Monday, August 24, 2009

The Pirate Birthday Party- It Takes a Bloggy Village

Just like our mothers and their mothers before them, I slaved over a goofy birthday party trying to make it as accommodating, child AND parent friendly and as much fun as possible. All for a 4 year old who would have had fun chasing a balloon around the playground with a stick. But the pictures for that? Oh, they would have been depressing. And certainly not blog worthy.

So we went for a pirate party. Aarrgghh.

In brief, the weather was amazing. I really owe God one for that. I can't tell you how many people {I think everyone there} commented on how wonderful the weather was. It was about 80 degrees with just enough cloud coverage in the sky and I think I saw some Care Bears sitting on those clouds sending down gentle breezes. And for the end of August in Alabama, that's about like Hades freezing right on over, so we'll take it. And I'll ask Al Gore about global warming later, but that's another post.

This party really fell into place because of you. That's right... YOU! I can't tell you how thankful I am to blog readers and friends all over. If there is anything I have learned, it's that you can't try to plan these large orchestrated affairs birthday parties all on your own. So that's where you stepped in.

I meantioned in this pirate post about possibly having a pirate party. My real life friend {who I originally met in Wal-Mart}, Erin, commented with several links to pirate birthday parties.

First was Amanda's Blog. {Here is her pirate party post.} We started chatting both felt like we knew each other, and it turns out that we grew up together. And played softball together. And so it was quite nice to reconnect. Not only did Amanda share her ideas, she sent me 2 inflatable pirate treasure chests and an inflatable pirate ship cooler! Isn't she awesome?!

My next new friend was Brandi at My Three Bubs. {Here is her pirate party post.} I loved her awesome costume and decoration ideas. And promptly stole them and had a pirate and princess dress up party.

My 2 little pirates

* you can click on one of these pictures and see the whole birthday party set at Flickr.

Then there was Jamie from The Newman News. {Jamie's pirate post, of course.} I completely copied her invitations word for word {I did change the birthday boy's name}, but cheated and sent them via Evite. I also LOVED {READ: Copied} her idea of a treasure dig. It was a huge hit, if I do say so myself.

Taking pride in stolen ideas? I'm not above it.

I would have also stolen Jamie's huge life size pirate ship, but, alas, I ran out of time. So she wins the prize for greatest-birthday-party-throwing-mom. The prize is a nap!

Finally, I owe a HUGE thank you to my friend Lisa from Alexanders in Atlanta. She went out of her way to send me directions for a 3D Pirate Hat Cake.
Twice.
Because I accidentally deleted the first one.

Mine ended up not so 3D,

The Birthday cake that was 3D

but I am going to do a tutorial {ironic, you think?} later this week on how to do it the right way. Not any fault in Lisa's directions, of course. Only in my "following" of the directions at 11 pm on Friday night before the party on Saturday.

And you might notice the candle broke when the cake fell over. My hubs "glued" it back together with icing. He's nothing if not handy in a pinch.

So, I learned a lot this week from YOU and am happy to share at Musings of a Housewife's What I Learned This Week. Jo Lynne has a wonderful blog and is now a fun real life friend, as well. I just love you people. Really, I do.

Thanks for making my job much easier than it was for our mothers and our mothers before them. I guess I will have to take back my global warming crack now and thank Al Gore for inventing the internet. It has served me well, Al.

29 comments:

The Incredible Shrinking Woman said...

(says quietly while looking at the ground and dragging a toe aimlessly in the dirt) I want a pirate party too...

Kara @ His, Hers and Ours said...

See, this is one of the reason's I love bloggy land! The comaradarie is endless!

I love how Granpa even dressed for the occasion, and the pic of you and Ollie is adorable!

Looks like it was a great time, but, I'm wondering how much pizza was left over!! lol

Becky said...

pirate party was a hit for us last year for sure!! the first time i got the boys to agree. i had to ice our pirate cake twice (b/c the first time i accidentally used cookie icing to make the white piping...note to self...very different consistancy.)

o-man looks too cute in his costume.

Emily said...

hill...everything turned out so cute! love o's pirate costume!! and i think the cake looked great, too. looks like a good time was had by all!

Emily said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
erinstwo said...

I LOVE it! They are so cute! Thanks for posting the pictures. You really did get the best August birthday weather ever!

Jamie said...

I'm so glad you were able to use some of the party ideas from Rhett's party. It is such a fun theme. I'm glad you linked to my blog so that I could find your fabulous blog. Your little man is absolutely gorgeous! Oh and I'm just wondering when do I get to claim my nap? HA!

Amanda said...

Thanks for the shout out - it looks like the party was a huge success! Love, love, love the grandpa pirate. Don't those sweet little smiles make it worth all the effort? I love how he is looking at his cake so proud!

Jennifer S said...

you rock! (and the Al Gore comments had me doubled over laughing)

jen@odbt said...

That's what is so great about the bloggy world - so much creativity and generosity. I'm so grateful people share their ideas. What a great pirate party you threw!

Mr. and Mrs. Nurse Boy said...

If you are anything, you are resourceful!! Love the cake and the Al Gore jokes!!!

Mrs. Nurse Boy

Unknown said...

Looks like it was a great party! I'm glad the weather turned out so nice for you. We lucked out in July for Sam's party too. Nice to have a summer party without melting. Looking forward to your tutorial!

Lauren said...

Wow! You did a great job! This makes me very worried about all the birthdays in our future. Did I mention my child was born one week before Christmas? Yes, that would be 7 days. I think we will be having un-birthday parties in the summer for her! I could never orchestrate what you did, much less a few days before Christmas!

Goat Gal said...

Great cake! What a fun theme! Glad the weather was wonderful!

Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect said...

Nice way to come full circle with Al! And what a fun party. I'm off to look at your pics now!

Sandy @ The Scoop on Balance said...

Hillary!

Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by my blog and for following me. I LOVE your blog. It's beautiful and witty...everything I love in a friend.

Blessings,
Sandy

LauraLee Shaw said...

DARling!!!! How fun is this, and what a cutie patootie!

Melissa Angert {All Things Chic} said...

you looked like you had one happy pirate there. i'm sure it was all worth it!!

Unknown said...

Love the idea of a pirate party - if a succumb to this in a moment of weakness, I know where to find all the links and inspiration I need!

Isn't our bloggy community wonderful.

Hi from N Ireland.

ohAmanda said...

Wonderful. I'm planning on doing a pirate party for my son's 2nd birthday. Thank you for planning it!

Sabrina said...

What a great idea for a party. I love the pirates and princess idea!!! Looks like the family had a great time!!!

The Buntens said...

Love the cake! So cute.

Musings of a Housewife said...

Awwwww, WHAT FUN!!! I'm planning my daughter's 4th birthday party for October. I'll take all the help I can get! (And I'm praying for weather like yours.)

Brandi said...

Whew, I am waaay behind on reading. Looks like he had a fantastic birthday!!! :) Great job!

TexasBobbi said...

Wow, what a fun birthday party. Can you plan my son's first the thought of planning that terrifies me.

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