Pirate Party Pt.4 - Activities

Before I mention anything else about this party I have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to Black Bird Studios! I never really understood why people have professional photographers take pictures of birthday parties and smaller occasions, but now I do. My husband's sweet cousin is trying to start her own photography biz and she said she would love to come take pics at the party for practice and experience. I was like HECK YA! It was so nice having someone there to do all the pictures while I could host and be with the guests and not have to worry about trying to get a picture here or there. Not only was it a big stress-reliever, but she did an amazing job! She got so many cute pictures of the kids and all the little details! AND there were SO MANY (that is why there blog posts are so long, there was just too many to choose from)! Anyway, thanks so much Jocelyn! You can check out her work here for your own event or family photos.

I had a lot of fun with this party and the games were one of the best parts. I mentioned before that when the kids arrived they got all dressed up with pirate accessories like bandannas, sashes and swords, tattoos, hooks, eye patches, mustaches, and were given a pirate name. I was really excited about the pirate names! I came up with some lists using previous pirate names, nouns, adjectives, and other various pirate words. Then I separated the words into three lists for the first, middle, and last name. I cut up each word and put all the first names in one box, second names in another, and last names (boy & girl names were separated) in another. They each drew one name from each box and then I put them together and wrote them down on little name tags I made from clipart I found online. Here are some of them... Other names that also came up with were Black Plank Dooley, Bilge Beard Helga, Peg Strap Roberta, and Shark Teeth Patty, but my personal favorites were Shifty Breath Harvey, Dead Dog Bertha, and Sea Legs Gertrude. Everyone had a good laugh at their names! I saved the lists so if you ever want to try this for your party, just let me know.
Anyway, after all the kids got dressed up they all started to sword fight. It was so cute watching them play! The next activity was Walk The Plank. The kids played this while poeple were eating and Jack was getting the pirate ship setup. I found some red buckets and a swimming pool at WalMart and had David drill some holes in the bottom of the buckets. Then got some rope and a board from the hardware store. Then tied each end of the board to the bottoms of the buckets with rope.
I painted "walk the plank" on the middle of the board. For the game it was placed over the swimming pool and the kids had to walk over it as fast as they could without falling in. They all had a blast, and by the end they were jumping in! I found this amazing Jack Sparrow character online here, and he was local! So I asked Mason if he wanted Jack to come, he was beside himself! Jack is his favorite, and with his excitement I couldn't refuse (insert wink).
BONUS: He also has a giant pirate ship that he can bring with him that the kids can play on. The ship had a ladder to climb up and a slide off. The ship also had little cannons that had smoke coming out. Here Jack is showing the kids how to properly steer a ship. What can I say, Mason loved it! This guy was great! Never broke character, his language and his mannerisms were spot on! He posed for pictures with all the kids with all those facial expressions. After the kids were all done with the ship, we played the last game called Cannonballs Away. I got some large refrigerator boxes from the hardware store. I turned them inside out and painted them to look like ships. I even let Mason name them, of course he went with Pirate of the Caribbean. I also found black water balloons at a party store. Poor David spent like an hour and a half filling up about 150 of them! The teams were divided boys against girls, and Jack explained the rules. They had to throw cannonballs to try on sink the other team's ship. The first team to sink the other ship won. And away we go! Ship going down... (Oh and do you see Captain Jack hiding behind the tree) And it's sunk! Victory to the girls! The whole game lasted about 5 minutes, but was so worth it.
We had a kids from ages 1 to 11 at the party, but there was a little something there for all of them to enjoy. And what can I say about Jack... he was truly fabulous! Everyone loved him, even all the adults! They all just raved about how great of a job he did! And he was all about the kids, he even sat right next to Mason when he was opening his presents and talked with him about each gift. Again, you can find him online here.
This is him giving his farewell speech about "how this is the day we will always remember as the day...."

Pirate Party Pt. 3 - Food

We served lunch at my son's birthday party. For the adults we just had Costco sandwiches and chips, nothing fancy. But I wanted to do something more fun for the kids and I first saw this idea for a baby blessing that I had the pleasure of making a cake for and she served the lunches in gable boxes. I was able to find some medium size black gable boxes online here . I had a gal that I know make the vinyl words and skull with crossing knife and fork, and I rubbed them on the front of the boxes. They turned out perfect! You can order them or anyting else you can think of from her here. You can order the striped plates here and the treasure map placemates from here. Here is a picture of what was in each of the meals contained. The menu: I love making the food themed, again OCBD! Captain's Cheese Kabobs. They were just cubes of cheese that we put on little sword skewers I found online here. Buried Treasure Pudding. I just took a Snack Pack and topped it off with crushed oreos and a chocolate gold coin. They also had a skeleton spoon that I found online here. Pirate Peanut Butter and Jellyfish Sandwiches. These were just uncrustable sandwiches that I pressed with a pirate toast stamper I found online here. I colored the stamper with an edible marker and pressed it into the sandwich. Put them into little baggies and sealed them with a pirate sticker on the back. This meal was great for kids and they all seemed to enjoy it, especially the puddings!
Now on to the drink table. We decided to just go with water because it was easier, we didn't want parents mad if the kids spilled, and we were going to outside with the heat. I covered the table top with sand, then put jewels, pirate gold, beaded necklaces, bottles with treasure maps, and artificial plants (seaweed) all over the table. I had a big pitcher in the middle of the table that I labeled "Water of the Caribbean" and draped a fish net over and down the rest of the table. I order personalized water bottle labels from the same place I got the invitations online here. They were too cute to pass up. And last was the dessert table... We will start with the cake. I put the cake and some cupcakes on tall acrylic stands to give them some height. I filled the stems of the stands with gold coins to fill in the empty space. The cake was a treasure island with a little fondant pirate boy with a small treasure chest and map. The cake is iced and covered in graham cracker crumbs with a fondant palm tree, blue frosting along the bottom for the water, and a fondant octopus. I also made matching cupcakes. They were also iced and then covered with graham cracker crumbs and topped with chocolate gold coins and little chocolate jewels. Then I took a blue piece of fabric and draped it around the base of the cake stands and down the middle of the table. I made more cupcakes to look like little mini pirate ships and made a "Cupcake Cove". The sails were free printable found here, and the cupcake wrappers I ordered online here. On the left side of the cove I had a plate of sugar cookies made by the fabulous Gina that you can order from here. On the right side of the cove we had a plate of rice crispy treats. I made little fondant treasure maps and attached them with icing. Then there were glass containers of various snacks and candy all over the table that were themed too.
We had Swedish fish... Packages of Pixy Sticks... Pretzels that we dipped in chocolate and covered with white and red sprinkles. Chocolate Whoppers... And there were two treasure chests on either side of the table that we filled with chocolate coins, rolos, and Hershey Gold Nuggets that we called "Buried Treasure". I found these super cute cake pops online here and just had to get them! I knew they wouldn't have turned out as cute if I tried to make them myself. We put them inside the treasure chests poking out of the candy. And I was right! When I got the cake pops I was so impressed! They were larger than I anticipated and the details of the little pirates were SO GOOD! Again, you can find them and many more here. I also had at each end of the table little Kandy Kones that I found online here. The guests could take one and fill them up with candy and munch on throughout the party. I loved the colors, matched the party perfectly, and the little gold pierced edges and jewels on the side - TOO CUTE! Well that about does it for all the details on the food. Stay tuned for the next post on all the games and activities.