Sweeten Your Day Events

Pirate Party Pt. 2 - Decorations

The decorations were one of the things I was most excited about because I had every table laid out detailed in my mind and I spent so much time making certain things. But there were two things working against me; time (the venue we had reserved fell through and we scrambled at the last minute to find somewhere) and wind. Yes, the wind decided that it wanted to join the party too.
The color palette I went with for the whole party was red, white, and black - classic pirate.
The first table was the dress up table...

As the guests arrived, the kids got to get all dressed up as pirates. They each got a sash, sword, pirate bandanna, eye patch, hook, mustache (if wanted), tattoo, and were given a pirate name. Here is some more pictures of that table:

Then there was the snack table. I was super excited about this, and will go into more detail with that on the next post. I didn't get a straight shot of the whole table but this will give you an idea of what is looked like.

Then there was the beverage table, also not the best picture. I will go into more detail with this table on the next post about all the food.

Then there was the kids table where they got to eat their lunches. I was super excited about this one. I made large sails and a flag to put on the table to make it feel like the kids were sitting at a pirate ship. Then I had a treasure chest at one end of the table with treasure spilling out and down the middle of the table, along with cannon balls and bottles with treasure maps inside. Each setting had a treasure map place matte that had activities on the other side, a red and white striped plate, and a lunch box with their meal inside.

There was also a little cannon with cannon balls that I made sitting at the other end of the table.

I was so sad that the wind kept knocking down the sails and flag despite our best efforts to weigh or tie them down. We ended up just taking them down, but I just loved them so much I had to take a picture of them anyway!

And last there was the party favor table. Each kid got their own little treasure chest filled with a map, tattoos, toy compass, mini telescope, and some pirate gold in a pouch.

There were also some other random decorations that we threw out with the no time we had left, like this pirate birthday banner

But I still have a box of decorations that I wasn't able to get put up, tons of "Beware of Pirates" streamers, a giant pirate skull and crossbones arch that the wind knocked down, pirate flags, and some balloons. ARGH! My OCBD was going crazy!!!

P.S. Most all of the dress up items and party favor boxes and toys were ordered from Oriental Trading or Birthday Express. The birthday banner and table signs were ordered from here.

Pirate Party Pt.1 - Invitations

This year my little boy wanted a Pirate party. I was SO excited! I have had ideas for this party for years, no exaggerating! So I have a TON of photos from this party! I figured the best way to show them would be to break them down. The first post I am doing is the invites, because I loved them so much! Here is a list of what you will need:

Jones soda bottles (all washed and labels peeled off)
medium size corks (I got them at Hobby Lobby)
sand (play sand or any other natural color)
thin rope or thinker twine
invitations
hot glue gun and sticks
funnel (to pour sand in bottle)

After all your bottles are cleaned out and completely dry, pour a bit of sand into the bottom of the bottle. You can do as much or little as you like, I did about a little less than an inch or so. Next roll up your invites super tight so they have room to fit in the mouth of the bottle and tie one end of the rope around it. I wanted to go with a treasure map look for my invites, and found these super adorable ones for sell on etsy here.

Or there are lots of different ways you can make your own. Another way I did for my son's friend party was done by printing the party info onto a tan piece of cardstock in pirate lingo (like "Ahoy Matey" etc.) with some cute pirate font and burned the edges of the paper for a weathered look. Those also turned out pretty cute. Either way, you can't lose!

Anyway, after you tie your invitation squeeze it in the bottle and leave some of the rope hanging out of the top. Cork your bottle. Then wrap the remaining rope around the cork and hot glue it. This is so when your guests pull on the cork, the invitation will come out too, instead of having them try and tip the bottle upside down and pull it out with their fingers.

Ta-da! You now have a super fun and easy invite that your guests will enjoy as it sets the mood for your big pirate adventure!

30th Birthday Party!

My sweet hubby turned the big 3-0 this year. I wanted to do something fun for him, but didn't want to go with the traditional "Over the Hill" idea because I will be there in 2 more years and don't want to think of it as that old either! So I went with a "Trophy Husband" theme, all about him with a fun twist to it!

His birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year, so I decided to throw him a surprise party the Saturday before. It took alot of convincing and some help from the inlaws to get him and the kids out of the house that morning. I didn't have long while he was gone to do much since I also had lunch to prepare for all the family and friends that were coming, so it was pretty simple and basic. We served home made Cafe Rio salads for lunch, one of my husbands favorite meals, and some snacks.
I love dessert tables, so here was my simple one for the party...

I ordered some fun size candy that went with the whole idea of the party for snacks.

Cake and cupcake tower I made (tutorial coming soon).

David's favorite cake is vanilla with chocolate frosting, yummo!

Bobble head David! I had it made for him a couple years ago, just removed the golf club and put a mini trophy in his hand.

I made these cupcake pics for fun with different clip art I found online. I thought they turned out pretty cute.

I hung a frame on the wall with spoof pictures of David caught in the act of doing different things that make him a Trophy Husband (see previous post for details)