Pirate Birthday Party

10/10/2013

This year for my son's 4th birthday we went with a Pirate Theme...Arg!
He dressed up as a pirate last Halloween and really enjoyed it so it wasn't a big surprise when he chose this theme. If I was a smart mama, I would have seen this coming and wouldn't have donated his costume earlier in the year...but alas I did! As you know, I try not to spend very much on their parties so I had to come up with some creative ways to make his costume and decorate the house.

Costume

Pirate hats I made myself. Look here for the no sewing required tutorial.
Using a red sheer scarf from the dollar store, I cut off a quarter for the head rags and the rest was used for the belts.
The vest I cut out of a black drop cloth I had. I literally wrapped the fabric around him, chalked an outline of what it should look like, cut it out and hot glued the rope accents on.
The shirt I did with an iron on, a tradition I do for them every year...they love it.
The sword and eye patch were also found in the dollar store.

Pirate Ship on the Seas

This pirate ship was made from one foam core board and the waves were made out of two foam core boards, all from dollar store.
I drew waves, staggered the heights to make two levels and cut them out.
I stood the black board behind the waves once they were cut to determine the bottom, top and width of the ship, drew a ship freehand and cut it out.
The masts were strips of foam board and the sails were made from foam sheets I had left over from the pirate hats.
The masts were secured with wooden skewers and hot glue.
Glued the finished ship to an empty Kiwi Crate box to complete the scene.

Palm Trees Islands

I found a set of collapsible palm trees on clearance that I couldn't pass up.
Problem: They were meant for hanging and I wanted free standing.
Solution: I duct taped two broom sticks together, slipped them into the middle of the tree and placed them in a stack of dumbbells.
Wrapped the base with a beige throw, an old canvas drop cloth covered my urns, added grass left over from a fairy party. Warning signs were made from canvas drop cloth, iron ons and bamboo stakes from the garden.
In the other corner I added some wooden crates I use to store my painting supplies and threw in some "jewels" I purchased at the dollar store.

Walking the Plank

I sketched a shark fin about 6" in height onto foam board and cut it out.
I used that one as a stencil to trace more fins and cut 20 in total.
I broke wooden skewers into about 2" pieces. 1" went into the fin and the other into the ground.
NOTE: Count how many skewers you put into the ground and ensure you pull out the same amount. You don't want to step on a forgotten one.
My husband secured two 1x2's together and stained them a dark brown.
We placed it onto two matching stools and made them walk the plank!

Everything Else

Straw flags were printed on adhesive paper and attached to the paper straws purchased from Omiyage.
Tree netting we had in our gardening supplies was put up on the wall, covered in fishing lures I borrowed from my father-in-law, added a few signs made out of canvas and the serving area was done.
More canvas drop cloth was cut to wrap the beverage bottles, rope and skulls finished them off.
The front of the house was draped in red and white. I used dollar store table cloths, used same white rope to secure them and the flags were Halloween flags also purchased at the dollar store.

There were a few more details that I haven't shown here like mini treasure boxes everywhere with more jewels and chocolate coins, a pirate ship piñata, hidden treasures, fruit skewers, loot bags but from the moment of seeing my son's reaction to having the house decked out for his party...I simply forgot to take pictures of everything else.

Oh well, the important thing is that he loved every bit of it, he had a great day with his family celebrating his 4th birthday and he reminds me of the fun he had that day every time he puts on his pirate hat....which, a month and a half later, is still often :)

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