Bennett's 5th DIY Pirate Party

Arrrrggghhhh me hearties! We just wrapped up a pretty awesome pirate parrrrrrrty for our little buccaneer. Bennett loves the character "Izzy" from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I love a good theme, and so there you go. A swashbuckling adventure for my favorite (almost)  5 year old

Rob designed these awesome invitations for the party. It's nice having a husband who can create your own invites. He changed Izzy's hair to match my little redheaded pirate.

Then we stuck them in bottles and handed them out to her friends in pre-school. Apparently the messages in a bottle were a big hit.

These were the treasure boxes we handed out when the kids left. They were filled with candy necklaces, gold coins, and other treasures.

We found this treasure chest in our garage and it worked perfectly to hold the party favors. To the left of the chest you can see the bandannas and eye patches. We had one ready for each guest to wear as they entered. But only if they wanted one.

I ordered these awesome wrappers on etsy. They are wrapped around chocolate bars which each guest received in their treasure boxes. The left over wrappers looked great strewn around tables as decorations.

I had several pieces of burlap in my craft box. I painted a huge treasure map on it and put it around our coffee table.

I had some smaller pieces of fabric so I painted another small map to go on our outside table.

This picture doesn't really do it justice but my niece drew a treasure map outside our house and it led to the bid red X on our door. X marked the spot of our party, of course.

One of the games for the kids was to have them walk the (very safe and low to the ground) plank.

We saved paper towel rolls for several weeks before the party. When the guests entered we had them decorate their own "telescope" using crayons and pirate stickers.

My sweet niece putting the finishing touches on the table decorations.

The idea that sparked this whole party! I saw this cake online one day and showed it Bennett. This was seriously 8 months ago. She saw it and loved it and decided then and there that she wanted a pirate/treasure hunt party. My cake didn't look as good as the one online, but I thought it turned out fine.

I made extra cupcakes as well in case we ran out of cake. Pirate themed of course.

Good thing we still had our Captain Hook costume from when we were the Neverland crew for Halloween 2 years ago.

Right before the party started we had a reluctant little pirate.

But he pulled it together in time for the party. Our family unit is ready. Except for the littlest matey who was asleep in her crib.

My parents came from Montgomery for the party as did my sister and her three girls. These folks were ready to celebrate!

My talented hubby did the food labels.

Cheese straws kind of look like bones, right?

I don't know. Just sounded about right.

Naturally.

Meatballs fit perfectly into our pirate theme.

What do y'all think of my sail? I made it using some basic white broadcloth and by tying wooden dowels together with florist wire. I thought it worked great as a backdrop for the cake but I was pretty loopy by this point.

Shot of the kitchen. I made poms again this year instead of using balloons. Much cheaper and I always like the look of homemade touches.

Every party goer received one of the bags to collect their treasure. Each time they completed a task, they were rewarded with gold doubloons.

Waiting for the guests to arrive. I like this shot because you can see the map I painted in the context of the room. I am by no means an artist, but I do like to try to stimulate the creative part of my brain after long days of diapers, time outs, and messes.

A banner I recycled from Bennett's 3rd birthday party. X marked the spot on our back fence for the cannon ball (water balloon) toss.

This pirate ship is from boxcreations.com and we got it half price on Zulily a few months ago. I painted it during episodes of Downton Abbey. I needed something to distract me from the sadness of this season. Geez. But I did love painting this and it was a whole lot easier than the train we built for Will's 2nd birthday a few years ago.

Finally! Time for the party! Here come some little pirates ready for adventure.

As the guests were arriving they began to work on decorating their telescopes.

Brody hard at work.

The finished masterpieces. I don't think they found treasure yet.

The first challenge on hand was to pin the treasure on the map. Once they completed it they got their gold coin in their own pirate bag.

Will wasn't quite sure about his spot.

The birthday girl actually got the closest! Way to go, B!

Challenge #2 was to walk the plank. It was actually really cold outside or we would have done this a lot longer. But I think the kids enjoyed it and they enjoyed collecting another gold coin at the end.

"Izzy" walking the plank.

Challenge #3- climb in the ship and throw a cannonball onto the red X hanging on our fence.

Sheer determination

Carefully aiming.

Leaky cannonballs are pretty exciting

All of the guests after the cannonball toss. Notice the water marks on the fence. Some of them definitely hit the mark. The kids told me later this was their favorite part.

Captain Bennett aboard her ship.

Challenge #4- The kids each received a candy cane or a "hook." The goal was to try to hook three pretzels using only one hand. Once they got three pretzels they received their coin.

Captain Hook kind of distracted from the game.

And for their 5th and final challenge, the kids got to go on a real treasure hunt all over the house and yard. We had clues hidden all over and here we are reading the first clue. You can see the kids holding their bags with their coins in them. They were so cute!

Waiting for their next clue.

And they're off!!!

My niece reading one of the clues to expectant children.

I didn't get a good shot of the end, but the final clue led them to a treasure box that was filled with all sorts of pirate goodies- compasses, pencils, candy, coins, tattoos, etc... each kid got to fill their bag with the final treasure.

Then it was time to dig into the treasure chest cake.

It had kind of fallen by this point, but who cares. It's chocolate and candy, right? Enough said.

Opening presents.

Tinkerbell toys. The best!

How much do I love this little girl? There aren't enough words.

After presents the kids headed upstairs to play in our playroom.

And even the little ones got in on the action.

Some kids continued to play outside. I think it was my son who had the brilliant idea to turn the plank into a see-saw. Smart kid.

Will hugging his sweet friend Macy when she had to go home. His least favorite part of the day.

Bennett with her pal, Brody.

The crew that put the whole thing together. We couldn't have pulled it off without my sister and nieces driving down the night before to help us get ready.

Bennett, I can't believe that you are 5! There are no words to tell you just how loved you are. I hope you had a perrrrrrfect birthday party.