Kids Pirate Party

As I discussed in the Pirate Party Invitation Post & the Adult Pirate Party Post...

we did a double birthday party for my two boys.

With Halloween so close, I worked hard to keep things inexpensive and simple.

So between free printables from the internet and some Dollar Store shopping, it was covered.

First I made made the invitations found: Here.

(Free printable download)

Then for decorations and favors we hit the Dollar Tree.

Necklaces, Skull Rings, Eye Patches, Pirate Hats, Coins, Tattoos and Hooks.  For a Dollar I got a set for each child.  $1 bought a set with: hat, eye patch, & a hook.  So I bought 1 package of necklaces, 1 package of tattoos, 1 package of pirate coins, & skull rings (which were also used in the invitations) 

With 8 kids invited that was $8 plus $4 for the extras.

I also used plastic table clothes, cut into strips, for sashes. ($2 for 1 red and 1 blue) Then all of this made for a simple centerpiece and decor around the room.  Just added a few books, a jewelry chest & some wire baskets...but use anything you have on hand.

From a previous party, I had some gravel spray painted in silver and gold. A simple addition.

For the rest of the decorations, I used 2 poster boards. (2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree)

And 1 black round plastic table cloth.  

The poster board made sails above the buffet and the table cloth, 

made the bottom of the ship under the food. Shown below.

I also printed off some cute cupcake sails and sea wave cupcake liners found at: Cottage Industrialist

The black pirate flag cupcake toppers found at:

Then I made some labels and pirate signs free printables below.

*For the Kid's Party, I didn't actually do the food above, this was from the Adult Party.  You can find it in detail in this Pirate Party Post. 

Instead for the Kid's Party, which I forgot to take a picture of, I just ordered two $5 cheese pizzas. Served with Punch, Candied Popcorn, Shark Bait (Goldfish), and Chocolate Pirate Ship Cupcakes...all of which were served for the previous party too...making life much easier.

Here is a better look at the costume pieces the kids received.

Then for entertainment.

We started with a Treasure Hunt.

Free Printable Treasure Map found below.

The treasure chest was a painted shoe box, filled with necklaces, the Hooks, and candy.

Then we played several games.

1. Bowling with Toilet Paper Rolls.

2. Fishing for Treasure: Using a Dollar Store Fishing Pole set and Printable Pirate Gold, found below.  I just attached magnets to the fishing pole and pirate gold.  

3. We also played Pin the Pirate Hat on the Skeleton: A Dollar Store Halloween Skeleton Decoration and Printable Pirate Hats found below.

4. I Had A Little Pirate: Similar to the game Duck Duck Goose, but you carry around a little pirate (I used a rubber ducky with an eye patch we previously owned. The kid carries the pirate ducky saying, "I had a little pirate and he wont bite you, and he wont bite you...but he will bite you" going around the circle then placing it behind the kid that is now "it".  Then the chosen child picks it up and chases them around the circle, just like Duck Duck Goose.

5. Musical Flags: Musical chairs/Cake walk.  So drew some pirate flags and they walked on them in a circle with music playing...when the music stopped everyone had to stand on a flag, the one without a flag was out. 

6. Then we made some Spy Glasses found: here

So the Grand Total was: $39

$8 for pirate hat & set

$4 for packs of necklaces, rings, tattoos, and coins

$2 for table cloth sashes (I actually had mine on hand)

$1 for 2 poster boards

$1 for round table cloth

$4 for treasure candy

$1 fishing set

$1 skeleton

$10 pizza

$1 for Punch (Sprite with Cherry Kool-aid)

$1 for Goldfish

$2 Candied Popcorn (estimate and used for 2 parties)

$3 Cupcakes (estimate for used for 2 parties)

Free Pirate Party Downloads:

The cute cupcake printables & pirate bunting from Cottage Industrials were found: here

She also includes printable eye patches, pirate hats, and mustaches...so you could save money there.

And there are thank you card printables, which my boys used...so look around it is a great site!

Tattered & Inked: also had great printables.  I used some for decorations and I also used them to write the clues for our treasure hunt. 

And I loved Paging Super Mom's Spy Glass Printable project and Flags.  I used them for cupcake toppers.

Here are the Free Pirate Printables I made for the party.

Click on the image to enlarge then save to your computer

Printable Treasure Map 

2 options (then draw in your course to the treasure)

Printable Pirate Gold Coins

(I didn't make these, I found them at Reading with Kids, but I just put them 12 to a sheet instead of one.)

 Printable Treasure Chest

(This also was from Reading with Kids, and I didn't use it...just too complex for the little kids at our party, but I loved it!)

Printable Pirate Hats

(I made them for Pin the Hat on the Skeleton)

Printable Pirate Party Food Labels & Printable Pirate Party Signs and Labels.

(including a blank set to customize) 

(I used the free fonts: Ringbearer & Party Business)

Pirate Party Invitations found: here

 More Pirate Party Ideas, Recipes, & Fun found: here

 Enjoy!

Pirate Party

As I mentioned in the Pirate Invitations Post, we did a double Birthday party for both of our boys.

We like to do a family party as well as a friend party.

So, I simplified things by putting the Family/Adult Pirate Birthday Party 

the night before the Friend/kid Pirate Birthday Party.

This way I prepared & decorated one time and used everything twice.

It made set up and mess a whole lot easier.

For the Adult party.  I call it an adult party, because the little bit of "family" we live by are all in their late 20's to early 30's and no children.  But my kids love them.  So when my oldest requested they be invited to the birthday party, we did one for "adults" the night before.

Everyone came dressed as pirates & we had a blast.

Decorations were simple. 

I downloaded a free bunting, seen above.  And other free Pirate Printables for the cupcakes.

Then I made a few of my own labels & signs.

And we stocked up on Dollar Tree Pirate Items to finish it off.

In the costumes we had:

Dollar Tree necklaces, skull rings, eye patches, and tattoos.  The red and blue sashes were made from plastic table cloths, also from the Dollar Tree. And the Pirate Gold and Candy were from....Dollar Tree.

All easy and inexpensive.

Also, to add to the decorations, I used two paper poster boards to make sails over the buffet table & a round plastic black tablecloth to drape in the shape of a boat. Add a pirate flag to the top and it was done. (shown in the image below)

Around the house was more pirate bunting, lots of pirate sayings, on wood planks, spray painted gravel to look like treasure, and some red, black, & white balloons.  All very inexpensive and easy. (And yes, all of the purchases were again from the Dollar Tree.

For the food, we went with some fun party foods.

Wraps, Pizza Rolls with dipping sauce, Punch, Olives, Popcorn, Gold Fish, Cheese Ball & Crackers, and a few different flavored cupcakes.  I will add the recipes soon.  So keep checking back.

And for the food I made some printable food labels, found below.  But I got the cute Cupcake printables online.  I had planned to make some myself, when I came across the exact idea I was looking for, but this saved me lots of time! Cottage Industrialist had a bunch of great printables.  The Cupcake liners & flags, the bunting, and tons more. Tattered & Inked also had some fun printables and I used.

Oh, and the fun skeleton straws were also from the Dollar Tree.  Lots of the Halloween decorations the Dollar Tree carries were perfect for the party too...One stop shopping on a budget.

For the party, we played a playlist of Pirate Music, from every version of Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, & Hook. (I like downloading my music from www.gomusicnow.com songs are around 10-15 cents each!)

We played Liars Dice and several pirate trivia games online. 

And the whole night was a success...

then to read about the following Pirate Party for the Kid's Friends look: here.

Invitations found: here

Linked to these Parties: Here

Check out all the projects they have to share.

Pirate Party Invitations

 Having both of my boys birthdays close together came in handy this year.
We did a combined birthday party.  They are still at the young ages, so they loved it.

And the theme was Pirates.
With Halloween close, this was a perfect theme and easy to put together.

So we started with our Pirate invitations.

They are printable.

They are double sided and I just rolled them up and slid a Skull Ring on them.

Free Printable Pirate Party Invitations!

Click on the image to enlarge, then save to your computer.

Print on 8x11" paper.

Trim edges, then roll.

For my invitations I used the Free Font: Janda Stylish Script

And for their Names I used another Free Font: Blackmoor LET

Inside Option A

Inside Option B

Outside 

Pirate Party and Printables 

kid pirate party found: here

adult pirate party found: here

Linked to these Parties: Here

Check out all the projects they have to share.

Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Spice Cupcake Cookies

Super long name, I know.  But these are so quick, so easy, and tasty.

Ingredients:

1 cube melted butter

2 eggs

1 package of Spice Cake Mix

1 cup oatmeal soaked in milk

about 1/2 c dried cranberries

about 1/2 c white chocolate chips

Directions:

Pour 1 cup oatmeal into bowl and just cover with milk.  Let soak for 15 min. Preheat oven to 350'F. Melt butter. Mix in eggs. Add oatmeal and milk. Mix in spice cake mix. Once well combined mix in cranberries and white chocolate chips.  Spoon generously onto parchment covered cookie sheet and bake 8-12 min.

More Home Organization Printables

Here are additional pages for the Home Organization Binder.

First post found Here.

1. Here is a collection of Deep Spring Cleaning Cards.  They include everything from Lights, Fans, down to the Baseboards. 

Printable Spring Cleaning Cards found: Here.

2. & 3. Here are two PDFs Household Job Calendar by Day & Household Job Calendar 2 hr a Day.(which wont show a preview in the Google Docs, you have to  click on the download...sorry). 

These are the weekly charts. One splits up all Household Responsibilities by days of the week, and the other splits them down to 2 Hours Maximum a Day (for Deep Cleaning). They are rather self explanatory, but I previously explained how they work: Here.

Printable Household Job Calendar by Day found: Here.

Printable Household Job Calendar 2 hr a Day found: Here.

Free Printable Household Organization Binder

I love to be organized and all the fun organization printables available, but I found I wanted things changed here and there to fit my needs.  So I created my own Household Organizational Binder and I have included the Free Printables.

Click on the following for all of the Free Household Organization Binder Printables:

Set 1 (portrait)   Set 2 (landscape) 

Spring Clean List       Weekly Cleaning A     Weekly Cleaning B

(***The weekly cleaning downloads, have no preview.  The preview image had an error, so just click the download button that appears to get the Weekly Cleaning Printables***)

My Household Organization Binder includes 10 sections:

1. Schedule

2. Cleaning

3. Meal Plan

4. Food Storage

5. Budget

6. Projects

7. Blog

8. My Goals

9. Family Goals

10. Contacts & Resources

The Schedule section includes: Daily, Weekly & Monthly Agendas and Calendars. A Year @ A Glance, list of Holidays *I also include our families work, sports, & school schedules.

The Cleaning section includes: Cleaning Chore Cards and Sheet, 5 minute Clean Up List, Spring Clean Out and Problem Zones Sheet, House Hold Job Calendar, & Thorough Entire Home Spring Cleaning List

The Meal Plan section includes: Weekly and Monthly Meal Planning Sheets, Entertaining Planning, Shopping Lists, Family Menus, Seasonal Menus, Freezer Meal Lists, & Frozen Meal Preparation List.

The Food Storage section includes: Freezer Inventory, Pantry/Food Storage Inventory, & 3 Month Supply Plans. 

The Budget Section Includes: Coming in Future Blog Post of it's own.

The Projects section includes: Project Lists, Ideas and Resources, Short/Long Term, Small/Big Lists.

The Blog section includes: An Idea and Resource List & Calendar. 

The My Goals section includes: Personal Weekly, Monthly, and Long Term Goal Lists. *A Weekly Goal Check Off Chart not included & notes for my thoughts.

The Family Goals section includes: Family Weekly, Monthly, & Long Term Goal Lists,  A Funny Moments List, *And in mine I add A Weekly Goal Check Off Chart, & Ideas/Resources to help us reach the goals.

The Contacts section includes: Lists of contacts (address, email, phone, etc), Resource List, Babysitting Information Sheet, *And here I include all of our contact lists, directories etc.

This little binder is "my life".  It keeps me organized and on track.  And it gives me a place to put the important papers, notes, etc. Some pages I put in sheet protectors and write on with a white board marker, others I print out and write directly on.  

Many of the lists I created have multiple versions, so look around and find what works for you!  Enjoy.

Link Parties

I love Link Parties.  They are the perfect way to share your ideas and find a million new ones in one place.  There are tons of them out there, but here is a long list of what I have found:

Monday-
The Gunny Sack, Show Me Your Plaid, Mealtime Monday, More the Merrier Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Mom's Test Kitchen, Marvelous Mondays, This Week's Cravings, Skip to My Lou, Mop it Up Monday, Meatless Monday, Must Try Monday, Craft O Maniac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Mangia Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Makin' You Crave Monday,Recipe Sharing Monday, Cure for the Common Monday

Tuesday-
Tip Junkie, Inspiration Board, Tasteful Tuesday,  Totally Tasty Tuesday, Terriffic Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesday Confessional,Too Cute Tuesday, Tuesday Timeout, Show Me What Ya Got, Trick or Treat Tuesday, Tuesday Tutorials, Tasty Tuesdays, My Bloggy Friends, Tuesday Talent Show, Delicious Dishes, You're Gonna Love It, Take It On Tuesday, Take A Look Tuesday, 
Wednesday-
Wow Me Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Link it up Wednesday, Pin It Party, Newlyweds, Gooseberry Patch Blog, Work It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Lil Luna, What I Whipped Up Wednesday,Whatever Goes Wednesday, Create & Share, Polka Dots on Parade, Show & Share, Show and Tell,The Mommy Club, Show Off Your Stuff, Cast Party Wednesday
Thursday-
Somewhat Simple, Frugal Food Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Timeout Thursday, Things I've Done Thursday, My Favorite Finds,  Tastetastic Thursday, Thursday Treasures, Link it Up Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Delightfully Inspiring, Live Laugh Linky Party, Bloom, Crafty Soiree, Something Swanky,Keep Calm & Link Up, House of Hepworths, Tasty Thursday
Friday-
Flaunt It Friday, Friday Favorite Finds, Frugal Friday,  Feature Friday, Flaunt It Friday, Foodie Friday, Simply Link Party, Refresh Your Nest, Friday Favorites, Friday Fun Party, Tidy Mom, What's Shakin', Link Up With Me Liz Marie, Do Something Crafty, One Creative Weekend, Happy Hour Friday, Fabulous Friday, Weekend Wander,  Show and Tell Friday, Sweet Tooth Friday
Weekend-
 Weekend Showoff Party, Whatcha Got Weekend, Sweets for a Saturday,Weekend Wrap Up Party, I Heart Naptime,  Overflowng with Creativity, Sunday Showcase, Church Supper, So Very Cheri, Sweet Indulgences Sunday, Sunday's Best, Nifty Thrifty Sunday, Think Pink, Petite Hermine, Recipe of the Week, Scrumptious Sunday, Create & Inspire, Pinworthy Projects, Spotlight Saturday, Saturday Showcase, Hello Weekend, Seasonal Inspiration, Show and Tell Saturday, Share It Saturday, Sweet Confessions, Check Me Out Saturday,Share It Saturday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Saturday Spotlight, Show & Tell Saturday, Sweet Saturday, 

Summer Fun

Well its summer and school is out, the weather is nice...or hot...

but either way we have been out finding all kinds of new ways to play.

Because so many of the ideas I have seen around were such a hit with my boys and the neighbor kids, I figured I'd compile our favorites and share!  Any other ideas you might have, be sure to comment...I'm always looking for more activities to keep the boys busy!

Here are a bunch of Fun Summer Activities for kids. Lots of easy and inexpensive ideas to keep any kid busy for hours.  Great ways to cool off, entertain, or just try something new!

Since we live on a bit of a hill, this was a big hit for the kids.

I found it at Camo and Bows.

15 backyard games from IMOM.COM

Here are some fun printable Scavengar Hunts found at Smashed Peas & Carrots

More Scavengar Hunts (indoor, outdoor, walks, colors, etc) I previously posted Here.

This was a great idea for all ages. Found over at Parents.com.

A fun twist on the idea, add some glow sticks in the bottles and make it night bowling.

Simple fun from Counting Coconuts...

we dumped ours upside down out of the container and them then hit away.

Hit the balloons into the baskets.

Parents.com had this fun idea...and 19 other fun activities.

Come Together Kids had this simple but ingenious idea.

You can buy the container at Walmart for 5 dollars.  

This can be purchased over at Chasing Fireflies...

or we just used Hula Hoops and Dollar Store Balls and it was a big hit.

My boys loved this!  Just be sure not to inhale...

super easy directions found at Betz White

50 things to do with your trampoline!!!

From really simple, to fun entertaining and night ideas.

Check them out at Rave & Review

One Charming Party had some great ideas for the outdoors and entertaining.

With tutorials and cute decoration ideas.

Fun Water Games from Create My Event

And if you have little ones, this is a collection of fun, easy things to do with toddlers.

All of which are a big hit with my little guys.

Found at Mixie Studio

And for when its just too hot outside here are a few indoor activities to keep the kids entertained...

What kid doesn't like playing with Homemade Gak.

Lil Luna shares the recipe to make it yourself.

Homemade Silly Putty from Making Memories with Your Kids

Mommy Savers had this fun idea.  Freeze colored water in Ice Cube Trays.

Then drop them in the tub and let the kids chase them around the water.  They slip out of their hands making a fun game and slowly add color to the bath water.

Bath time paints are also fun, Team Dischinger has an easy recipe to follow

or use food coloring and shaving cream for a fluffy paint... I will post about it soon.

This cute little idea came from Pigtails & Tutus.

And be sure to look through her blog it is full of tons of fun ideas for kids year round!