Little Mermaid Dinner Night

For our Disney Dinner this week, we decided to go “Under the Sea” and take inspiration from Disney’s The Little Mermaid!  This Disney film is one of my all-time favorites.  The story features lovable characters, great music, a FANTASTIC villain, and a touching father/daughter storyline.  For our Little Mermaid Dinner, I wanted to incorporate menu items inspired by the sea but keep seafood OFF the menu.  Ariel wouldn’t eat her sea friends, would she?!  So for this week’s Disney Dinner, we set out to immerse ourselves in The Little Mermaid with our “Under the Sea” inspired menu! 

Download a printable version of our Little Mermaid Dinner Night Menu here:

Under the Sea Appetizers

Avocado and Seaweed Hummus

I wanted to start the evening out with a fun appetizer, and I thought it would be neat to incorporate actual seaweed in one of our dishes.  I wasn’t sure how the kids would react to seaweed, so I wanted to pick a recipe that seemed approachable for little ones.  Imagine my excitement when I discovered this recipe for Avocado and Seaweed Hummus from Clean Plates!  I have made hummus before, but never with seaweed!  In all honesty, I’ve never used seaweed before in my cooking, but I was up for the challenge! It was the perfect ingredient to incorporate in our Little Mermaid Dinner. 

It was a little tricky to track down the dried sea lettuce the recipe calls for at my local grocery store, but I was lucky enough to find what I needed on Amazon.  I ordered the Kaneyama Seaweed Flower Salad (20g) which was packaged well, came with great directions, and worked perfectly for the recipe! You can order the same product I did by clicking HERE!

*By clicking affiliate links, I will earn a small commission at no additional charge to you if you click through and make a purchase!

I purchased pita bread to dip in the hummus and used some cookie cutters to create fun sea creature shapes.  This was definitely a unique recipe and I was unsure how the kids would react, but they really enjoyed it!  ESPECIALLY my four-year-old!  She was such a fan, she requested the hummus and leftover pita pockets for lunch over the next couple days.

“Seaweed” Zucchini Noodle Soup

For our next appetizer, I thought it would be fun to play off the seaweed in the hummus.  I decided to make a “Seaweed” Zucchini Noodle Soup with Goldfish Crackers.  You can find my easy crockpot recipe HERE!  The zucchini noodles created a great seaweed effect, and the goldfish crackers looked adorable swimming on top of the soup.  This was also a hit with the kids!  But really, you can’t go wrong when you serve up goldfish crackers with dinner 😉. 

Oceanic Entrée

Ariel’s Stuffed Shells

When considering what to serve up as an entrée, my mind instantly went to SHELLS.  And no, I don’t mean ACTUAL shells you find under the sea.  I’m talking Italian Stuffed Shells!  If you have viewed some of my other recipes on this site, you know I LOVE preparing Italian food and am very proud of my Italian heritage. 

Having never made stuffed shells before, I took to Pinterest to find a recipe I could utilize.  I found this recipe for Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells from Cooking Classy.  For this recipe, you can either prepare your own or purchase jarred marinara sauce.  NEVER buy jarred marinara sauce!!!  It’s soooo easy to make your own and it tastes 1000x better when it’s homemade.  You can find my Great-Grandma’s Classic Italian Marinara recipe HERE!  Trust me, you will FOREVER be changed by this authentic Italian marinara.  Needless to say, these stuffed shells were a hit with the family and definitely fit our Little Mermaid Dinner theme.

Nautical Dessert

Flounder’s Sand Dollar Cookies

For dessert, I wanted to create some cookies that looked like sand dollars you would find on the beach.  I found this Snickerdoodle Cookie recipe from Stuck on Sweet.  You guys…YOU GUYSSSS!!!  This is hands-down, the BEST cookie recipe I have ever made in my life!  These cookies were so soft, they practically melted in your mouth.  Their sweetness was perfectly balanced with the spiciness of the cinnamon.  I will DEFINITELY be making these cookies again in the future…A LOT!  To make these snickerdoodle cookies look like sand dollars, I simply pressed slivered almonds in the tops of the cookies and scored them while they were still warm from the oven to create a sand dollar design.

Life is the Bubbles!

Well, there you have it! The kids seemed to really enjoy our Little Mermaid Dinner menu. Enjoying foods inspired by the movie made our movie night that much more immersive and fun. I’d say our Little Mermaid Dinner was a success!

What dinner menu items would you incorporate into a Little Mermaid theme? Let me know in the comments!

Interested in other Disney Themed Dinners? Check out my Goofy Movie Dinner Night HERE or my Toy Story Pizza Party HERE!

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