How to Throw a Fin-Tastically Fun Shark Week Party

Shark Week is the perfect excuse to gather your favorite people, turn the kitchen into an ocean of blue, and create a menu that is equal parts silly, spooky, and completely unforgettable.

For our Shark Week party, I went all in with shark-infested drinks, an ocean pizza, a sandy shark attack cake, and even a few unfortunate Barbie doll limbs scattered throughout the food. It was wonderfully ridiculous—and everyone loved it!

A Little Behind-the-Scenes Shark Week Story

Here’s a funny little behind-the-scenes moment that still makes me laugh.

I was out in the garage with a hacksaw, trying to saw the arms and legs off a Barbie for the party decorations. My dad walked in, took one look at what I was doing, said absolutely nothing, and simply handed me a pair of bolt cutters.

“Try these.” He said.

They worked perfectly.

He never even asked why I was dismembering Barbie in the garage—he just helped and carried on. Later that evening, I handed him a bright blue drink with one of those Barbie legs dangling out of it. He looked at it, laughed, and took the drink.

My dad gets me. 😂👏🦈🍹

Set the Scene

Before starting the food, I placed large blow up sharks around the house, added shark napkins, ocean-themed serving trays, striped straws, colorful drink umbrellas, gummy sharks, and plenty of bright blue decorations. You do not need anything fancy. A few inexpensive shark toys and ocean-colored party supplies instantly make the room feel festive.

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Shark Attack Ocean Pizza

This pizza may look slightly terrifying, but it is surprisingly easy to make.

You’ll need:

• Prepared pizza dough

• Pizza sauce

• Shredded mozzarella cheese

• Food-safe blue food coloring

• A clean shark toy for decoration

• Clean plastic doll arms and legs

  
  

Begin by preparing your pizza dough and spreading the sauce over the top.

Place the shredded mozzarella in a bowl and add a small amount of food-safe blue coloring. Toss and stir the cheese until it has a streaky blue-and-white ocean appearance. Spread the blue cheese over part of the pizza, leaving some of the red sauce exposed to resemble the site of a shark attack.

Bake the pizza without the plastic decorations. Once it is completely cooked, place the shark and doll pieces on top for presentation before serving.

The finished pizza looks gloriously dramatic—especially when paired with shark napkins and a bright blue frozen drink.

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"Sandy" Shark Attack Cake

You absolutely do not need to be a professional baker to create this cake. I started with a plain, store-bought cake and transformed it into a miniature shark attack scene.

You’ll need:

• A plain store-bought cake

• Food-safe blue cake-coloring spray

• A tube of blue icing

• Brown sugar

• Chopped strawberries

• A clean shark decoration

• Clean plastic doll pieces

  
  

Spray approximately half of the cake with the blue cake-coloring spray to create the ocean. Use the tube of blue icing to pipe large, curling waves where the water meets the beach.

Cover the remaining portion of the cake with brown sugar to create edible sand.

Add your shark, doll pieces, and chopped strawberries. The strawberries create the perfect dramatic shark attack scene without requiring any fancy decorating skills.

It is wonderfully over-the-top, slightly ridiculous, and exactly what a Shark Week cake should be.

Shark-Infested Blue Jell-O Cups

These little cups are easy to prepare ahead of time and look adorable sitting together on a serving tray.

You’ll need:

• Blue gelatin

• Clear plastic cups

• Gummy sharks

• Teddy Grahams

• Gummy peach rings

• Cocktail umbrellas

  
  

Prepare the blue gelatin according to the package directions and pour it into individual clear cups.

Before the gelatin completely sets, add a gummy shark to each cup so it appears to be swimming through the ocean.

To create a tiny floating beachgoer, place a Teddy Graham inside a gummy peach ring. The peach ring becomes its little inner tube. Place the floating bear on top of the gelatin and finish it with a miniature cocktail umbrella.

I also added small shark-fin toppers to a few of the cups for an extra bite of fun.

Shark Week Frozen Margaritas

No Shark Week party is complete without an icy blue ocean drink.

You’ll need:

• Your favorite frozen margarita mixture

• Blue curaçao

• Gummy sharks

• Striped paper straws

• Cocktail umbrellas

• Clean plastic doll legs for garnish

  
  

Blend your favorite frozen margarita recipe and add blue curaçao until you reach a beautiful tropical-ocean color.

Pour the margaritas into glasses and add gummy sharks so they appear to be swimming through the drink. Finish each glass with a striped straw, a colorful umbrella, and one Barbie-style doll leg draped dramatically over the rim.

The dangling pink high heel really takes the drink from “cute tropical margarita” to “full Shark Week chaos.”

For a family-friendly version, use blue fruit punch, lemonade, or a blue raspberry slushy instead of the margarita mixture.

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A Few Important Food-Safety Tips

Wash and sanitize any toys or plastic decorations before placing them near food. Keep all non-food decorations out of the oven, and remove the plastic pieces before slicing or serving.

Small toys, gummy candies, and plastic accessories can also be choking hazards, so supervise children carefully.

Let the Feeding Frenzy Begin!

The best part of a Shark Week party is that nothing needs to look polished or perfect. The more outrageous, dramatic, and slightly ridiculous it is, the better.

With an ocean-blue pizza, a sandy shark attack cake, gummy-shark Jell-O cups, and frozen margaritas complete with dangling doll legs, you will have everything you need for a party your guests will be talking about long after Shark Week swims away.

Cue the theme music, pour the blue drinks, and let the feeding frenzy begin! 🦈🌊🍹

And when you throw your own Shark Week Party, be sure to tag me in your pictures--I want to see all your fin-tastically fun creations and sharky shenanigans!

Love & SPF,

Sandy ☀️🦈