Way Back Whens...day

I was reminiscing today with the kids and pulled out their baby books.  In Brady's book, I found his invitation to his 4th birthday party.  Now those of you who know me, know that I'm a sucker for planning kids birthday parties.  So much so that if I wasn't so busy raising my amazing kiddos, I'd be a party planner.  Oh yeah, that's right, I would love to get paid to plan out all the fun little details of a kids party.

So as my Way Back When, I thought I'd share Brady's super cool pirate party ideas (since I won't be hired any time soon).

This is the invitation.  I made the invitations myself and had a blast.  The "map" is a very not to scale map of the general location of our house, with the "X marks the spot" right where our house would be.  Our front door also had a big giant red X taped to it.  Each invite was soaked in tea to give it an aged look, after they dried, the edges were safely burnt and then crumpled for extra measure.  The maps were then rolled up and placed inside a glass bottle (which I sadly don't have a picture of) and hand delivered to each family.

So what does a pirates treasure map lead to? Why, buried treasure of course.  The sand box was the perfect place for all the booty to be hidden.  There were gold coins, bead necklaces and other various hot commodities.  

We had a table set up for decorating your own foam pirate hat.  And if you notice in the picture above, there is a mini bucket and shovel.  Inside the bucket was a special little treat called dirt cake.  A combination of vanilla pudding with crushed vanilla wafers on top to look like sand.  There may have even been a gummy worm hidden deep under the sand.

Of course, no pirate is complete without a bandanna and an eye patch.  And below they got some scars and some facial hair.  And isn't she a scary looking pirate for sure?  All pirates need swords as well, so this fun mom scoured the internet to learn how to make balloon swords. I know, I'm amazing, what can I say?  These little Scallywags had a blast bopping each other with their balloon swords (again, sorry no picture).

The thing the kids remember most about the party (6 years later) that was not only a hit with the pipsqueak pirates but also the aged pirates was the "Pirate Battle of the Booty."  The kids (both big and little) were divided up into two teams with cardboard boats.  Each team was given a bag or more of giant marshmallows.  And that's when all broke loose!  Marshmallows were flying EVERYWHERE.  Eventually the boats were capsized and the cannons continued to fly.  I am certain that all the creatures from the neighborhood were on a sugar high for the next few nights as they scarfed down the marshy madness.

And for the crem de la crem: You can't have a pirate party without a pirate ship cake.  The cake was made with 8" or 9" round pans.  Cut each baked cake circle in half.  Cut a small slice off the rounded portion of the semi-circle so the pirate ship sits flat.  Frost the outside of the cake with chocolate frosting.  Sprinkle the top with crushed vanilla wafers or graham crackers (whichever you choose).  Place rolo candies on the sides of the ship for the cannons and stick candles in them.  Line the top edge of your ship deck with the pirouette cookies.  Add a few milk duds for cannon balls.  If you have some Lego or Playmobile Pirate figures use those as decorations as well.  The sails are simply card stock cut into squares and hole punched at the top and bottom to slide a skewer through.  And Voila! A delectable dessert fit for any pirate!

Oriental Trading is one of my favorite website to shop when party planning.  They are very affordable and have so much to choose from.  Hope you enjoyed my little travel back in time.  I'm in the beginning stages of planning a first birthday party for our youngest hooligan.  Stay tuned for more cuteness.