So, the day of Monkeyboys birthday was overcast but miraculously almost rain free. Mr I'm a Big Boy Now! had a fabulous breakfast of hash browns, rice bubbles & strawberries (the current fave) after the frenzied excitement of opening presents. It was a school day, so he got to spend the whole day playing with the remote control truck, the hot wheels parking station & the Harry Potter wands unbothered by his brother, who had to go to school, heh heh.
We wanted a fairly low key birthday party - memorable & fun but not overdone at all. Poor cherub hadn't had a party before, so the bar was already low, & I know from experience that the bar will get pretty high soon enough. Most of Monkeyboys friends are the younger brothers & sisters of The Gentlemans friends, so there would be 2 age groups attending. They are all lovely kids, & it's nice that they will all get to go to school together.
Monkeyboy waits excitedly for his guests to arrive. You can see I went all out with the decor. OK, don't be so harsh - there where two of these flags, & they are actual pirate flags, from a boating supply store. I plan on making them into cushions.
The younger ones getting some air on the trampoline. That girl at the back, levitating in the stripy pirate dress, is Monkeyboy's sweetheart. Every morning at school assembly they are sitting around with their arms around each other, it's very cute. Sometimes he whispers I love you; & sometimes she whispers stop touching my hair.
I had made paper swords that where a big hit with all age groups. I've made them before & they stand up to a bit of roughness without actually hurting anyone too badly. The tutorial is over at this excellent blog, if you would like to make them - they are super easy & lots of fun for small pirates. This site is chock full of awesome craft projects for children, it's one of my favourites.
I also made eye patches which where simple black felt shapes machine stitched onto black elastic. I bought the cranky old machine out of retirement & bullied it through 18 fricken eye patches & no one wore them. Not a hit at all. If you would like one, please say so & I will send one to you. I have quite a few left over....
I wanted a pin the tail type game that was pirate themed, so I googled for ideas & this came up - paint a treasure map, blindfold the pirates & give them a crayon to mark an X on the treasure. This was pretty popular with everyone getting a prize - the closest getting 'peices of eight' (8 chocolate coins in a cellophane bag) & the others getting a toy eyeglass '...to help them see better'. Do you like my map? I painted it on butchers paper, using acrylic paint in burnt umber to try for that faded, authentic look, & painted most known sea hazards - angry mermaids, Humboldt squid, sharks, dragons, as well as island hazards like quicksand, haunted graveyards, deserted houses, mysterious caves..I used this book for map inspiration.
Google also came up with 'pin the eye patch on the pirate' & suggested using a poster of Captain Jack Sparrow. Alas, if only I had one spare...
The shark pinata was a big hit. Here is The Gentleman getting blindfolded, ready to kill that shark. It worked out really well in that every kid had a go & got a hit, & the last kid hit an absolute pearler that smashed it to smithereens! Very exciting.
Besides lollies from the pinata & treasure map, food included regular party pies & sausage rolls, chips, dips & crackers, fizzy drink (a big treat in this house) & wine for the mums (not so unusual...) There was also blue jelly's in cups with a shark lolly which I almost forgot to put out. The cake was red velvet/vanilla layer cake with butter frosting, & a pirate picture in royal icing. The cake was delicious but the icing could have been better executed - oh well, keeping it real over here at Casa Chaos.
The turd burger sewing machine needed a bex & a lie down after the eye patches, so pirate swag bags where bought at the party shop & generously filled with lollies. That machine better get it's act togethor for The Gentlemans Disco Extravaganza in November, I'm telling you..
This is my favourite picture of the day - a little blurry, just like my eyes. Monkeyboy truly had a wonderful birthday, fun & memorable, full of laughter & friends. Not overdone at all.
xx