::it's time for the Pirate Party::

I AM SO EXCITED!!

It's time to get rolling on the Pirate Party.

The kids don't get huge parties until they are school age.  But since Max and Q's birthdays are only two days apart I am throwing Max a big awesome Pirate Party, and having a little nod to Q in it too.  In his 2 year old mind he will think that its his party anyway.

INVITES:

Invites need to be pirate maps.  I have been playing around with a few different ideas about how to make them look like old maps.  These are a few of my inspiration ideas.  Don't bring up putting them in a bottle - these are going to be passed out at Max's kindergarten class and glass bottles are not realistic.  Plus - with only so much budget glass bottles seem like an unnecessary waste.  


CAKE:

Sometimes I make the cakes if the idea is simple, sometimes I have it made if my dreams our bigger than my skills.  I have the most amazing cake lady.  She is inexpensive for the quality of her work and she delivers.  I throw a ball of ideas at her and she makes them real.  Never once had I wished for more from a cake she has brought us.  Here are the cake ideas that I emailed her.  She will mix them together and come up with a two tier cake for Max and a smaller side cake for Q.

Decorations:
I will have a big red X on the door of the gym and then the hallway in full of black streamers that the kids have to walk through.  I have an idea of what I want to do with the cake and treat table but I am still trying to figure that one out.  I think the stations are going to be plenty of decoration but I will also be to sprinkle gold coins all over the place.  I plan to kind of figure this out the day of.  I'll just have lots of basics to decorate with and go with it.  

Intro Craft:

 I have found over the years that it is good to have a craft or two at the start of the party.  Something fun, but not your main craft.  Something that kids can spend 15 mins on if they come on time or something that they could quickly throw together if they come late and we have moved on to other things.  I call it an intro craft.  For the pirate party I am going to have a table set up right when the kids set up with a few crafts.  They will be making looking glasses out of paper towel rolls, gluing feathers on their parrot, and making a pirate hand print.  During this time they will also pick out a pirate name - something like Scurvy Mike and they will have set an area to put all their things to take home.  That way at the very end of the party pretty much everyone can just grab their stuff and go.   

Pirate Stations

Here is the meat and potatoes of the party.  After the intro crafts are done we get started on Pirate Stations.  I am using the word stations because that is the same wording they using in their kindergarten class.  These little people know that word, they understand it.  I will divide them into groups if lots of them are there, if we have a smaller number then I will just let them pick their own stations.  The first time they do a station they get a little pirate prize.  After they do them all they will have a collection of pirate gear.  I may not do all of these, but these are the basic concepts.  Since this will be a an church  
1.  Walk the blank.  Big cardboard boat with sail that has an opening to a wooden board up on milk crates.  They walk the blank like they would walk a balance beam.  Underneith will be a blue sheet with shark fins.  First time they do it they get an eye patch.
2.  Swab the deck.  Push black balloons with a push broom around some kind of area.  Maybe into a basket.  After this they get a pirate sash.
3.  Crab walk to get a pirate tattoo.
4.  Climb the mast.  A rope tied to heavy weights that they must pull themselves along to get to the end of.  After this one they get a pirate sword (a blow up from the party store).
5.  Peg leg hop.  Hop on one leg over a certain area and get a pirate hat.
6.  Pirate Cave.  Go through a few boxes taped together to look like a cave and get a beard.
  

Pirate Games
I need a few filler games to keep things going.  Some times kindergarteners needs to just run around and be crazy.
Cannon Ball Blast - each kid has a balloon tied to their ankle and they run around trying to pop each others balloons. 
Musical Islands -I will have a few different islands pre-made.  Things like a red island with a canon on it.  Or a blue island with a parrot.  I will have about ten islands.  Then I tell the kid to go to a red.  Or a cannon.  Or a blue.  Then after five or six directions I pick a winner card.  Card will have one thing on them.  Like a red or a cannon.  Then anyone on the red wins.  Its very similar to the game Hullabaloo.  Winner has to do something - like give a pirate shout. 
I always have a mental list of a few filler games just in case my timing is wrong - usually things like Simon Says and Red Light Green Light.