Kellan's Pirate Party - 3rd Birthday Party

Kellan decided he wanted a pirate party this year to celebrate his 3rd birthday. He's REALLY into Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Peter Pan.

We're on a pretty tight budget, so we decided to keep the invitation list to only close/immediate family and a few friends. We were disappointed not to be able to invite all our aunts, uncles, and cousins, but since our families are so big it was just too many people! We also decided to keep costs down by having the party at 1:30pm instead of over a meal time so that we could just provide a few snack items, but not a full meal.My friend Desiree found an ad on Craigslist selling a bunch of leftover pirate party stuff for pretty inexpensive and sent it to me. Luckily it was still available and that helped us out a lot!

I wanted everything to be outside in order to have more space and let the kids run free and we were blessed with a beautiful day -- until the rain came. But we had a lot of fun outside before we had to move things indoors! We had a bouncy castle, a Treasure Dig, Walk the Plank, and a pirate water table.

On Monday, not knowing he was out of town, I texted my father-in-law and asked him if he thought he might be able to turn our wagon into a pirate ship by Saturday. He didn't get my message until Wednesday night and I wasn't able to get the wagon to him until Thursday afternoon, and he was still able to create this AMAZING pirate ship!

We set up a small table for guests to get their pirate gear and tattoos as they arrived. Our tattoo artist, Chase, did a great job of making sure everyone got a tattoo!

 

 

My parents bought the pirate ship water table last summer for the boys, so it was a great addition for the pirate party! It was a big hit with the little guys!

Since the party guests were mostly toddlers, we didn't want the activities to be too challenging, so we set up some easy stuff. Aside from the water table, we also had Walk the Plank, a Treasure Dig, Pinata, and a bouncy castle (not pirate-themed, but still FUN!)

For the treasure dig, we buried some gold coins, gems, and jewelry (plastic rings, necklaces, bracelets) in a bin of sand. There were shovels and sand tools and small buckets to put their treasures in.

 

Because we had a tight budget, I scheduled the party for 130pm to avoid having to serve a full meal. We had huge fruit and veggie trays, chips and dip, and bagel bites. The kids also got some Goldfish crackers.

We did get rained on about halfway  through, but that didn't slow the kids down!

 We had to move things indoors for the cake, pinata, and gifts. The cake was made by my friend Lynsey and she did a wonderful job! It was so yummy and Kellan LOVED it!

 

 

 

 We filled the pinata with toys since we wanted to limit the sugar. We tried a wiffle ball bat, but turns out pulling strings is a lot safer and more effective to break it haha.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and Kellan is still talking about his birthday party over a month later, so I'd say it was a hit!