Aaargh! 'Tis a Pirate Party!

I'm sad that my youngest daughter is no longer into princesses (boo-hoo!). Instead of a typical girly party for a normal little girl turning six, she decided she wanted to have a pirate party. Mostly because she wanted to invite her boyfriends. Ugh. At least it was a theme I could get behind. Who doesn't love talking like a pirate?? Aaargh!

My first go-to when planning a party is Pinterest. If you don't know what Pinterest is, you NEED to check it out. It has become my recipe box among other things, and a great place to gather ideas and websites with tutorials. I found these cute invites for free and printed them on cardstock. Here is the link. They had more printables than just the invites. I also printed off the little sails and flags I used on the orange boats (pictured later).

Overview of the set-up in my living room. When each of the children arrived, we outfitted them in pirate gear (a striped head scarf and eye patch).

The favor bags I found at a local party store. We put in each of them a little jolly roger flag, a bag of Pirate's Booty (my daughter's favorite) and some of the treasure they found at the party. We also tied little foam pirate hats onto them. I found the hats in the Halloween clearance section for cheap.

We had a little photo booth with mustaches, pirate captain hats, and flags. I threw up some cute red and white chevron wrapping paper that I got for Christmas wrapping. It made a great background, but a little bit of a glare plagued the photos. Oh well...totally unnoticeable when there is a cute kid in front.

For an activity, we made pirate spyglasses. I collected and painted some paper towel rolls black, and then added gold duct tape to the rim and middle. The kids got to decorate them with the glitter glue and rhinestones that came with those pirate hats I had tied onto the bags. And how cute is the silver boat?? I found that at a local thrift store for only $5. I didn't have any food I could put in it, but it was so cute I had to use it.

I think they turned out great!

The food. I think it's easier at a party for younger kids to not schedule it around a mealtime. We decided to have the party from 1-3pm, and just served desserts.

This is my attempt at this cake. I made mine smaller because I also made cupcakes, so the idea is there even though I'm no cake decorator (so sloppy!). 

Also made these cute jello cups...pretty straight-forward so I won't insult your intelligence with a link to the tutorial. Well, I guess I should give credit to the site I got the idea from.

The cupcakes. Despite my lack of cake decorating skills, you get the idea. The kids were just thrilled that they had swords on them. Their polka-dot head scarves are made from fruit rolls. I found this idea here.

For decor, we skipped the balloons and just had a banner. I made the pirate flags from a black fat quarter from Walmart ($.97) and some white felt. I had the blue and white striped fabric, and bought a red bandanna. To make the banner, I used fusible interfacing to make the fabric stiff (and so I wouldn't have to finish the cut edges) and then stitched them onto some cute red jute from the craft store.

Had a couple of leftover pieces so I made a mini banner for the front door.

Luckily I acquired this adorable Fisher Price pirate ship (from my little brothers' childhoods), because it came in great when there was down-time between activities. That's a good party tip too. A large group of kids can get destructive without something to do! So pull out a couple of toys, maybe that go with your theme to keep 'em busy. 

So for one of the activities we knew we wanted to do a treasure hunt (of course!) but after a week of wonderful 70 degree weather we had a huge snowstorm the day before the party (of course). We moved the treasure hunt indoors and had a friend of ours dress like a pirate and show up accusing my daughter of stealing his ship.

He made the kids walk the plank (aka a kitchen bench)...

then on his way out he conveniently "dropped" his treasure map.

The kids had to decipher my horrible drawing to figure out where the treasure was.

The LOOT! It was found, and it was a good haul. We divided everything evenly among the treat sacks for the kids to take home.

All that was left to do was "blow the man down."

It was a super-fun party to plan, but shiver me timbers, I'm super-exhausted.

Happy party planning!

 Lindsey

Robot Party

Having a robot party for my son's fourth birthday was more my idea than his. When he was a baby I found some cute robot party things on clearance at Target. So they had been sitting around awhile. Luckily, my little guy was on board, and a party theme was born.

We began by looking out for robot parts...saved some boxes and had leftover silver spray paint from a previous project. Purchased some dryer vent thingys (a technical term) from Home Depot, and a few zip ties and hot glue sticks later and we had ourselves a homemade pinata. Also doubled as a cute decoration.

Decided to hang the crepe paper streamers in a new, fun way. I love the way they turned out...so festive.

Also pulled some foil out of the drawer for a table runner.

We had fun making these little robots out of cans we had saved from recycling, and some nuts and bolts I got at the dollar store. I decided to fill the smaller ones with goodies.

Found these cute sippers in the Walmart party section for $.97. I'm telling you: CHECK the Walmart party section! You never know what treasures you will find there. The kids thought they were fun to drink out of, and were so excited to go home with them at the end of the party.

Also, a good tip: try using a cute wrapping paper in place of a tablecloth or plastic cloth at a kids table. Easy clean up! I've even used wrapping paper for runners on larger party tables.

The robot cake. He turned out so cute, and really simple to make. The buttons are M&Ms, Tropical Twizzlers for the antenna and arms, and round chocolate cookies for the wheels. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough cake so I made the #4 cake last-minute.

A glimpse of the cute little robot table runner I made. The flowers are from Sam's club...I always check there first because I know they will be cheap and will last for at least a week. Plus sometimes they have fun colors like blue!

When I choose a theme, I always check to see if there are any cute free printables out there. I found these for the bottles here .

Some photos of the spread. My hubby (the grill master) made hot dogs for the kiddies and tri-tip for the adults (much too good for children). We supplemented with fruit, grilled veggie kabobs, and chips. It was all delicious.

Party success! Birthday boy with the pinata. I have to say though that the homemade pinata didn't work exactly as planned. But the candy came out eventually after a severe beating;)

Happy party planning!

Lindsey

Mary Poppins Practically Perfect Party

My sister's twin girls turned 4, and happily are obsessed with Mary Poppins. We chose to do a fair themed party with other Poppins' tributes.

Here are the birthday girls wearing their Mary Poppins hats.

An overview of the spread. The garland is made of tiny kites.

Food, glorious food! Spend less on decor and splurge on the soda in the cute bottles! It was worth the extra money, and a fun for kids and the adults.

Corn dogs for all! Big and small! We also placed dishes with red candies around, including a tub of red vines. Free, accessible candy puts a party over the top for kids.

Candied apples, just because they are cute. And really simple to make. Here is the recipe. Why do kids go so crazy for food if you put it on a stick?

Is a fair experience complete without popcorn? The note says, "Thanks for 'Poppin' by!" My sister and I are so punny.

Kind of a closer look at the mini-kite garland. This was my favorite decoration, I think. I used red and white scrapbook paper to cut diamond shapes, hot-glued tails of trim, then hot-glued them to the string.

The gold coins are "tuppence." As in "feed the birds. Tuppence a bag." Guess you have to have the movie memorized like we do.

Simple cupcakes, but sometimes simpler is cuter.

For activities, we had chalk sketching and races using cute swim noodle horses my sis fashioned. Wish I had gotten a picture of them! But there's a tutorial if you want to take a gander.

My little guy loved the apples. Even dressed to match the decor. My kids know.

The party was practically perfect in every way, even if I do say so myself!

Happy party planning!
Lindsey

Purple Party

If you ever are undecided about a party theme, just choose a color or two! My daughter Mia turned 10 and this last weekend we threw a purple party (she is obsessed with the color purple for some reason right now).  It was fun to search for purple things and purple activities (my husband and I jokingly thought they should watch The Color Purple but decided it was too heavy for 10 year olds). We decided instead to make purple friendship bracelets and do purple makeup and nails. Some girls really got into the makeover part. Everyone was really happy with the purple candy bar.

The birthday girl and her spread... 

A candy bar turns into fun party favors. I got purple cellophane bags and each attendee filled them with goodies before they left.

Picked up a "Big Top Cupcake" baking set at the thrift shop. We decided last minute to make a "10" out of a lollipop and purple tootsie roll.

If you have to use plastic tablecloth, make it interesting! I just used packing tape and gathered it as I taped it around the table. This is a good tutorial.

Oh, and have you been to Walmart's party section recently? They actually have cute stuff.  I found the purple fans and lanterns for $1 in the clearance area!

Party tip: once you decide on a theme, head to the fabric section at your local thrift store. I picked up this piece of purple fabric I folded into a runner for $1.

We made the streamers from purple plastic tablecloth...a Pinterest idea.

The invites told all of her friends to wear purple. Tucker was sad he didn't have a purple shirt for the party.

  

Sent all of the cuties outside to enjoy their cake and sticky grape soda.

Party success!

Happy party planning!
Lindsey