ideas needed for Little Mermaid-themed dessert

Floating island.

Thanks, all! I ended up making chocolate cupcakes with a really rich cream-cheese chocolate frosting, dyed with blue food coloring, and topped with swedish fish. I'm planning to make crab salad in crab-shaped croissants and also the Brigadeiro--not to watch the movie again, just for fun and deliciousness!

You could make Madeleines for a shell-shaped cookie.

Also, maybe cupcakes with sea-blue frosting and gummy fish on top?

In the movie, a fork is called a "dinglehopper" so maybe it would be fun to make something served on a fork. First thing that comes to mind is a dish of roll mops I had once, which would work also because it's fish. Check out the second to the last photo here:
http://beetgoeson.blogspot.com/2008/06/babbos-birthday.html

Or you could do a one-bite dessert. You could skewer on the tines a mini-pie or brownie bites or truffles or a tiny shortcake, strawberry, and dollop of whipped cream.

Just don't try to brush your hair with the fork after.

In Brazil we have a national favorite on kids parties(but all adults love it too!):"Brigadeiro".Doesn't it look like a sea urchin?All you need is 400g(about a full mug)of sweetened condensed milk,1 tbs of butter,and 1 egg yolk,and 2/3 of a cup of cocoa powder.Mix everything together and stirring non-stop,bring it to a boil.Lower the heat and still stirring cook it until you're able to see the pot's bottom when you cross it with the spoon from side to side.Don't use a pot too small or it may burn,and a wooden spoon works better.As it gets cooler,it gets firmer and then you can butter your hands slightly to roll it on a ball about the size of a cherry tomato(this recipe is enough for 35 or 40 balls).If you want you can add fillings like marraschino cherries,nuts,or green grapes that works great on the white chocolate version but the simple version is already great.Then you roll them on chocolate sprinkles,and lay them on a paper cup.If you want to go with a pearl look,use choped white chocolate isnted of the cocoa powder,and cover them with pearl like sprinkles,or coat them with melted white chocolate or fondant paste and brush some pearled food colorant.For a fancier look,buy some molds in forms of sea shells and fill them two by two with the white version,like a bonbon.Have fun at your party!

Ooh! Half pints idea is very cute! You could make little oyster shell ones...It would be pretty straightforward to pipe meringue into scallop type shape shells, fill two with cream and lemon curd, and squish together... Kind of seaside meringue kisses...

This is only an idea and I haven't tried this out yet, but...

How about making a pavlova shaped like a shell or a crab? The meringue can be piped or sculpted into those shapes and then baked. Then you can top or fill with lemon curd and whipped cream and fruit. I picture a shell filled with lemon curd, then fresh whipped cream, topped with fresh berries.

The hardest part would be trying to shape the meringue, obviously. I haven't met a person yet who didn't like a pavlova.

Hmmmm... How impressive? And how much time do you want to spend? If you're going for fairly quick, then how about a jelly/jello - some champagne in it might give it some bubbles and an adult feel, and a bit of food colouring to get the blue sea colour, and some Swedish fish/any other seaweed/ mermaid-esque confectionery? You could probably make some seaweed out of something from the candy aisle too. If you could find some mermaid cocktail stirrers/toothpick thingies, you could make individual sea jellies, and have a mermaid in each one...

oh, so cute! Thanks! I may actually do the crab salad--we're all fans of crab salad here, and maybe the dessert will be more in the landlubber theme. Thank you!

More cutesy than impressive, but what about a dessert take on these in honor of Sebastian:
http://familyfun.go.com/magazine/familyfun-magazine-archive/familyfun-june-2011/crabby-crabwich-1015540/
Maybe mini croissants with blueberries for eyes, strawberries for claws, skip the legs, and fun filling?