Pirate Party Ideas

We had a pirate party for Middle's last birthday.

Just thought I would post a few ideas from it....

First we did a craft. ((I don't know why the picture isn't very good...))
I had collected paper towel, and toilet paper rolls for a long time before. I put a layer of paper mache over them with black construction paper as my material.
I bought all kinds of foam stickers, and glitter and "jewels".
I wrote their names inside and the kids went to town.
By the time they all left, they were dry and ready to take home!


I made this giant shark on a thin piece of scrap fiberboard. Much like what is put on the back of a bookshelf these days.
Hubby cut out the mouth for me after I free handed the shark.
Then I painted it!

It served two AWESOME purposes.
Originally it was to be a water balloon toss (which, by the way, was the HIT of the party)...
It also became a picture taking opportunity!
I took pictures of each child, which ended up being a part of their thank you cards.


We did a coin dig.
We buried 80 coins in the sandbox.
The kids were given paper cups, and a plastic spoon ONLY.
They were not allowed to use their hands.


X marks the spot...
I made this using foam board. I printed off the symbols from our friendly Internet.
Each child had an "X", which were from Michael's, and made of wood and felt.
I used puff paints to write all of the kids names on them.


Finally, was the pinata...that I already showed how to make.
Inside the pinata, the candy was already pre-measured and put into goodie bags, to account for different ages, and abilities.
It is hanging from our deck, and worked out SO perfectly!

I made a treasure chest cake, that I found on Family Fun's website, and I also found a version on Betty Crocker.

It is a chocolate cake, with chocolate icing.
Simply, baked in a loaf pan, letting the dome top happen naturally.
Cut open and filled with treasure-like goodies.
Then the cupcakes were meant to be "jewels".

The kids LOVED it!
As usual, the ice cream was served up in muffin liners, which is my favorite birthday party tip!!! As seen HERE.

It was a great party, and one of my favorite themes ever!

Could be changed up to meet most any age range!!!

Hope you found some ideas!

Raelyn

Pink Ladybug Cake

Running with the party theme, I needed to master the cake.

Now, I have baked a lot of cakes in my time, but never had I attempted one in a bowl. So, I felt I should do a trial run. I am glad I did.

The hubby's birthday happens to be right before Little's, so he was wonderful enough to let me practice for his.

I simply used a boxed mix that Little picked out.
I almost always substitute applesauce for oil in cakes and brownies, with GREAT results, so I did just that.
I put the prepared cake mix in an ovensafe Pyrex bowl.
I used a little extra in a tiny pyrex bowl to make a "cupcake" size...(for the head)
As I learned, because of the depth, it really has to OVERcook. It cooked for 1 hour and 5 minutes.

In the meantime, I made the frosting. Pink buttercream, and Chocolate buttercream for the "black". I used a grass tip for the pink body, and a dot tip for the head.

I needed to play with how to put the cake together as well as how to I wanted to frost it.


Here is the finished product.

Those are smarties for the eyes...
Pipecleaners for the antenna,**(I wrapped the bottom in masking tape, so as NOT to get any fuzzies inside the cake.)

It turned out GREAT!
However, what I learned is that I don't think a cake that has to be cooked that long, can hold up to the applesauce substitution...it turned out very dry. I think it was going to be dry either way...but with applesauce it was almost too dry. Beautiful, but dense and dry!

After the experiment, Little decided she wanted cupcakes instead...hmmmmmm...
Back to square one. :)

He is such a good daddy!


Raelyn