Tuesday, July 21, 2009

A Pirate Looks at 4

While I'm not Martha Stewart around the kitchen, or with the laundry or dust piles in my house, I do take a little bit of pride in birthday parties.

I've thrown Jason 2 surprise birthday parties: a "Pimps and Prostitutes" themed party for his 24th birthday and a Bowling party for his 30th birthday {there were NOT bumpers in the gutters, unfortunately, and I was 30 weeks pregnant with our first little bowling ball}.

{A complete aside here about the 24th birthday party: let's just say we were both young, working at Space Camp over the summer and we had a slew of friends who all got really into their costumes. I bought Jason a costume at a local thrift store and he looked like Fred Sanford. He was completely surprised- even when a really reserved and quiet friend of ours, who had on a mini skirt, fishnets and was sporting a side ponytail, rode up on the elevator with us to the party. He swears he had no idea. And while I am staring at pictures from this event right this very moment, they will not be making their way to the world wide interweb, thankyouverymuch.}

*Ahem* Where was I?
Oh yes. I love a birthday party and I have a dilemma. Last year Ollie had a Thomas themed party. As you know, we love a train or 82 around here. But lately, the little guy has also been into astronauts. AND, even more recently, he has gotten into pirates.

Tonight, I made a pirate map Treasure map.1
and we looked for pirate treasure.

Here's a pre-(2nd) hunt interview. As with most of my videos, the interview-ee gets distracted at the end and could care less about my photojournalistic efforts.
And then they run away.
Surely, it's not for the lack of distinguished and intriguing questions.
I'm sure you can't wait:


They found the pirate treasure!
Argh! Proud of treasure find!
{Or cheap mardi gras/ dollar tree/ 4th of July beads that double as pirate treasure.}
"Treasure" is in the eye of the beholder. This theory explains many marriages, almost every item at a yard sale, and how Jason still loves these shoes.

The treasure hunt did not come without adventure. We ran into some scurvy creatures along the way.
scury pirates around these parts.1
And a scurvy dog or two. Henry decided this doggy needed some treasure.H putting treasure on Luke Luke with Pirate Booty
Thankfully we all survived the hunt- including Luke.

So, here's my dilemma: what kind of party theme would be best for this upcoming 4 year old?

He changes his mind daily about it, so I've quit asking him {why should he get a vote anyway, since I am planning and paying for it? Oh! Party IS for HIM. Forgot there. Sorry.}.
What do you think would be easiest?
Cheapest?
Coolest among the 4 year old set?

Any help with party input or experience is greatly appreciated. Unless you suggest a Pimps and Prostitutes theme for my 4 year old. Then I might send that Scurvy Fred Sanford pictured above after you.

15 comments:

Rachel B said...

For my son's 3rd birthday (he didn't really have any friends) we made a type of scavenger hunt for him. I made up flyers for all the things he was gonna get to do that day and we did stuff all day long and he got to open presents several times. Examples of what we did: Breakfast with Grandparents, Lunch at favorite place (McDonald's), Toys R Us (to pick out toy w/ his birthday coupon), Chuck E Cheese for dinner & play, Ice Cream shop for dessert. He loved this. This was fairly cheap because it was only our immediate family and we didn't have to contend with a bunch of kids. Ashton has since grown out of that phase so we'll see what kind of parties I have to get into in the next few years.

Rachel B said...

One other thing, depending on what he's into at the time, you could let him dress up for the events and/or tailor the events around that particular interest.

Rebecca Setzer Schroeder said...

I did a really cool Pirate back yard party when Gabe turned 5! He loved it. It was very reasonable. We did everything ourselves from invitations. It took time but it wasn't expensive. We invited all our friends and family to come dressed in their best pirate gear. My best friend dressed as a gypsy and did mustaches and tattoos on everyone in her "beauty parlor", we had foam sword fights, we had pirate food, made treasure map invites......anyway, I can tell ya all the junk we did and how we did it if you are interested.

Erin O. said...

http://leeamandaandblake.blogspot.com/2009/07/two.html

http://mythreebubs.blogspot.com/2009/07/party-time.html

http://kether.blogspot.com/2009/07/pirate-party.html

http://rhettallen.blogspot.com/2009/07/show-us-where-you-live-friday.html

Just in case you stick with the pirate idea!

phillips phamily said...

Kelly's Korner just did a blog carnival on birthday parties if you're looking for ideas, but I've got no inside scoop on how to do a boy party since we're all girl here.

My girls will be attending a Batman party next month, but our exposure, like I said is minimal to the world of BOY!

Good luck and have fun doing the planning!

Rebekah said...

I like the idea of pirates :) Nathaniel was huge into pirates around that age, I believe he was even a pirate for Halloween that year. You can buy most pirate stuff at the Dollar Tree for.....yep $1. He has gotten so many pirate vests, swords (oh no did Ms. Montessori Teacher over here give her kid a sword?!?!? yep ;) ) eye patches and tons of beads from the Dollar Tree. And you know those red bandanas are not hard to find at the Wally World. If I know O man I think a pirate party would be a big hit!

Ivy said...

I was really disappointed that there are no pictures of the Pimps and Prostitutes party...come on! As far as bday party themes...im voting for the pirate theme!

Becky said...

i took mine to the party store and said choose, and whatever we chose while we were there, that was it. cause mine kept changing their minds too.

Susannah said...

You know I'm not that creative, I had to have help with Anderson's 1st birthday theme. But I do love the video and the pictures of the dog with beads on... :)

Lisa said...

We did a pirate theme for Nicholas's 4th b-day. the kids loved it. I printed invites on brown paper sacks and then burned the edges with a match. I can send a pic if you want. Cheap and really cute! I got pirate swords and eye patches for oriental trading and we had a treasure hunt in our backyard. I had picture clues that took them from place to place. The treasure was candy, bubbles, etc and they each got a bag to take some loot home. For the cake - I made a pirate hat. Cute and cheap! let me know if you want to see pics and need more info.

Mr. and Mrs. Nurse Boy said...

I am so glad you found our blog! You had my husband and me cracking up at the comments about your forehead!!!! Seriouosly, you are funny! Adorable kids, adorable blog. Glad to make a new friend.

As for the birthday party... I've got nothing. My mom makes our cakes and we have presents. End of story. I know, how boring. We have 3 November birthdays, only to be followed by Christmas. We just have to keep it simple.

Mrs. Nurse Boy

meredith said...

Here's a link to my friend Amanda's blog. http://mamadrama77.blogspot.com/2009/05/connors-fourth-birthday-crafty-fun.html
She recently hosted a Robin Hood themed birthday party for her 4 year old little boy, Conner. Hopefully this will give you some ideas!

~Meredith

Musings of a Housewife said...

Pimps and Prostitutes. Oh my word, I'm laughing so hard.

Unknown said...

Love your blog! We did a pirate treasure hunt a few weeks ago - to beat the rainy day blues! (Our boys are close in age!) Our treasure was their morning snack - cookies - hidden under a pile of pillows they had to DIG through in the living room!

((http://annmariedetavernier.blogspot.com/2009/06/treasure-map.html))

Try checking out Oriental Trading company for ideas and cheap party supplies! Nice meeting you "at the Hop"! Hope to see you around!

Donna said...

I say choose the "youngest" theme you can get away with so you can save some that can work for a little older kids in the future. Do you get what I'm saying? An 8-yr-old may like a pirate party, but not a backyardigans or something. Loving scurvy Jason pic with the superorganized closet in the background. We've done the jumpcastle at the house party for the past two years and loved it.

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