That one time we had a pirate party..

This past March we celebrated Maverick's 4th birthday. For the past two years, he had wanted a Disney Cars birthday party--until this year. This year we finally got to change it up.. he told us that he wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirate birthday party. I was thrilled. There is SO much you can do with a pirate themed birthday party! I had never gone all out on any of the kids' parties before, so this would be the first time I would be scouring Pinterest looking for ideas.

Once it was all said and done with, it was more of just a pirate themed party, rather than a Jake and the Neverland Pirate themed party. I dont think he even noticed. He had so much fun--this was the first year that we were able to have his birthday party--or anyone's birthday party--in our backyard (the past two years it had not just rained, but down poured. Having a birthday in March proves to be sketchy weather-wise). I ordered a TON of decorations through orientaltrading.com ...if you have kids and have never heard of this website, you need to go check it out right now (everything is SO cheap!). I bought pirate banners, a treasure chest pinata, plates, napkins, and TONS of toys for the kids to take home. That included swords with eye patches, pirate bandannas, pirate masks, and temporary tattoos. I always love going to kids parties where they have tons of stuff for my kids to take home.. I think its a nice touch. I filled the treasure chest pinata with gold coins, Hershey's Treasures chocolates, miniature telescopes, more tattoos, and assorted candy. The kids loved it. 

We set up the yard before the party. We put up our bounce house (we bought one from bouncehousesnow.com --having two kids and rentals being $90/day, I figured we'd be paying $180 a year for both of the kids' parties--and thats for only two days use! I figured my money would be better spent with buying one that we could use every day). We hung the pirate banner around the back wall of the backyard and around the patio cover, hung the pirate cling decorations on the walls and fence, and hung the pinata from our nectarine tree. I set up the food table and the "treat table" (the table that had all of the fun stuff for the kids) under the patio cover, and that left us with tons of room around the yard to enjoy the party.

For the party favors (as if all of the toys we bought for the kids weren't enough!), I made miniature pirate treasure chests for the kids. I found little wooden boxes at Hobby Lobby and decorated them with a pirate ship flag on top.. then filled each one with lots of gold coins, treasure chest candy, temporary tattoos, play doh, and bubbles. They turned out SO cute.  

Lets get to the food. I had SO much fun doing the food for this party. I grabbed my trifle bowl and filled it with goldfish crackers, I made grape skewers using little pirate sword cocktail toothpicks, and I made pre-made s'mores (take two-quarters of a graham cracker, sandwich marshmallow fluff between them, then dip 3/4 of it in melted chocolate and set on parchment paper.)  Those s'mores were amazing--and they were a huge hit. I also made a 5-layer dip--not because it went with the theme at all, but because I love eating them and they're only made for parties, so I figured I could get away with it. We barbecued hot dogs and  hamburgers because we were just so glad to actually get to grill for a party! Then, lastly, I made little jello pirate ships--and they turned out adorable. I bought clear cups, made blue jello, and filled each cup about 3/4 full. I then cut orange slices, stuck pirate flag toothpicks (bought at Party City) in them, then placed them on top of the jello. The presentation of these were great--I loved how they turned out (and who doesn't like eating jello?!)

...and then there was the cake. We all know that I love baking things and decorating cakes--but I seem to stress out EVERY TIME--wondering if it'll turn out how I'm picturing it in my head. It always does, but I don't think that stress will ever go away. I'm still technically a beginner, but I'm having so much fun learning :). I had thought about Maverick's pirate cake SO much in the weeks leading up to his party. It would be the focal point of the party and it just had to be perfect. I went back and fourth with ideas of how I would decorate it--until I was in Target one day looking at the Jake and the Neverland Pirate toys. I found this pirate ship toy that was perfectly sized to sit right on top of the cake--I knew what I was going to do. The day before the party I baked all four layers of his chocolate cake and started assembling it. It was chocolate cake layered with cream cheese topping, frosted with vanilla (because cream cheese frosting doesn't hold up too well if it isn't refrigerated). Once the layers were stacked and I had my crumb coat on, I gave the perimeter of the cake a nice thick coating, then surrounded it with king-sized Kit Kat bars. It was already starting to look great. I then dyed the remainder of the frosting blue and frosted the top of the cake to make the "water." I frosted it and made waves with it, then placed the pirate ship I had bought from Target on top. It looked adorable. I'm not so great with writing on cakes, so I didn't want to screw it up with a "Happy Birthday Maverick" --he knew the cake was for him. I took a step back and thought that something was missing--sand. I quickly mixed some brown sugar and white sugar together, piped a small circle around the base of the Kit Kats, then spooned the "sugar sand" on around the base of the cake. It looked perfect. I was SO proud of this cake--this was by far the cutest cake I had made, to date. It was a HIT--everyone complimented me on how cute it was and even on how great it tasted (not to toot my own horn, but toot toot!!).

I was so proud of this party, and I think everyone that came had a great time. I decided that I'm going to start planning Madison's party in October so that I have adequate time to make her party equally as cute (her birthday is January 26th--so with all of the Christmas rush, her birthday creeps up pretty fast and I find myself quickly throwing a party together). 

Side note--growing up, once my sisters and I got older, my parents started an "every-other-year" rule: one year we'd get a birthday party, the next year we'd get $50 cash (presents were always included regardless of what year it was). I get it now. Throwing parties is EXPENSIVE! What ever happened to having some cake and ice cream and calling it a day? Now its keeping up with the Joneses ;). Shortly after my parents started implementing this rule, we just chose the $50 instead of parties every year (cause $50 to a kid that doesn't have a job is a TON of money!). But I get it now--maybe once Maverick and Madison are a lot older I'll give them this option.. but until then, I'm going to enjoy the excited looks on their faces when they come downstairs and see the entire house decorated for their party, enjoy the joy on their faces as they play with all of their friends here to celebrate their birthday, and cherish these moments for I know that they won't last forever.