5 Years Old - PIRATE BIRTHDAY!! Arrr

Well me hartey's Alissa's 5th birthday party was a cannon blast! Here is The Dread Pirate Mommy getting in character before the little pirates arrived. And Grandma Adams hard at work turning her back deck into a pirate ship!! Alissa was in pirate heaven!

The party got started with a game of pin the treasure on the map -- arrr and the winners got to select a prize from the pirate treasure chest. Next we headed outside where there were hidden 5 gold coins.. the kids went on a hunt and whoever found a coin traded it in for a prize! Then we went inside and played a game of musical islands - -you see the islands pictured below. These are the islands from Pirates of the Caribbean online game -- authentic pirate matey! After our musical island game it was time for pizza and a pirate ship cake! Then out to the pirate ship to take a wack at the world's strongest pinata with a boat oar. It took every child, plus one adult and we still couldn't crack the thing. No worries!! The Dread Pirate Mommy tore it apart with her bare hands!! ARRRRR!!After the undestructable pinata it was time for BURIED TREASURE!! That's right.. if you wanted a goodie bag from THIS party you had to grab a shovel and start to dig. Of course I was given much grief because the kids had to really dig to get to their loot hehe.. but it made it more special in the end! The fact that all the kids were covered head to toe in mud...well, whats a pirate party without a few dirty pirates? With our treasure found it was time to come inside and open presents. To avoid this becoming chaotic we made it into a game. We played "spin the looking glass" .. yes the looking glass HAPPENED to be a bottle..which caused a few snickers amongst the adults.. but Alissa LOVED the game as she sat in the middle of the circle while everyone held their gift for her, spun the..ahem..looking glass and whoever it pointed to she got to open their present. It worked wonders to keep everyone seated and under control.

Ahh but that was not the end of our pirate games. After presents were opened and the kids were sufficiently exhausted everyone was asked to pick out one balloon. They were then told that inside three of the balloons was a slip of paper with an X on it. And..you guessed it.. the kiddos who found the paper with the X got a prize! (We were big on prizes hehe). The kids had a greattime popping balloons and claiming their loot. That a fun party!! We said our goodbyes.. YO HO HO and The Dread Pirate Mommy and Grandma grabbed a bottle of rum! Ok ok..merlot..slight technicality there... and with rum/merlot in hand promptly collapsed into a tired heap on the couch.

Party hats - $5

Cake - $20

Happy 5 year old pirate - Priceless.