Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me!

Hey there lovelies! We have had a busy week! My "baby" turned four last Thursday! I can't even believe how quickly four years flew by. I'm sure I'll be saying that every single year from here on out. I feel like life is flying by. It's so hard to grasp how quickly my newborn babies became toddlers and now I have a four year old and a nineteen month old! Just crazy to me!

Teddy is always into something new but has been into pirates for awhile now. I figured that would be the type of party that he would want, so I began to mentally prepare myself. Then with how January began for us, I put party planning on the back burner and wasn't really feeling up to it but I knew we would have to have a party because he had been asking for one for months! So, I woke up one morning realizing I needed to get a move on and start planning. I planned this party in a 2 week period and I am happy to say that it was great and just as I'd hoped it would be. All Teddy asked for was a "jumpy, Chick Fil A and goody bags for his friends." Easy enough, right? I told myself that I wouldn't go overboard this year and for the most part I didn't and it was such an enjoyable day for me as well. I feel like most of the parties, Sean and I are cooking the whole time and we don't get to enjoy anything and by the time it's over, we are just like "Thank God it's over!" Having this party catered was the best idea! Thank you Teddy! We paid extra and had CFA deliver as well and that was even better. Since the party began at 11:30am, our morning was jam-packed and delivery eased a lot of stress! I was exhausted at the end of the day and still am, but it was a great day and fun was had by all! I have gotten emails and texts from some parents saying how much fun they had. Really makes my heart happy to hear this!

We based the theme off of this Teddy lookalike. :) I purchased this pirate wrapping paper at my beloved Paper Source to add to the invitations.

I downloaded a pirate font and went to work! I printed the invites on paper bag colored cover paper.   

Then I stamped and embossed this skull and crossbones stamp on top of each invite. I LOVE how it turned out!!! I burned the edges of each invite to make it look like an old map. I had a couple issues...burnt my toe, got in trouble from Sean for burning in the house, etc! Haha! But, again I LOVE how they turned out, so it was worth it!

I added these little gold stickers that said to dress like a pirate and for parents to plan to stay with their kids. We invited a couple kids from school that I didn't know and I hadn't met their parents so I figured it was better to address that it was NOT a drop off party, just in case anyone thought it was! :) I have heard some crazy stories about people just dropping their kids off and leaving...

One of my plans was the put each rolled up invite into a plastic bottle, but I could only find glass at our local craft store and was out of time to order plastic. I really loved how they turned out, so I'm glad the bottle thing didn't work out! :) We had to hand deliver each invite so it took me a few days to get them to all the places they needed to go! I tied an eye patch (to start off each kid's costume) and a Pirate Teddy to each invite and wrapped with baker's twine.

Next up was the goody bags. I decided to keep it simple and just give each child, gold dablooms(chocolate) and telescopes (Teddy's request). I hate when my kids come home from parties with a bunch of toys that we just end up throwing away, so I try to typically give something that is food (cookies, mouse ears are what I have done in the past) or not junk toys. These telescopes might be considered junk...my kids have had the best time with them though!

 I stamped each bag with my skull stamp or my anchor stamp. I thought they turned out so cute! I thought cotton bags would be perfect for a pirate party and purchased them here. Love how they turned out!

I displayed them in a mini treasure chest that I already had. I have a lot of these little trunks/chests that worked perfectly for this party theme! Teddy handed one goody bag to each of his friends as they left!

 As each child walked in, I had pirate hats for them. I had planned on monogramming each hat with the child's name on it, but we had a lot of people cancel due to sickness, so I decided to scrap that idea at the last minute and not spend the extra time doing it! I had done the little presidents' hats to start with to see if monogramming was even possible, so their hats had their names on them! Reagan's even had a bow!

Here is my cute little pirate all dressed and ready! Love how his outfit turned out! I ordered the shirt and bought black yoga pants in the toddler girls section at Target and just cut them and they turned out perfect! He was so excited about how he looked! Love that! :)

 I made the cupcake toppers. I was planning to use my cricut machine to cut the circles, but it was not working and I didn't have time to figure out the issue, so I ran out and purchased a circle punch and I love it! So fast and easy! Will be using this a ton I am sure! I stamped the toppers with my anchor and skull stamp and embossed them and then hot glued toothpicks to them. Simple! I also ordered the cupcakes from our favorite bakery, which was another huge time saver. I have made them myself for a few parties and this was just easier and less stress than baking and frosting myself!

Besides nuggets, chicken minis(the best things ever! I think I ate 6!) and wraps from CFA, we also had fruit, Pirate's Booty (Of course! We are addicted to this stuff!) and fruit squeezees! Again, I just displayed them in the little chests that I already had!

 I used plain red plates, red and white stripe and black and white napkins and white plastic silverware. Simple and cute! Love these tin buckets! I use them all the time! Red is a common theme around here. I sneak it into a lot of parties! I am pretty positive that I bought them in the dollar bins at Target a few years back...

We set up two long tables outside and I had planned to use cloth tablecloths but saw these striped skull clothes at my precious Target, at the last minute and grabbed them! So easy and cute and all I had to do was wad them up, with all the food and drinks still on them and toss them in the trash! Such an easy clean up and I loved the stripes and skulls!

At the last minute I decided to scrap my idea of decorating with treasure chests and just use the balloon bouquets and gold dablooms, necklackes and extra telescopes! It looked perfect!  Sometimes the best ideas are the one you come up at the last minute! 

Then there was the jumpy! My favorite part! I am obsessed with these things! This size was perfect and I plan to order this exact one for all future parties! Even my own birthday if we have a party! :) Everyone enjoyed it so much! I wish I had it in my yard, every day! I got a horrible burn on my arm from the slide! Teddy got a thumb to the face but other than that it was a crazy blast in that thing! We jumped until it got dark!

 

We love our stripes! :)

Me with the birthday boy! I forgot to take pictures of our drink buckets, but I served beer, Sofia (I am obsessed with these fabulous little pink cans of deliciousness!), water and juice pouches. You need a little beer and champs to get through a kids party. :)

Me with my other pirate! She had the time of her life! :)

Teddy was full of so much joy during the whole party! It was just so sweet! 

I bought a piñata and we ended up not doing it! The jumpy was enough, so I know for next time! :)

 I couldn't be happier with how the party turned out. It is so fun to have a vision and watch it come to life! Seeing the joy in my own kids' and the other kids faces was seriously the best thing ever. My heart is so full from this past week and weekend. Four has been a special birthday. Teddy really understood the concept and we had so much fun celebrating him, for days! :) More to come on how we spent his actual birthday! Hope you all had an amazing weekend! We are so blessed and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to celebrate these precious birthdays. :)

xoxo,

Ashley