All Eyes On You This Summer With These 6 Boat Party Theme Ideas

Give your boat party on Sydney Harbour that extra edge by making it a themed one! Whether it’s a luxury yacht, casual catamaran party hire or a full blown “we’re going all out!” celebration, having a boat theme party will make your guests mingle faster, bond quicker and have more fun. Plus, by standing out in your costumes you’ll be the talk of the town!

When picking the boat party dress code, think first of the event type. If you are heading out on an EOFY party, having everyone show up in sexy school girl outfits may not go over too well with HR. Next consider the guest list, especially if there’s a guest of honour. If you’re heading on a posh hens boat party, the bride may not enjoy everyone showing up in their favourite animal onesie. These considerations will make sure everyone is comfortable and happy with the boat party dress code. 

Now that you’ve factored in these two considerations, we’ve put together this blog with summer boat theme party ideas. For you to get inspired, or to share with your crew and decide on the boat party theme together. 

Here are our 6 theme suggestions for your party boat hire in Sydney:

1. Let’s Get Nauti!

Ahoy mateys! Grab your sailor hat and let’s party! A nautical or sailor theme party looks great in your pics and is one of the easiest themes to organise for your boat hire. Everyone could bring their own sailor hat or the organiser could pick up a hat for everyone, to make sure all the designs fit nicely together. 

If you have a mixed group on board, bring a marker for a fun way to break the ice. Get everyone to come up with a nickname and write it on their white sailing hat. This will make it easy to strike up a conversation with The Codfather, Buoyoncé or Boaty McBoaterson, if they’ve caught your eye out at sea.

If you’d like to take the nautical theme a bit further, you could introduce a navy, red and white dress code. You could also organise sailor themed party food such as cupcakes in an anchor shape and a blue sangria for your crew to share! 

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2. You had me at Aloha.

The Hawaiian theme is a classic dress code to lock in for your Sydney boat party hire.

It is simple to organise as it’s easy for both men and women to find something tropical to wear. The fellas can pick up a Hawaiian shirt (or fish one out of the closet from that last Bali trip) and the gals can pretty much kit themselves out in anything flowery or colourful. 

Of course, the essential accessory for any Hawaiian Tropical Boat Party is the flower lei. You can pick one up from pretty much any dollar shop around Sydney, and you might get a bit of a deal if you pick one up for everyone in your group.

Besides any lunch / dinner food you’ll bring for the day, organise some boat themed party food such as fresh fruit kebabs and a tropical punch to complete the look.

Your day, your crew, your vibe! As you’re cruising around on your party boat on Sydney Harbour, play your tropical tunes through the boat speaker systems and everyone is guaranteed to have a blast. 

3. It’s Allllwhite!

White boat theme parties are very much on trend at the moment and are popular as a chic option for hens and birthday or Christmas and NYE party boat hire. The white party theme is even being embraced at engagement parties, where the bride (to be) and guests all shine bright in white!

It’s also an easy boat party theme to organise. Everyone has a white shirt or dress laying in the closet somewhere!

Besides a white dress code, it’s easy to organise white food for your party boat hire. You can turn any cake into a white cake by using white icing at the top, you could serve white candy and make snowflake martinis.

Save the turtle tip: even though white balloons look amazing as cruise theme decorations, please don’t bring them as we wouldn’t want to see them end up in the water.

4. Whatever floats your boat.

It’s summer, it’s hot and you want your pics to sizzle! Then all you need is your mates, some inflatables and you’re good to go to have an epic floaties boat theme party!

To get ready to throw one epic summer bash, you’d want to get colourful. Bring flamingos, watermelon, strawberry and palm tree floats as cruise theme decorations and get the party started. You can lounge on them on the bow of the boat, but even more fun to take them into the water. We’ll let the captain know of your boat party theme so they will take you to a good spot for a float and swim.

Are you ready to take your floaties boat theme party to the next level? Get everyone to get fruit floaties. Make sangria, and bring some real watermelon and pineapples to fully connect the vibe. Going all out? Some of our favourite floaties can be found here).

Pro tip: Bring an electric pump. You best inflate the floaties on the boat so you save yourself from riding the train and cruising the city of Sydney carrying your giant pink flamingo and golden-horned unicorn. 

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5. Don’t worry, be hippy!

The 60’s are still a popular era for fancy dress! A hippy 60’s themed boat party with its Flower Power vibe puts people in a great mood. And with all this love in the air, your Sydney boat party will be a great success. 

The Hippy boat party theme is mostly popular for hens and birthdays. It’s fun and easy to kit yourself out in the iconic hippy gear. You can go to a fancy dress shop and pick up a traditional hippy fancy dress costume, or you can create your own. Why not visit your local second hand shop or Vinnies, you’ll be surprised how much 60’s gear is available there!

With this boat party theme, accessorising is key. Wear a headband with silk flowers attached, pick up some massive dangly earrings and smother yourself in strings of beads.

6. Go Bananas!

Go bananas! Just imagine how much fun the group in this photo had on their banana themed boat party! 

Some of our bucks and hens party groups like to theme their boat party and dress out of the box. So have we seen a group of Umpa Lumpas, Superheroes and Villains, the animals on Noahs Ark and a boat full of Where is Waldos. 

When you decide to go overboard (see what we did there 😉) with the costumes for your party boat hire, make sure that your crew is comfortable with this. For some people fancy dress is super fun, an opportunity to let their hair down and enjoy being silly. For others fancy dress is a bit of a nightmare, and they feel silly and embarrassed dressed up.

If your group is a bit hesitant to go bananas, maybe suggest one of the easier themes such as a nautical themed boat party or Hawaiian Tropical themed boat party. 

Have you decided on the theme for your Private Cruise on Sydney Harbour?

A Sydney Harbour boat party theme will add that little extra to your experience. Just imagine the photos you and the crew will be looking back on! Whether you choose to look sexy, funny or classy, a themed party is the way to go! The biggest thing about a good boat theme is to have fun with it.

Picked your theme but not your boat yet? We have helped plan all sorts of boat parties and we would love to help you plan yours. Whether it’s a birthday, friends gettogether, hens, bucks, engagement or corporate cruise, we’ll organise a boat to match your experience!

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