Everything about nautical and marine life is fascinating of its own accord. The sea is a mesmerizing world, whatever way you look at it.
If you long to feel the breeze, hear the ocean, or are simply fascinated by things related to the sea, embark on a maritime cruise with your own nautical-themed party. Maritime and naval-themed decorations are always on-trend, so don’t hesitate to add a bit of sea element to your next party.
Here are some great ideas for decorating your home for a nautical theme party:
Entrance Ideas
Set the tone of your party with an impressive, welcoming entrance that can make your guests feel like they’re entering another realm. These are things you might want to do:
- Line the driveway, walkway, or entrance with channel markers like red triangles and green squares.
- Hang blue and white buntings like waves on your fence and porch railings.
- Hang some hanging rope lanterns on the trees.
- Wrap your columns, fence posts, rails, balusters, or tree trunks in fabric strips of white and blue.
- On the walkway to your front door, add planks to wood pallets to build a pier. Lay some blue cellophane underneath to make it look like water.
- Recreate an old-style wharf on your front porch or foyer. Scatter some hay on the floor, and arrange wooden barrels, wood cargo crates, and fisherman nets. This can be a great backdrop for picture-taking.
- Decorate your front door and the entryway with nautical flag banners.
- Hang large “Welcome Aboard” life rings on each side of your front door.
- Write out nautical phrases using rope, and hang them on a fence, wall, or flat-sided.
Wall Decoration Ideas
The wall of your party area must be beautifully decorated, as it will appear as the backdrop of your party. Make photos amazing by decorating your walls beautifully. Enhance your walls according to the theme with these ideas:
- Hang a fishing net decoration on the wall, and decorate with shells, starfish, anchors, buoy floats, crabs, fish, lobsters, glass floats, and other nautical decorations.
- Line the walls with fake ship portholes. Using cardboard, cut out a big circle with a hole on it, then hot glue gun some plastic bottle caps on top as fake bolts. Spray paint the cardboard with gold. Then, cut a wax paper to size and tape it to the back of the circle, then paint the back of the wax paper with thinned blue acrylic paint to make a scene of the ocean.
- Alternatively, you can install a boat window out of an ocean scene poster, then frame it with a poster board painted in metallic gold.
- Build a nautical-themed wreath using a life ring, foam, vines, or captain’s wheel.
- Decorate your wall using a wooden ship’s wheel. It can be a welcome decoration for your home even long after the party is over.
Ceiling Decoration Ideas
Decorating your ceiling can help transform the room. Here are some ideas:
- If you’re using your outdoor pergola for your party, droop ivory or white sheets end to end to resemble ship sails, adding a breezy effect.
- Hang some glass fishing floats on trees and ceilings.
- Line up the ceiling with nautical flag banners.
- Hang some crisscross banners of signal flags and theme-colored pennants.
- Dangle some swirls in navy blue and white, with some red swirls for accent.
- String up some “Welcome Aboard” life rings in different sizes, heights, and colors.
- Hang some white paper lanterns from the ceiling around the party area or directly above the snack table or bar.
- Assemble a captain’s wheel chandelier with some hanging rope lanterns.
Table Decoration Ideas
Don’t forget to decorate your tables according to the theme! You may serve some good food, but the tables need a bit of magic as well. Here are some ideas:
- Coordinate color and details. To make the table look formal, crisp, and neat, use navy blue table covers and bright white plates and decorations. If you’re going for a fresh and casual look, liven up your tables with stripes and nautical details. Add some fresh flowers as decoration. Meanwhile, if you’re going for an emotive feel, add table runners and decorations in red for drama or yellow for cheer, besides the usual white and blue.
- Decorate the table with nautical-themed salt and pepper shakers. You can find ones in the shape of a lighthouse, anchors, sails, or retro glass.
- Tie your utensils or napkins with rope, or use small life preservers as napkin rings.
- Use fishing nets as a table runner, or cover your tables and chair backs with them.
- Place LED candles down the center of the table for added ambient effect.
- Add some flickering tea lights and fairy lights to your table decoration to add some whimsy.
- For place cards and table numbers, you have plenty of options. You can use buoys, paper flags, or pennants on toothpicks, mini sailboats, lighthouses, and wooden frames.
- Float candles in vases filled with water and seashells.
- Customize candle holders with sand, coral, and shells in glass vases.
Centerpiece Decoration Ideas
Your dinner or luncheon tables and the buffet table will look livelier with centerpieces. Adding them as focal points can help induce the feeling of being beside the ocean. Here are some ideas:
- Place a burlap runner in the middle of your dinner table and place seashells, starfishes, and sea glasses.
- Use nautical elements as focal points and centerpieces, such as sailboats, miniature ships, anchors, lighthouses, glass buoys, ropes, and knots.
- When using toy or miniature ships and sailboats as centerpieces, try to keep them afloat with water. It doesn’t mean you need to recreate a “pond” on your table – use blue materials to make the illusion. You and place it on top of blue crinkle paper, blue cellophane, blue sea glass, blue fabric like organza or tulle, or blue flowers like hydrangeas.
- Wrap glass jars, vases, and bottles with burlap, rope, and netting. Decorate it with sand and shells.
- Wrap flower vases with rope or burlap.
- Repurpose galvanized tins, buckets, and wood crates as vases and planters.
- Fill transparent glasses with blue-colored sand, and top them with seashells. Alternatively, you can use blue glasses and fill them with regular-colored sand.
- Fill transparent bottles with water and some blue water beads.