Well, once again, it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted. We have been knee deep in planning our new bathroom (!!!) among other things. Even though Mother’s Day has passed, I thought I’d share what we did for my mom as it is a great theme for any summer party.My mom loves any kind of seafood so we decided to throw a clam boil, Portuguese style of course. I was inspired by a trip to the Christmas Tree Shops with my mom a few weeks before Mother’s Day. They had adorable crab and lobster themed melamine plates, bowls, platters, dipping bowls, etc. My mom thought they were so adorable and thus my idea was born.

We decided to get crabs for the lunch as well and since they, along with a clam boil, can be a bit messy, we thought hosting it outside would be the perfect spot. Here’s Ben before with his “pet” crab. He begged me to keep it, haha!  We ended up having gorgeous weather! To make things easy, I bought a blue plastic tablecloth from Dollar Tree to cover the picnic table. I also bought the crab crackers and utensils there along with some crab flavored potato chips! I used 99¢ metal planters from IKEA at each setting and filled them with a cracker, utensils, corn holders, a paper napkin, crab bib (both from CTS that matched the plates, etc.) and a big cloth napkin that I got at IKEA for 79¢.  Days after I bought the metal buckets, the price increased by $1 so I bought them in the nick of time. Still a great price either way! The buckets were to be used for the crab and clam shells during lunch.

Fussy Benny (seen here enjoying Spaghetti-o’s) decided to shock us by not only trying crab but a clam as well and liking both!

My dad made a lemon meringue pie for dessert. Great way to end the meal!

It was a perfect day for an outdoor Mother’s Day lunch. If you know me, you know how much I love a theme and this party, even though simple, was no exception. I pride myself on being able to do a theme party on a budget. With all said and done (seafood included) this party cost just over $100 (with service for 8). I’d say that was a great deal!

You can follow my Pinterest board here for more seafood party inspiration. Thanks for reading!