When my son's third birthday drew near, I debated on what to do. With two kids I barely have any free time and throwing a party is a lot a work. As I thought about this, I started talking to my sister-in-law who was also thinking about an upcoming birthday party for my nephew who was turning four around the same time. As we talked, I randomly suggested that we should just throw a family party together and although we were both kind of joking about it, the more we talked the better the idea sounded. So, in the end that is what we ended up doing: a combined family birthday party for my son's 3rd and nephew's 4th birthday.
When we decided to combine our efforts I suggested an idea that I thought would work well for both boys: Pirates (my son's favorite cartoon is Jake and the Neverland Pirates). My sister-in-law was game and off we went into the land of Pinterest! :)
The Invitation:
First was the invitation. Usually, I love to make my own cards for these types of events, but I have been trying to push myself to simplify my life where possible. I considered making invites but knew it would just stress me out. My SIL suggested evite.com and when I found this invitation, I was in agreement:
The Decorations:
Not only did we go with an emailed invitation, but I also vowed to myself to simplify the decorations. Now my husband would probably not agree that what I ended up with was "simple", but compared to what I had put myself through the previous two years (1st Birthday / 2nd Birthday), this was simple and my Silhouette Cameo was a BIG help!!
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| Photo Props, Crocidiles, Food Cards and Ship Sails |
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| Game Signs & Treasure Maps |
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| The food table with the food cards & photo props |
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| The dining table. I simply used a white table cloth with a brown paper runner. Then we threw on some skull and cross bones I'd cut from my machine, some candy treasures, some treasure map placemats that my sister-in-law had found and other assorted items we had left over from the decorations and treasure boxes. |
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| Behind the table, I used some crinkled brown paper (that was actually in Amazon packages I had gotten earlier in the week for my son's birthday presents) along with some crepe paper and balloons. |
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| To add a little more fun, I typed up a "What Be Yer Birate Name?" sheet and gave some labels for everyone to get their own pirate name for the day. I based the names off a list I found on Pinterest, but rather than using the first letter of our First, Middle and Last names, I did the first and last letter of our first name and first letter of our middle name (because of the 20+ people at the party, there were only about 3 last names total as it was a family party). My pirate name was "Red Thomas Barnacle" and the birthday boys' names were: "Captain Spike Beard" and "Squidlips Jim Tree Gates". |
What Pirate Party is complete without a Treasure Hunt? Since my son is finally at an age that he can really participate in things and understands the idea of a party in the first place, I really wanted to focus the party on making sure the kids had fun. After scouring Pinterest, I came up with six games for the kids to play that I tailored as needed to take the kids on a Neverland journey to their treasure.
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| I designed and printed these treasure maps for the kids to get and use on our journey. |
1. Aw Coconuts!
"Bowl with the coconut and knock down the pins to get your treasure map!"
First we had "Aw Coconuts" to get a treasure map like Cubby.
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| I used some Jake & the Neverland Pirates bowling pins that we already had and centered them between 2x4's to use as bumpers for the coconut (aka bowling ball). Once the kids knocked down the pins, they each got their own treasure map (shown above). |
2. Walk the Plank
"Walk the plank past Tic Toc Croc and his friends if you dare to prove your pirate worth and join the crew!"
Next the kids had to "Walk the Plank" to join the pirate crew. Once they safely made is through the swamp, the kids were given compasses, eye patches and pirate tattoos to officially be part of the crew!
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| Here, the water is a blue tarp and the plank is a 2x4 for the kids to balance on. The crocodile heads I made with my Silhouette Cameo by tracing an online image I found. |
3. Catch of the Day
"When you're part of the crew, you have to pitch in and do your part. Go fishing to get some grub for your journey ahead!"
After the kids walked the plank, they next had to go fishing to get some food (what else, but Goldfish crackers?) for their journey.
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| I came up with this game on my own as I reminisced playing as a kid at my hometown's annual Memorial Day carnival. There was always a fishing game that you always won a prize and it was my favorite (probably because I couldn't lose). For this game, we just hung a sheet across the swing set and then I tied a string and clothes pin to my son's play fishing pole. My brother played the fish and clipped the Goldfish onto the line so the kids could reel them in! |
4. Ring Around the Sword
"Toss a ringer and get your sword!"
Once the kids had their food for the rest of the hunt, we headed to site #4 where the kids just had to get a ring around Jake's Sword to win a[n inflatable] sword of their own!
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| All this game required was a sword and some rings. My sister-in-law found some rings for a water game at Walmart and I found directions to make Jake's Forever Sword online and then just enlarged them. |
5. Pixie Dust Punch
"Find the Pixie Dust to get some Pixie Dust of your very own!"
The second to last stop on our treasure hunt was to get some Pixie Dust like Izzy. The kids each had to punch through one color until they found pixie dust (glitter). Then they were prized with some pixie dust of their own (Pixy Stix).
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| For this game, all the credit goes to my brother. Originally, I had thought that we would put glitter in balloons and have the kids pop them until they found glitter, but my sister-in-law said that a couple of her kids were not fans of popping balloons, so we had to think of something else. I came up with this option instead but was thinking of a much simpler way to build it (simply screwing the cups to a board and covering the tops with tissue paper and a rubber band), but what my brother came up with was much better...although time intensive. It turned out great. |
6. Buried Treasure
"Beat Captain Hook to 'The Spot' and find your buried treasure!"
Finally, the last stop on our journey was at the 'X'..."The Spot" to search for buried treasure!
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| This game was pretty simple to put together as well. We got 5 large bins which my brother filled with leftover sand from their sandbox and then we buried treasure in each one for all five kids to find. For the treasure, each of the kids got a JatNP puzzle and a treasure box filled with one can of play doh, some jewels & jewelry (aka Mardis Gras beads, a candy necklace and candy bracelet, a glow-in-the-dark bracelet and a flashing LED animal ring), some gold doubloons and gold bars and nuggets. |
So now that you know what lay ahead for our little pirates, here are some pictures of them on The Hunt...
1. Aw Coconuts!
2. Walk the Plank
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| Now part of the pirate crew: The kids getting their compasses, eye patches & tattoos. Arrrrr!! |
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| One cute little pirate! |
3. Catch of the Day
4. Ring Around the Sword
5. Pixie Dust Punch
6. Buried Treasure
The dinner included a pretty simple spread of Jewel Salad & Fruit Swords, Octopus Veggies, Cannonballs (cheese puffs), Ocean Jello (blue jello with Swedish fish), Seashell Pasta Salad, Gold Doubloon Mac & Cheese, Jolly Roger Pirate Ships (hamburgers) and Bucky Pirate Ships (brats). For drinks we had Ocean Spray (water) and Jungle Juice (juice-Hugs barrels for the kids/pop-for the adults). Finally for dessert we had Pirate Treasure (assorted pirate-y candies), Nutter Butter Crocodiles, Rice Krispie bars and an awesome Pirate Ship Cake that my SIL decided to take on (& turned out great!).
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| The Jewel Salad and Cannonballs, with the Octupus Veggies and Fruit Swords in the background. |
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| Seashell Pasta Salad, Ocean Jello & Gold Doubloon Mac & Cheese |
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| Bucky & Jolly Roger Pirate Ships |
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| The Cake: All credit goes to my Sister-in-law (I was just going to make some very simple cupcakes)!! It turned out awesome! |
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| Nutter Butter Crocodiles |
The Loot:
Finally, the party ended with a table full of pirate blunder! Thankfully though, these gifts were not stolen, but graciously given to the birthday boys who got quite a haul!
So, that was our Pirate Party and I thought it was pretty great. Of all the parties I've thrown so far, I think this one was my favorite, because it was the first one that was focused less on food and decorations and more on the kids having fun (because my son is finally at an age old enough to appreciate it). Although they threatened rain all day, the rain did hold off at least until all the games were done so we could enjoy the backyard adventure. The rest of the time was spent inside, but we didn't let the rain ruin the day. We had an awesome time visiting, eating and playing, but the best part for me was watching the looks of wonder, excitement and pure joy on my little guy's face as he enjoyed his third birthday party! I love that little man! <3
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