Finding Nemo Themed Dinner

This week, we celebrated our favorite fishy friends with a Finding Nemo themed dinner!

With summer in full swing, I decided it was the perfect time to plan a Finding Nemo dinner.  This nautical adventure follows two fish, Marlin and Dory, as they cross the ocean in search of Marlin’s son, Nemo.  Our dinner menu was inspired by the marine life Marlin and Dory encounter on their travels.

As they say in the film, “Fish are friends, not food!”  So, in solidarity with the sentiment, the only fish on our menu were goldfish crackers. 

So, grab your “exit buddy” and don’t forget to “just keep swimming” as we share our Finding Nemo dinner with you!

Shark-Cuterie Board

To kick off our Finding Nemo dinner, I created a “Shark-Cuterie” board featuring some of the characters from the film.

As a tribute to Bruce the shark, I made a shark cheeseball as the centerpiece of our board.  This clever idea came from Delish.  I used poppy seeds, black olives, pepperoni, and Swiss cheese to create the shark face.  I love how he turned out!    

Relaxing in some hummus dip was our red pepper octopus. While Hank the octopus is technically from the sequel, he is one of my favorite characters, so I couldn’t resist including him.

To represent the sea turtles, Crush and Squirt, I used sliced kiwis, green grapes, and slivers of blueberries for the eyes. 

And of course, I had to include Nemo and Dory on our board!  These two required some fancy knife skills on my part.  Nemo was made with sliced cheddar, Swiss cheese, and black olives.  Dory was made with toasted bread, blue cream cheese, blueberries, cantaloupe, and a candy eye.

To round out the board, I used cookie cutters to create starfish and dolphins with sliced watermelon and cantaloupe. 

I absolutely love how our “shark-cuterie” board came out, and it was a big hit with the family!

Fish Are Friends – NOT Sushi!

Our next dish for our Finding Nemo dinner was our Fish Are Friends – NOT Sushi rolls.  I got the recipe for a fish-free sushi from The Weary Chef.  These rolls are made with green tortillas, ham, cheese, and shredded carrots.  I also made yum yum sauce to serve on the side for dipping.

I love this recipe because it was super simple to make, and the rolls looked adorable!  It was a great way to sneak some veggies into the meal, and the kids absolutely loved them. 

Seashell Pasta

Our main entrée for our Finding Nemo dinner was a Seashell Pasta.  I adapted a Pesto Pasta recipe from Damn Delicious to match our underwater theme.  Shell pasta and mozzarella pearls represented seashells and pearls, and each dish was topped with goldfish crackers.

In hindsight, I should have garnished the dish with some fresh basil for a seaweed effect.  It didn’t end up being the prettiest dish, but the pasta was delicious regardless!

Ocean Punch

For a fun beverage for the kids, I made an Ocean Punch using Sprite and Blue Kool Aid.  That’s it!  Super simple, and the kids enjoyed it.  I let them drink out of fancy glasses and used Swedish Fish as a garnish. 

Jell-O Aquariums

For our dessert, I made Jell-O Aquariums to represent the Tank Gang in Finding Nemo.  The aquariums were made with a layer of Nerds, blue Jell-O, and more Swedish Fish. 

I’ll be honest, this was not my first attempt at creating this dessert.  I tried several different tutorials claiming Jell-O will set over the Nerds in the bottom of the glass and that simply wasn’t true.  Rather than have beautiful aquariums, I ended up with muddy, gross, sad aquariums.  Very reminiscent of the filthy aquarium in the dentist’s office!

I do not believe it’s possible for Jell-O to set over the Nerds without them dissolving.  Tutorials instructed me to do this, I tried, and failed – miserably! 

So, this is exactly what I did to avoid that:

To make my Jell-O Aquariums, I used glasses with straight edges that were the exact same shape.  I made my Jell-O in one glass, then once set, transferred it to a separate glass containing the Nerds.

Before transferring the Jell-O, I submerged the edges of each glass in hot water for 30 seconds to loosen the sides.  This way, the Jell-O would easily slide into the other glass with the Nerds.  It worked like a charm! 

From there, I cut slits into the Jell-O where I wanted to place Swedish Fish. 

I’m happy I tried a different method to make our aquariums, because they turned out much prettier this way. 

Just Keep Swimming

I hope you enjoyed swimming along with us while we shared our Finding Nemo dinner.  Is there another themed dinner you’d like to see us create this summer?  Let us know in the comments!

Looking for other themed dinner ideas?  Check out our Jurassic Park Dinner HERE and our Onward Dinner HERE!

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