Pirate party revisited

2years ago my eldest son had a pirate and princess party, it went well considering it was at very short notice.  I got some banners printed on plastic of both pirate images and princess,

 

as well as a "pin the patch on the pirate game" and a "pin the crown on the princess game".  I made a pirate ship in about 2hours from cardboard boxes, brown paper, tape, glue and lego.

A friend printed out edible cake toppers for the main cake and small fairy cakes.

And as we already had disco lights we had a disco, and did normal party games.


WELL......My 4year old came home from school last week and told me that he had invited his teacher and TA and some of his friends round to our house for his pirate birthday party!  Luckily I still have all the plastic banners I had printed, I still have the template for the invite and the cake toppers, sadly the ship got broken when we moved house, but I can make a new one. 

However, as I have until August for lil mans birthday I plan to do things better this time round.  I wont be hiring a hall but having it at home, I have gazebos and plan to get another 1 (or 2) before his birthday.  I started hunting the net for pirate things and ideas and made a board on pinterest so that I could keep them all in one place.  I found a lovely banner but it was £15 for a 3ft length which will work out very expensive, so I decided to buy some long dresses and skirts off ebay in red/white/black stripes/spots/stars/patterns/skulls and plan to make my own once they all arrive by cutting strips of material and tying or stitching to rope.

some of the materials I have bought

My son then asked IF I could turn his wooden army fort into a pirate ship!!!  I know i'm good at crafts etc BUT this could prove hard.  But after a few hours thought I came up with a plan.  1.We pull the army netting back over the roof.  2.We use the spare wooden bits from where it was raised to make a triangle and place it against the side of the fort to look like the front of the ship.  3.We make an anchor and chain (see below) and lean against the front of the point.  4.We add a wheel to the inside (somehow) and 5.Maybe add a sheet as a flag, (again somehow).

The anchor and chain, now i'm really pleased with this as I wasnt sure HOW to do it, or even if it could be done as I don't want anything heavy that could hurt children or pets.  So I drew an anchor shape on cardboard, I cut it out and then scrunched up paper and masking taped it to the anchor on one side only so that it had a 3D image.  From here I added paper marche to it over 3 layers, letting each layer dry for 24hrs before doing the next one.  I then painted it with a mix of silver, orange and black acrylic paint (it still needs another coat of paint in pic).

 

 For the chain I used small paper plates.  I cut the ribbed outer edge off the plate, leaving a solid circle, I then cut the middle from this which is what I made the larger links from, and again cut a smaller ring from the solid center small circle, this made the small links.  They were linked together by cutting a slit in 1 ring and then masking tape it closed once the other rings were linked.  I then did the same on the chains as I did for the anchor by screwing up balls of paper and masking tape them onto one side and then paper marching it.  I will be painting the chains and adding to the anchor (will add photo at a later date.


I have also sat and trawled the net for food and games.

GAMES/IDEAS TO DO -

Buried treasure - each child can dig in the sand pit for: 2x necklaces, 1x ring, 2x gems, 10x coins,, 5 gold rocks (plastic jewellery & gems bought, rocks from beach painted gold and varnished)

Walk the plank - raised piece of wood over either a small paddling pool with water in or blue sheet on grass, toy crocodiles in it.

Pin the patch on the pirate game - picture of pirate and some sort of patch to stick on it, closet to where his eye is wins.

Hoop toss over a sword or hook - who can throw the most hoops onto a sword or hook wins.  Alternatively you could have a few fixed onto a board and points for each one and whoever gets the highest points wins

Decorate your own sword - pre cut out cardboard swords and have glue, gems, pens etc for the children to decorate their own swords (do this at the beginning of the party and they will be dry to take home.)  Make sure you write childrens names on back.

Pirate tattoos (and face paint) - do these at the beginning as all pirates have tattoos, check that children are ok with face paint before parents leave.

Pirate photo booth - Draw a picture of a pirate on cardboard and paint it, cut out the face, cut a slit in the middle at the bottom.  Take a small piece of cardboard and place a slit in the middle of top edge, this will be fixed into the slit on the pirate so it can stand up.  Child stands behind it and puts their face through the hole to have a photo taken as pirate.

Knock the pirates over - skittles with pirate pictures stuck on and bean bags/balls to knock them over, peson who gets most wins.

Pass the parcel with pirate forfits - Wrap the parcel and add a forfit to each layer, do 1 per person plus a couple of extra layers.  Forfits - *stand up and shout "ahoy me mateys", *squark like a parrot, *talk like a parrot and say "polly wants a cracker", *hop round the circle like peg leg jake, *dance a pirate jig, *name a pirate film, *sing a song like a drunken sailor, *go walk the plank, *stand up and say "yo ho ho and away we go", *Talk like a parrot and say "pieces of eight, pieces of eight", *stand up and say "shiver me timbers", *Stand up and say "this is me ship mateys", *stand up and say "where be me treasure", *pretend to swab the deck (sweep), *tell the joke - "what do you call a pirate who went to school?"......"smaaaaart",* tell the joke - "where do pirates go shopping?"......"at the maaaaaarket", *tell the joke - "what does a pirate put on his toast?"......."maaaaarmalade"

Pirate pinata - Make or buy a pinat and add sweets, home made badges, catcha-bubbles, confetti, etc

Pirate colouring pages and pens - leave some of these on a table incase they want to colour

Cannon ball bop - give each child a black balloon and on go they have to keep it in the air, any that hit the floor are out, winner is one who lasts longest.

Cannon ball fire - loads of black balloons, put sweets in some, confetti in others,  and leave some empty on go the kids have to "fire" (burst) all the cannon balls by bouncing on them with their bums.

Flap the fish - 2 fish shapes cut from tissue paper, 2 paper plates, split into 2 teams, place the fish on the floor infront of first person, using only the plate they need flap the fish down the room to set place and then back again, hand to next person who does the same, 1st team to have all players do it wins.

Musical pirates - like musical statues EXCEPT when the music stops they need dance like a pirate, last one to do it is out.

Feed the shark - draw a sharks head and open mouth onto cardboard, cut out the mouth.  using ping pong balls (12 pack for £1 in £1shop) they can each throw the balls through the mouth - most through wins (make older children stand further back than younger children.)

Treasure hunt - clues to find the hidden treasure or coins hidden around the place,

Musical islands - paper islands - each child has an island to start with placed on floor, when music stops they must stand on 1.  remove 1 island and go again, child without island is out.  last 1 wins.

Wheres the treasure hidden - piece of paper with treasure island/map in squares on it, get each child to put their name in 1 square when they arrive.  (pre-choose the treasure square and make a note of it) at the end of the party award a prize to whoever guessed correct or was the nearest.  (try and make the map the exact amount of squares for guests).

 FOOD -

canon balls - malteasers or blueberries or black olives

planks- twix bars or pretzel sticks or bread sticks

pollys crackers - mini cheddars

pirate ships - hot dogs with cocktail stick flag

pirate gems - chunks of fruit on kebab sticks

golden nuggets - chicken nuggets

swords - bread sticks and half grape near end

golden rings - hula hoop crisps

ocotopus legs - gummy worms

fresh fish bread - tuna sandwiches

pirate punch - water, blue food colouring and raspberry flavour 

sharks blood - red drink

pirate teeth - popcorn

pirates peg leg - sausage rolls

sea scrolls - "coffee" wafer biscuits (tubes) tied with a liquorice lace

veggie island - platter of sliced vegetables

golden rocks - cheese & pineapple

dead mans fingers - cocktail sausages

hawain islands - ham & pineapple pizzas

pirate islands - biscuits iced with treasure map lines and a x

I WILL ADD MORE ONCE I GET SORTED AND DEFINATELY ADD MORE AFTER THE PARTY.

Whitehaven Parade

Today May 6th was a lovely day all round.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was the day of the Whitehaven Freedom Parade through the town.

Me and hubby decided to go down and watch.  Now this sounds like a good plan, except for the fact its only 2weeks since I had my knee operation, i'm still hobbling about, I didn't take my crutches or the folding chair (this wasn't thought about until the last part of the air display!)  Plus we parked at the multi story and had to park on level 5 and then walk down.  So by the time we had left the car park I was already knackered and in pain.  Oh well, we're here now!

We took a slow walk to the harbour front.  As we were walking down the harbour front we got asked by a steward if we were part of the parade - errr no we're here to watch it and we're heading down to the navy boat.  We were allowed to pass.  He did inform us that the parade was going that way and coming back the way we were walking.

As we approached the quay down to where the navy boat was they had a sign up showing its name -

and on the metal gate was a sign that said open 10:30am-4pm, we said that it would be worth getting the boys from school and heading straight down so they could look round the boat.  We walked down the quay to the boat (which was at the far end!!!)  As we got nearer I could see a rope ladder at the side of it - the only way on board - great!  I decided not to go on board as I didn't want to risk hurting my knee any more than the walking was going to do.  Hubby went on and had a  look around.  I took a few photos of the outside of the boat and then wandered back to the harbourside where I could sit down.

After a short sit down on a bench I could hear the band playing and someone said that the parade where on their way back to the harbourside.  I stayed seated until I saw the band come into the band stand and then I stood up.  I had a lovely view from where I was, that was until the police and stewards decided they were going to stand there.  However I did manage to get some nice photos of the parade.

After the parade had all been inspected and everything else done they marched past the end of where I was standing (couldn't sit now if I had wanted to as the area behind me was full of people).  The cheering and waving of flags and clapping was really nice.

It was then time for the arial displays to start.  They were really good, and I managed to get some photos that are very clear even though I only had the small cameras with me, yes cameras I had 2!

Following this great display it was the turn of the red devils parachute display team, from air to sea.  The plane had to do a few laps before it was cleared to go.

Apparently the sea was very cold, 1 of them said as they walked past - I will believe him as I have no desire to find out until the weather warms up much more! 

Finally there was another plane doing lots of tricks and leaving smoke trails.

I was glad I had gone down there for the event but I certainly knew that I had stood for nearly 2hrs.  I was in alot of pain.  By the time we got home my knee had swollen up and I have taken lots of pain killers and elevated my knee and had ice on it.  I got some really nice photos and had a lovely time.  The atmosphere was brilliant and there was a great turn out for a small town.