Operation Pirate Party (OPP)

This week my little man turned 4....FOUR!  I still can't believe it.  Last year I was a bit lazy when it came to his birthday, so I decided to make sure to give it 100% this year.  And a pirate party was just the thing.

My house has the open floor plan concept.  So when we throw a party, I like to rearrange all the furniture.  I move the living room furniture into the dining room.  I move the kitchen and dining tables into the living room.  And I move the dining "buffet" into the breakfast area of the kitchen.  It seems to be conducive to large groups...and is just a fun way to change things up.

For our decor, we started with a birthday banner.  Clinton has been learning all his letters and sounds, so he had fun watching me put this together.  He made sure to tell me each letter and it's sound....for several days, as we let the banner hang around for a while.  (Click HERE to see a tutorial for this banner.)

In the living room we had some Pirate Ships for the guests to sit at.  All the kids thought these were so cool.  (Click HERE to see a tutorial for these Pirate Ship tables.)

I Googled "famous pirates", came up with a few names, and Googled those in Google Images.  I printed several of them out and framed them to put around the house.

Our guests got their party favors when they arrived.  In each pirate bag (JoAnn's) we had a bandana to wear as a pirate would, a mardi gras necklace (JoAnn's), a pirate eye patch (JoAnn's), a pirate earring (JoAnn's), a pirate tattoo, and some pirate coins for their pocket.  It took a little while for the kids to warm up, but it wasn't long before the kids started putting on their "costumes".

At the front door we had a "treasure chest" to greet our guests.  This was a wicker basket that was shaped much like a treasure chest.  My Aunt Cathy had it and spray painted it black and added some gold embellishments.  She found a cardboard box that fit inside and sat it into the chest.  She then glued some gold fabric on the top and started filling it with treasures to give it the appearance of overflowing with treasures.  We filled it with mardi gras beads, pirate coins, sea shells, an old net, a wooden parrot, a foam sword, a plastic pirate hook, some eye patches, a picture of a real pirate, and "treasure map" (a sheet of scrapbook paper with the Old World Map print).  She also took about $3 worth of pennies and spray painted them gold.

I did some research about what real pirates ate.  Seeing as they were at sea for prolonged periods, their diets were less than desirable.  They tried to keep as many things on board as they could that had a long shelf life...in those days that included cured meats, crackers (or hard biscuits), and sauerkraut.  I laid these out for the kids to try....they didn't.  It smelled so bad, I had to light candles and cover up the salami with plastic wrap.  I did notice a few of the adults snacking on it.  I tried it...not terrible, not something I would actually serve.

I sat out a pirate puzzle for the kids to play.

And I laid out a pirate memory game for the kids to play.

And what pirate party would be complete without a pirate cake?  This was time consuming to make, but the kids and guests loved it...and appreciated the effort.  (Click HERE to see the cake tutorial.)

For a simpler pirate sweet treat, you could also make the cupcakes we sent to school for his birthday.  (Click HERE to see the tutorial for those.)

And here's my happy pirate wearing his pirate shirt.  Deborah had made him a full pirate costume, but he was too shy to wear it.  We had bought this shirt for his school party, so we got it out and let him wear it for his real party.

Arrrghed out,

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