#PirateParty

My goal for Gideon's birthday party was to have a fun pirate party that had a fun theme, but wasn't super overboard with the theme. You can look all over Pinterest for a ton of ideas, and while cute, they tend to take a lot of time. I wanted to do pirate crafts at his part as well and was worried my house wasn't big enough so ended up doing it at a local pizza place. It wasn't my ideal location but as everywhere else was super expensive to just book a room, at least the price I was paying at the pizza place covered food as well. I would have loved to have done some themed foods but oh well. I did what I could. The room I booked was supposed to be for 35 people but I wish I would have done the bigger room for 50. It was a little too cramped for my comfort as I wanted some more wiggle room for the kiddos, but it did work. Also without hubby there, I had to do it all with a little help from my sister so I didn't get as many pics of the actual projects as I would have liked. So I apologize for the lack of detailed photos.

For the invitation, I took some pirate maps that I ordered from Oriental Trading and created a word document that I printed onto the map. That I crumpled it up, burned the edges, and taped it onto a piece of black cardstock paper. I originally planned on rolling them up but ended up leaving them flat as the cardstock was too thick to roll. They turned out really cute though. I was actually pretty impressed with myself.

Don't burn holes in the middle of the paper. They rip when you crumple. lol.

I asked everyone to dress up in pirate gear if they had it, if not brown/black pants and a white shirt. I had a few people who did that and one little girl who came in an actual pirate outfit. Super cute. But otherwise nobody did. Oh! I made a costume with some stuff from goodwill and some halloween fabric at Joanne's that was 60% off since it isn't halloween. The skirt was not perfect by any means but worked for the costume anyways. My sister also dressed up in her pirate costume from Halloween and some of the kids were a little scared of her. Ha ha. My mom attempted as well.

My attempt at a grumpy pirate face

My sister

I took some of the halloween fabric that I had and cut them into long strips so the kiddos would have pirate sashes. I only think a few actually wore them but they were easy, cheap and cute.

We bought face paint and drew black mustaches on any of the kids that wanted it and also had a pink paint crayon as well so any of the girls could have pink mustaches if they wanted :) My friend Sheila also drew in a pink beard on her face. 

My snooty little pirate :)

To complete the outfit, I ordered pirate hats from Oriental Trading that were really cute. The reviews said they fit the adults as well as the kids but the ones I ordered were a little too tight for an adult. Even though I do think a couple of my friends made it work. I ordered enough for everyone and not everyone wore them so I have an entire package left over, but eh well.

Now for crafts, I went easy. Which was good since I didn't have a ton of room. Also, the majority of the parent's didn't really participate so i'm glad there wasn't anything too difficult. My sister and some of my friends, and a couple parents helped out the kiddos that needed it though. So my advice is to try and have people there to help if possible.

The most popular craft was the treasure chests. I bought some cheap chests at Joanne's (Michael's didn't have cheap ones) and spray painted them gold. I did a mixture of these wooden ones that were the most durable and some thick cardboard ones. The cardboard ones looked the most like an actual treasure chest though so those were the most popular. I then bought some foam  pirate stickers and some sticky rhinestone jewels. HUGE HIT! I mean HUGE. Even the adults wanted to make one. So have lots! Also, make sure you have lots of jewels for them. The kids pretty much covered every square inch that they could with them. I had I believe 300 jewels if not more and between 10 boxes, they used them all! LOL.

I also had a cute parrot craft. I had found two when I was originally looking and the one I really wanted to make was with a toilet paper roll but when it came down to it, I couldn't find the tutorial :/ So instead I went with the easy printable that I found. I got some pretty cardstock to print them out on and bought some feathers at Joanne's. Then used some googly eyes that I had and some tacky glue and let the kids decorate. Then the children needed adult help to cut the parrots out (cut ahead of time, I should have) and then taped them to their shoulders. Make sure to have lots of tape! They turned out pretty cute when the kids wore them. Some of them just took them home as is.

Gideon's parrot lasted while opening all his gifts

I also found some easy pirate sticker sheets that I ordered from Oriental Trading. Nothing fancy but it helped the kids stay occupied until everyone showed up.

For the goody bags, I found a simple drawstring bag tutorial and found some cute pirate fabric and made treasure bags! I've never made a bag before and the fact that i'm still a sewing newbie, I think they turned out cute and were relatively easy. I then filled with some gold coins, colored necklaces, and some other random pirate goodies that I ordered from Oriental Trading.

Pirate Booty!

 I debated long and hard about the cake for the party. I had found some cute ideas on Pinterest but honestly, I was a little worried that I could actually make any of them. And to order a cake from a fancy bakery, is way more then I wanted to spend for a kids party. I ended up going to a local grocery store and found an easy template that they had and then they personalized it for me. I think it turned out really cute and was definitely happy with it. 

He was so cute. Kept his eyes on me the entire time while we sang.

Overall, it was a great party! One of my friend's told me it was the best party she'd been to which of course, really made my day. I hope this helps you in planning your Pirate party!

Trying to get a group photo, posed issues. This was the best I could do

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