Pirate pARRRty

My little 3 year old had his first friends party. He wanted a pirate party. So I jumped on pintrest and found about a million amazing ideas. However I didn't want to spend a fortune and found myself a little overwhelmed. After figuring it out it all came together and turned out better than I had hoped.

The invitations. I made them, just happened to have butcher paper rolled it up and tied it with some string. I copied them from here. The turned out great! And it didn't cost a thing which is a bonus.

I didn't plan a lot of decorations. I didn't really think the kids would care much...and they didn't. I got balloons an the sail for the sandbox. That was it. The Sail I made from some PVC pipe we had laying around. I cut it, then put it together with some zip ties that I found at the dollar store. The sail is from the dollar store as well. It is a shower curtain and the rings. I hooked them onto the PVC pipe then taped them into place so they wouldn't move. I had some little pieces of PVC pipe that I placed in the bottom of the "sail" to weigh it down. I just folded the bottom up, taped it and then put the PVC pipe in. Voila...our sand box it a boat.

I also wanted to make a plank for the kids to walk and had some wood left over from some projects my husband did. I put two pieces together, laid them on some plastic drawers from our playroom and had them end in our little kid pool.

The cake. It turned out great, the kids, especially the birthday boy LOVED it! I got the idea and how to do it here.

I didn't have anything planned for the kids as we waited for them all to arrive. At the last min I grabbed some paper, markers, and stickers for them to make there own map. It worked well. The kids were entertained while we waited.

The activities for the party were simple. A treasure hunt. Here is the map. At each X they found a piece of there pirate costume. A bandana, telescope, eye patch, tattoo, and a sword. Along the way there was also a few games. Pin the patch on the pirate, eye spy after they found the telescope, and a quick lesson on how to talk like a pirate.

My husband is one in a million! He dressed up as a pirate and he ran the treasure hunt. He looked, talked and acted just like a real pirate. Even my boys didn't recognize him. They all thought he was awesome. Here they are checking the map.

After finding the swords they all took turns walking the plank and jumping into the "never sea"

The swords were hidden in the sandbox and were the last thing to find. The pirate also taught the kids the "rules" of swords. I didn't want the kids to end up fighting and hitting each other.

I had the party last an hour and a half. I had just enough planned. It was perfect. The kids had the time of there life they left happy. A complete success!

Boxes

With 3 little ones we always have boxes around our house, mostly diaper boxes. My boys have always had a blast with boxes. They find it pretty entertaining. I had no idea the fun a child can have with a box until my oldest was about 18 months. There was a diaper box waiting to be thrown out and he climbed in it, and had the time of his life. He brought toys in, read books, he even thought it was fun to eat in it. As he got older he got more creative. He would put a couple of boxes together and make it his train. As a side note we are pretty obsessed with trains here at our house so there will probably be an over abundance of train posts.

After my second son was born I was feeling guilty that I wasn't able to play and spend as much time with my first. So one afternoon while my oldest was taking his nap I took a box that he had been playing in that day and turned it into Thomas.

It took about 30 min. Nothing special. I cut off one of the long sides that folds down to make the top of the box so he could get in and out, taped down the small side to be the front of the train, then taped up the back small side to the side I hadn't cut off. Cut half of the longer side off, made a hole for the window and with the scraps I made the funnel. I covered it all in construction paper, cut out some wheels and added the number one. I don't have any pictures of how I made it as I didn't think I would need any. Just sort of made it on a whim.

He LOVED it! I think that box was around our house for a few months before I finally threw it out.

Here are some pictures of "Thomas" Nothing amazing, but for kids it isn't about that, they don't care if it is perfect, which is a good thing because none of my creations are ever perfect, or come close to it. But my kids love them.  If you look hard you can see I ran out of blue construction paper so the front isn't even all the way covered.

And this was the start of our box creations.