Hunter's 5th Birthday Pirate Party

Hunter only asked for a pirate sword and eye patch for his birthday. He found it in an Oriental Trading magazine. He told me this two days before his actual birthday and so I promised him that we would get them if he wanted to do a pirate friend party. He was thrilled.

I knew I wanted to do the message in a bottle thing for the invitations and was just ready to start on them when I found these! They were cheaper than doing it myself, plastic and came with sand, toys and an eye patch. No contest.


I got some printables from a cute etsy shop. They were my favorite part of the party. It was so much fun to put together! She even personalized them with his name and age and a pirate that looked like him. It was so cute!

When the kids came we sent them to the "loot table" and get a pirate bandana for their head, sword and eye patch (the very same that Hunter coveted).
Now do you see why he fell in LOVE?!

And everyone was all too thrilled to be dressed as a pirate.
This is Hunter's very best friend from preschool. Funny thing is that his older brother was Palmer's best friend.
The girls were such good sports as well. Don't they look cute as pirates?
Our first game was "pass the crocodile," which is sort of like hot potato. We had 17 kids and it was a little crazy, but a lot of fun!
Then we had some yummy lunch. Kids are so easy! They just want sandwiches and chips.
This really is the longest post of all time, but I want to remember every detail. I had a ball planning the party!
This was the funniest. All of the kids kept asking for more "grog". I tried to freeze swedish fish in the ice cubes and it was pointless, you couldn't even see them and then they sunk to the bottom and lost their color. Gross? Yes.


We also had Goldfish crackers that were called "Shark Bait."






I was a little worried about serving lunch, but the kids were awesome!

The pirate captain himself.

We divided the kids up into two teams. One group was the crew of the "Black Pearl" and the other was the crew of the "Flying Dutchman". They each got six ping pong balls and tried to sink the other teams ship. I have to say I LOVE the internet and all of the ideas that it gave me.
The ships I painted. Don't they look seaworthy?


Our last game was walking the plank. The kids had to hold a spoon with a golf ball on it and walk across the plank. I tried to show them how to do it and I COULDN'T! They were all much better than me.




Then it was time for presents. Of course Hunter was pretty pumped about doing that.

Then it was CAKE TIME!

Josh drew a treasure map for the kids to go on a treasure hunt for "Captain Hunter's Treasure". I took this picture a few days after the party and by then it had gotten a grease stain on it. I am POSITIVE that pirate maps had all sorts of stains on them so we are just authentic at our house.
They found the TREASURE!


And it was time for the party to be over. I planned for 1 1/2 hours and I had two things that I didn't even get to. After all of the friends left, the cousins stuck around for the rest of it.
My awesome sister Debby kept McKay occupied for the party (along with her baby). She is pretty much awesome.
So we did our tattoo parlor. The rule was that since church was the next day, they had to pick a spot that their shirts would cover.

The last game was so fun. It is a good thing that we couldn't play it though, because I bought the wrong size of pretzels. You have to have regular sized pretzels for this. You get a hook and they have to transfer as many pretzels as they can in 60 seconds (by hooking them on the hook). Ours didn't work so well, but I am determined to do this game again with my boys and do it the right way.

I actually LOVED planning this part and I think the kids like it. Palmer gets a party this year too. I am already trying to think of things to do!

P.S. Thank you Heather (my awesome sister) for all of your help preparing for the party.  I have the greatest sisters ever!  My parents also came before and helped me.  Thanks guys!