Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Arrrr… Jayden is 4!

I LOVE planning parties! Especially for people who are going to remember them! LOL! Kid’s parties have got to be my favorite to plan because it takes me back to being a kid myself. The themes, the games, the candy and fun; planning kids birthdays are my number one! hehe… can you tell I just love it!?! 

So this year Jayden wanted pirates. Pirates seem to be the big thing this year, don’t they? I think pirates are cool, but I was not a fan of the whole skull and bones thing… so I had to figure something out to keep that from being the focus. So thanks to some friends on facebook along with the ah-ma-zing-ness of PINTEREST, I’m pretty sure I made a pretty great pirate party for my wonderful little man.

I decided this year we were going to make our own invites because making pirate-like “treasure maps invites” would be so much FUN to do! So I printed them out, cut them up, sanded them down and took a candle to these bad boys and this is how they turned out. I was pretty happy with the end result.

The next major thing to decide was the cake! Since cake decorating is my thing and I LOVE doing it, this had to be good. I saw a lot of ideas but ended up really wanting to do a pirate ship. How cool?! A 3D pirate ship?! 

It would be a challenge but I knew I could do it! I did recruit my good friend Kristin to come over and work on it with me… however working with 4 kids running around isn’t easy so we just got it built and dirty-iced (crumb iced) before she had to go. This cake took me longer than most of my other cakes, but it was totally worth it. My husband said… “Best cake you’ve done yet, hon!” I was pretty thrilled at the way it turned out!!

Last Saturday, October 8th we had Jayden’s 4th birthday party. We held it at my parent’s church so that we would have enough room. (Our house is SO not big enough for things like this.) I painted some old wood that my wood-working father-in-law let me borrow and made signs and decorated the church basement the best I could. Made a dress-up area so all the kids would look like pirates when they got there and made a photo booth so I could get a picture of all the kids dressed up. Set up an awesome kids table just for all the young lads and lasses who would be attending so they could all sit together. 

I wanted to make this party an experience… not just an event. When kids came in they would go to the dress-up area to get all pirated-out and then get their picture taken. After everyone arrived we started games. (1) Pin the treasure on the map (2) Cannonball Pop (3) Treasure hunt to find their goody bags (4) Piñata - to add more candy to their already huge treasure chest full of candy! Kids DREAM! The kids seemed to have a wonderful time. If not… I knew Jayden was having a blast and that’s all that really matters, right?!


Then we went in to get some refreshments and cake. The food was simple because the cake was the big focal point. Plus… this cake was HUGE and it had to be eaten!!! So we sang happy birthday to the birthday boy and dug in. Despite the fact that the fondant melted onto the cake, it turned out pretty well. People seemed to like it and I came home with less than half a cake, so Yay to that!

All in all it was a fantastic birthday! I had fun planning it and people seemed to really enjoy it.  AND... that cake was freaking epic (well at least for an amateur cake decorator)! Thanks to my SIL who got the amazing pictures, because God knows this wouldn’t have been documented if I was the one taking all the pictures!! She did awesome, right?!  Thanks for doing that, babe!  

NOTE: If you have any questions about the party on what I did or how I did them, please let me know!  I didn't want to go into too much because I didn't want to bore anyone, but if you are interested in knowing what was done I would be happy to go over it... maybe in a blog post or something?! ;)


19 comments:

Leah said...

That party looked awesome! I'm sure your son loved every moment of it. :) My son's 2nd birthday is about 6 weeks away and I've already been planning things out in my mind. I'd love to know what kind of food you served at this party? I'm leaning towards appetizers and cake (and not a full meal) and would love to hear your appetizer ideas. :)

Sassytimes said...

Wow. What an amazing birthday party! Wonderful job!

Noe said...

Great Party!! Everything looks perfect! it makes me want to have a kid, so I could plan a party... snif! :(

Mrs. Mama said...

wow! what a beautiful job you did mama. and the pictures i LOVE

Aishlea said...

Oh, WOW!!! You did great!!! it looks fabulous!!!

Katie @ Loves of Life said...

it was awesome, great job ;)

Lauren said...

Oh my word, so super CUTE!!!!!!!! :)

Lauren said...

what a fabulous party! I'm sure Jayden loved it!

Megan Ashley said...

You rock Momma! Amazing party for sure!

I would love to know how you did the cake, and what was all included for the kids to dress up for the photo booth?

Katie did awesome with the pics BTW!!!

Unknown said...

that cakes is just amazing!

Sarah D said...

The cake is amazing! Great job!

Jill@babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, Oh My! said...

What an AWESOME idea! Please share more! I have a little guy and in 3 year this will be the perfect party!! I also have a daycare so always looking for ideas for the kids just to keep them busy!!

Bekah said...

Awesome!! We are having pirate party in about 2.5 weeks for my son Jack. What did you have in the pirate dress up area? I have little hats, and eye patches...not sure on anything else? Red bandanas maybe?

Moments and Impressions said...

You should do this for a living - seriously. Your party planning skills and details are so amazing.

Anonymous said...

How fun and unique! Love it!

Breeann said...

Super adorable!! I love pirate stuff :)

Trina said...

Absolutely adorable party! I'm sure you spent a lot of time on it. Looks amazing!

Hailey @ Me and My Boys said...

Ok, so I'm just now catching up, so I know I'm really late. But you, my dear, are one talented chica. That cake is ridiculous. I can't believe you made that! That party looks so perfect. I bet he had such a great time!
Happy Birthday to your little man!

Sare said...

oh it looks like a total blast!!!!! That cake is AWESOME by the way!!! I so struggle with sculpted cakes! But you're looked GREAT!! Happy Birthday J!!!