Aarrgh! Pirate Party!

After much deliberation, Eliza finally decided on a pirate party for her birthday. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased that she wanted a pirate party instead of something princess-y! I don't really know where the pirate came from, or what she really thinks pirates are, but it was a fun theme to play with. We had lots of fun food, with fantastic theme-y, punny names. Plus a giant cardboard pirate ship, a few fun games, costumes, tattoos, pirate gold, and lots of general shenanigans. I don't think I really took enough pictures to capture the fun, but there are a few.

We started the party off with the opportunity to make your own pirate flag or get a tattoo. Eliza really liked the tattoos (which were very pirate-y like teddy bears, ponies, rainbows and the like!) and ended up with 5 at the end of the day. Make a pirate flag wasn't too popular, even though I had special pirate foam stickers for the occasion! A few people stuck the stickers onto the foam pirate hats we had for everybody to wear if they wanted. People also tended to pass on the mustaches, even after I promised them extra cake!

Then we moved into organized games. First up, pin the patch on the pirate. Eliza got it perfect on her very first try! Next up was musical islands - sort of like musical chairs, except we spread out pieces of cardboard on the lawn as "islands" and had a shark swimming around to "eat" whoever didn't have an island when the music stopped.

Finally, we brought the kids back inside to start off our pirate treasure hunt! I had taken pictures to use as clues of various hiding places to take the kids around the house and all over the yard looking for treasure. We had about 8 clues in all. I included a few of the pictures here - can you tell where they were supposed to look? The prize was a box with candy bracelets inside!

clue #1

clue #4

final clue - can you tell where the treasure box was?

After all that pirate-y fun, it was time for snacks. We had a fun assortment of treats, that were all pretty easy to put together. The only tricky parts were the shark and the treasure box cake! We did do jello again, but only one color this time.

cake!

shark!

Spanish galleons

can you read the labels? scurvy dogs, fish-n-chips, pirate booty and cannon balls (whoppers)

munching away - we had to swab the deck later!

Captain Eliza and her treasure chest!

After cake and snacks, we headed outside for some free play fun. We had a tent set up in the woods, a giant cardboard pirate ship, jewels hidden in the sandbox, a costume box of pirate props and the hammock. The kids had a blast running around with a basket full of pirate gold (gold spray painted rocks!), stealing the gold from each other.

digging for buried treasure

rocking the boat

flying the jolly roger

We sent all the pirates home with a hat and eye patch (thanks clearance $1 spot target aisle!), gold and jewels, and candy jewelry. Eliza said it was fun but wished there were more "activities!" Not sure what more we could have possibly fit in! But everyone had a good time, and the treasure chest was delicious! Happy 5th birthday Eliza!

Molly walking the plank as we said goodbye to everyone. Love her jaunty eye patch!