Pirate party

Toddlers...kids...when children are turning three (where IS the line between toddler and not a toddler?) they can be pretty fickle about what they're into. Thankfully everyone loves a good pirate party.

Amazon.com was my bestest bud- I bought a folding ship, foam masks, party favors- all the little bits of a party I could get shipped through amazon prime. My other bestest bud was Pinterest. With the help of the inspiration and Instructions, I was able to make a fantabulous pirate cake.

Ranger and I mixed a box mix into two square pans. The original site I had seen this idea had used rectangular pans thAt where bigger, but I was thinking small. I used a fork to make my lines. You can see I "measured twice" on this one- I wasn't sure which shapes I wanted what size.

I tested my design idea before wrapping it all up and putting it in the fridge. The next day I made some home made frosting for the crumb coat. The problem with frosting a cake while wearing an infant is the coverage isn't exactly even, but the crumb coat did its job well.

Here it is half frosted with cookies as supports instead of straws, and also used as cannons. I ran out of time and put this in the fridge.

I finished it the next day. The final product (missing only the "happy birthday" and candles):

The treasure chest is from a candy mold I ordered on amazon. The bottom part was a real bugger to get out, and lost the whole floor of the chest from the attempts at getting it out. I figured it made the treasure idea more realistic. Besides, I think the 3 candle is perfect inside and I only thought of that when the mold didn't release cleanly.

As you can see Ranger liked his cake.

I invited Ranger's three best friends. The folding pirate ship was loads of fun until the sheer energy and exuberance of four three year olds brought the thing down (the parents all yelled "abandon ship!" Which is why I love these guys)

The first activity involved stickers, crayons, and markers and a bag. Inside the bag was a treasure map.

The treasure was hidden inside these plastic balls. Each color had a party favor inside. There were little cars, gold plastic coins, rubber ducks with a pirate theme, and for the parents, those "mini moment" Starbucks gift cards. Since there was no way to make sure the boys picked the balls with the treasure, I enlisted the parent's help to make sure the ball picked up had a slit indicating there was a prize inside.

We took turns to keep from overwhelming the ball pit. Ranger went first and opened his treasure right away. The cars and the coins were a hit with Ranger and the other boys took their turns.

I am pretty sure at least one of them left a purple ball (plastic coins) on purpose (those suckers are thin and slippery and get everywhere!).

We knew it was time to wrap things up when the kids started to turn into little Tasmanian Devils. It was so lovely to have all our friends in one place. It was lovely watching the baby get passed around in an unintentional game of baby roulette. I think everyone had held him twice before someone got spit up on.

It was lovely to see the boys playing, especially since all four have changed and grown so much since last year's party.

I know the party was a success because my three year old who rarely naps conked within the hour after it was all done.

This was just the start of the present onslaught. There is still the family party for Ranger's birthday, Hanukkah, Christmas and my birthday to come.