A PiRatE PaRRrtY!

Over the holidays my 3 year old turned 4.  Yes.  A VERY busy time of year for us!  

I have really had to make a point of acknowledging this kid's birthday where it lands itself in the middle of the BiGGesT holiday of the year (4 days before Christmas).  And although it feels hectic and crazy getting it all together, I don't want to ignore his special day.  It's not his fault his parents are stupid and didn't plan ahead!

This year the little man decided on a PiRAtE PaRrrtY. 

So we invited our friends...sent them a message in a bottle (found at Oriental Trading). 

Loved these because they came with the lables and sand.  They also came with the invitation, but I decided to make my own...just so they'd match everything else I was doing.

I even burned the edges of the paper for the full effect...it was a pain, but worth it.

Can I say, there is a ridculous amount of pirate stuff out there to take advantage of.  The kid did make it easy on me in that reguard.  Decorations were easy to find, and I actually had a lot on hand and didn't need to go out and buy a ton of stuff.  I was able to use the fabric banners from our last shindig.

I found somewhere online (can't remember exactly where)  where they had a table set up as you walked in the door with all sorts of pirate garb to get dressed for the occation...so I copied.

Found these printable hats free online...but I can't remember where.  I tried to go back and find them, but couldn't.  I hate it when I do that.  But I loved the girl skullies with the bows!

I found the boys bandanas at Oriental Trading and just used polka dot fabric for the girls.

 I also made a few felt mustaches on sticks.  Which, I was surprised, the girls loved just as well as the boys

For the table I used a bit of burlap down the middle with shredded brown paper and coins and jewels sprinkled everywhere.

The balloons tied to the chairs added a lot to the decor and the kids loved them.

I also used regular old mason jars, filled them with shredded paper and stuck two Jolly Roger flags (Oriental Trading)  in them.

I also found the treasure map place mats and cute little treasure boxes at OT.  The boxes had cute pearl candies inside.

Borrowed the big PirAte ship from our toy room.

I wanted a little back drop for the serving table, so I used a bunch of scrap fabric I had lying around and pinned it to a bulletin board (we had this party at the church...needed the extra room...dang winter birthdays!).  I tried to billow it up so that it looked something like sails on our "ship".  I strung a little rope and hung my piRate prints from them with clothes pins.

I never did get a picture of the serving table all finished but we had the bucket filled with ice and had Squeeze-Its (or Deadman's Punch) to drink.  I made the ship cupcakes and found the awesome sails and cupcake wrappers here.  I think these were my favorite part of the party!  Something about a cute cupcake.

I used this yummy recipe for the chocolate frosting.  Mmmm.

And the favor bags and favors...

The bags were just brown gift bags that I tied a little scrap fabric and burlap onto.  I also tied a name tag and a wooden pirate cutout that I found at Joanns.

Some of the 'TreASuRes' they found along the way.

And finally...the paRrrtY.

We started with a relay game where the kids lined up at opposite ends of the room.  They had to race to 'walk the plank' then 'swab the deck' and push the 'cannon balls' across the deck to their teammate.

We had 12 kids ages 2-5 and most of them were able to handle the game...although pushing those ballons did get a little tricky for some of them.

Next we had a TreASuRe HuNt.  We started with our maps and our favor bags, then set off to find our loot.

My birthday guy showing me his map.

Our hunt lead us around the church to different rooms where we found all sorts of treasures.  I put a 'clue' (picture of each stop on their map) on each door so they would be able to find their way on thier own.

Here they are dashing through the halls...

The map lead them right back to where they started...at the BiG treasure box filled with pirate beach balls and ring pops.

For our last game we had a TreasuRe DiG.  We filled up our big tin buckets with sand (100 lbs each...don't ask me how we got them there!) and buried all kinds of jewels, coins, necklaces and rings. 

Then I gave each kid a card with the number of jewels, etc. they had to find in the buckets and had them dig for their buried treasure...

The FavOriTe game by far.  The boys loved digging in the sand, and the girls lOved the jewles!

The crazy bunch having their cake and ice cream...

The Captain of this ship.

The Capt'n...and everyone else opening presents.

And a little game of PiRate, PirAte, SkuLLy (or duck, duck, goose) 'til the mom's came to pick up thier little mates.

All the mateys and their mustaches.  ArrG.

It was a fun one to put together, and I dare say the kids had a gOod time.