A Pirate Parrrrty!

Ace is turning three and to celebrate he requested 'pirates!'  Between The Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland and Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney channel he has become a fan.   I was so excited that he had settled on that theme because I had a lot of fun ideas and with a budget of $40 for decor and activities I got to work.... and the excitement and smile on his face when he woke from nap time was worth all the time, effort, and money.

I started with my table inspiration from here.  I obtained the fabric from Hancock Fabric for a total of $14.  The table cloth I simply folded the 2.5 yards in half and cut down the middle and the pieced the two together and sewed them together. Easy peasy and any fraying of the unfinished edges gave it the rough pirate-y feel.

The bunting was free, I printed them from here on cardstock, cut them out and sewed them onto red ribbon. Ace already owned the pirate hat and eye patch (an early birthday present from his Aunt and Uncle) and I had obtained the shield months ago at Target (not included in the budget.)

The plywood cut outs were $0.50 each at Hobby Lobby and taped nicely to the wall. Wrapping paper ($4) and red, white, and black balloons ($6), also from the Hobby Lobby. The birthday sign and the invitation I created the using Photoshop and Picnik (fonts!) we didn't have many people to invite and knew it would be a small party, but they were still fun to create and free!

Next up was something for the birthday boy and his guest to wear to become pirates!  I spent $2 on black felt and another $4 on the red and white striped that I used to make the bias tape (and the remainder I used to cover the box that the cake sat on)  I found the pattern to make the vests here.  The vests took about 15 minutes each to cut, sew and embellish - very easy.   Creating the bias tape, pinning, and sewing that on took a bit more time, but well worth the pirate look.   Ace loved to wear his and his party guest loved his too once he was home (hehe.)   I also used some of the extra striped fabric and a red fabric that I had to sew up little pirate bags for the treasure hunt.

Next up was putting together the buried treasure activity, an idea I found here.  I used the red bucket that I had with the $3 worth of sand that I purchased at Walmart and began to bury the treasure that I had obtained at the $1 Store: Mardi Gras beads, gold coins, and some of those shaped rubber band bracelets.   If you were keeping track you'll notice that I stayed in my budget (including tax!)

One of my favorite things to do for Ace's birthdays is to make a special cake for him - and I like to make something unique each time - trying out new types of techniques. Here are his first and second birthday cakes.  This year it was a simpler cake but I used the medium of 'candy' to create the design with inspiration coming from here.    I did not set a budget for his birthday cake - but ultimately it was about $25 with a lot of those costs in left overs.  I still have lots of Twizzlers, Twix, and Pirouette cookies left.  Decorating this cake was a bit more complicated now having a second kid.  Loving Husband was out gathering some additional supplies before the party began, Ace was napping, and Mae was not.   So I had to improvise as I was on a schedule.    We made it work.   The final decoration for the pirate cake was some scrapbook stickers of Mickey Mouse as a pirate.   I have to say I love this cake.  :)

With the cake complete, nap time over, and the party about to get started we let Ace come down and survey his birthday party decor.   He was so excited, running around, jumping, and having a great time and saying "Happy Birthday" to all of us.   It was so cute.   He said "Thank you for my birthday, mom!"  It made all the work, effort, and money worth it for watching him be that excited before the party even got started!

Ace's guests arrived and we brought out the pirate ship!  Loving Husband had spent a great deal of time creating a pirate ship for them to play in and what fun they did have.   There was running, screaming, playing - and lots of fun - while the adults made food (or in my case carried M around in the Ergo carrier and took lots of pictures!)

Next up was hunting for buried treasure!  The boys had a good time with minimal interest, they actually enjoyed playing outside with Ace's bike more than anything while they were outdoors.  Later they did enjoy playing with the gold and even fought over some of it and chased each other to get it.  So while it wasn't a very involved aspect of the party it still provided them some entertainment, even if it wasn't the intended kind.  :)

After dinner it was time for the cake!  Having eaten very little of actual dinner Ace was very excited to have 'the fire' and blow out his candles. We grabbed a few pictures of the family and then it was time to sing.  It took him a moment to get the 'blowing' part right, but he did great and blew them all out at once!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ace!

haha their identical expressions crack me up!



Such anticipation!



Make a wish!



Everyone enjoyed some cake and then it was time for presents and then playing with them.   The boys had a good time with the water table that we gave to Ace. 

After some more outdoor playtime with his friend, Ace said thank you and good night to his friends as they left a little before 7pm (at which time we fed Ace some actual food, hehe.)     It was a great 3rd Birthday Party.