Pirate 1st Birthday Party

Arrrrrrgh! We threw a fabulous pirate party last weekend for Matthew's 1st Birthday. I loved planning for this party. We decided to have the party at a city park because they had a {free} splash park that my boys loved to go to. I rented a pavillion so we could have some shade and tables. This meant I only have to decorate one wall which was awesome. (I also didn't have to clean my house only to have it trashed during the party, but that is just a HUGE bonus!)

So, to start, I made these invitations. Aren't they sweet?!



I think they were perfect for a 1st birthday party!

Matthew's outfit had to match the party, of course, so I got him a cute pirate bathing suit from The Gap (several months ago!) and a pirate swim top from Target. He looked absolutely precious. (and in true baby-fashion, he is NEVER fussy, but boy, was he in a mood at the party!!)




I made John's pirate party shirt (directions HERE) and the night before the party I made Brad a pirate shirt using freezer paper. Don't they look so cute?!




For decorations, I decided to go with something somewhat simple. So I made a pirate bunting with blue and black fabrics and a Happy Birthday paper banner.







I actually bought the fabric from The Fat Quarter Shop. (I won a gift card to their online shop so I was able to get all my materail for free! yay!). I found really cute pom pom trim at Joann's. You can't really tell, but I painted 'Matthew' onto the bunting around the table using freezer paper.

I made the 'Happy Birthday' banner by making the pieces using Publisher, printing onto cardstock and cutting them out. Then I put slits on each side of the circle piece and threaded them through blue ribbon. This was SO easy and I love that I can reuse the ribbon after the party!

I wanted to add something pirate-y onto the table so I asked my lovely and handy hubby to make some wood pylons. He took an old fence post and rope and came up with a cute trio. (You can see the pirate ship he made too sitting on the pylons!). Sorry- I don't have a great pic of just the wood pylon BUT they were perfect for the table and added a nice simple touch to the decor.



For the guest tables, I just put a blue plastic table cloth over them, which I am SO glad I did because some of the tables were dirty with bird poop and what not. So gross! I printed off treasure maps for placemats and taped them to the table cloth. I am not really impressed with this, but it would have been SUPER cute if I had crayons at each spot and kids could color or something. But I doubt any of the kids really cared all that much about them.



For food we had sandwiches, brownie bites, cupcakes (with cupcakes toppers I made using printables from cottage industrialist), fruit, chips, and chex mix. Nice and easy! The hardest part was having to keep everything in coolers right up until we ate so the food wouldn't melt in the heat! I found a blow up treasure chest cooler from Oriental Trading. It turned out to be perfect to hold all the drinks for the party.









The favors for the party was one of my favorite parts. I wanted the kiddos to have something they could actually use (don't you hate getting junky favors that you just end up throwing away when you get home?!) and I wanted them to be able to use it at the party. So, I decided to make each guest a personalized swim towel. The older kids got buckets for playing in the water and the younger kids got ocean squirt toys. All kids also got a mini pirate beach ball.






You know, I thought that I would be sewing FOREVER to get the towels done. However, it probably took me 3 hours total to get them done. I used the cricut to cut out the letters (which saved a TON of time!), ironed them onto the towels first (no pinning!) and then sewed a straight stitch around the edge. I love how they turned out and thankfully I was able to find CHEAP towels at Walmart so I didn't spend a fortune on towels. (luckily all guests were 3 and unders so I could get away with buying small towels!)

That about wraps up the party! We had a fun time and it was so laid back since the main entertainment was the splash park. Although I love games and activities, I also enjoyed not stressing out about how to keep everyone entertained during the party. So, here are a couple more pictures of the party in action!





poor Matthew was not interested in eating his smushed cake! :)








I link up to these parties!