I ordered personalized crab mallets from J.O. Spice Company Inc. . I made sure to order enough that everyone could take one home and we could use them for the crab feast at the party!  We attached the favor mallets to crab shaped sugar cookies we made.  I purchased a kiddie crab pool and crab bushel basket to add to the decor.

How to give your signs a weathered wood look:From crab decorations to crab desserts this Crab Shack themed birthday party has everything. I love the appetizer and sides ideas to go with a crab feast!

Items Needed:

  • White Vinegar
  • Steel Wool
  • Jar
  • Tea Bag
  • Paint Brush

Put a piece of steel wool in to the jar, pour vinegar until steel wool is covered.  Let it sit for 24 hours.  Shaking it occasionally.  Make some tea, after it cools, paint the wood with the tea water. After it dries, apply a light coat of the steel wool vinegar water.  Don’t now over apply, the vinegar water will get dark quickly.  Be patient and only apply one coat at a time and let it dry before applying more.

Now on to the best part, the FOOD!

I love a good crab feast. Maryland blue crabs are my favorite and I’ve got a bunch of ideas for sides to serve with your crabs!

Kat had been eyeing a pin on Pinterest of a watermelon shark and was determined to do it.  I was pretty impressed with the results :). Since we were having steamed crabs for the main entree, I kept the rest of the food light. For appetizers we made individual cups of Old Bay Crab Dip with a slice of French bread in each. As sides I made a large cobb salad and tortellini, half of which I dyed blue, with various dressings and sauces.  

For dessert we made blue jello topped with gummy crabs that were made out of red fruit slices and red gumdrops. I also made a Sand Cake that I served in a pail with a shovel to go along the beachy theme.  We kept the smash cake and cupcake simple  and made crab-shaped toppers for them out of candy melts.

From crab decorations to crab desserts this Crab Shack themed birthday party has everything. I love the appetizer and sides ideas to go with a crab feast!

It was a perfect 2nd birthday! Sawyer enjoyed his Crab Shack birthday party and the adults enjoyed eating crabs and drinking beer 🙂 I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

melinda