I love birthdays!! I love to celebrate the one day a year that is set aside for one special person in your life, whoever it may be!!! My parents always had a celebration for my brother and me on our birthdays growing up and it made me feel special...which is why I always have fun planning Josiah's birthday. Kids birthday parties are so fun!!! Probably about 3 months or so before his birthday, we started talking about what theme he would like to have and looked online and in magazines to find a theme. He really would have loved to have had a Peter Pan party, but since the movie is not released at the time from Disney it is almost impossible to find anything Peter Pan. He really LOVES pirates, but neither one of us was a fan of the skull and cross bone party stuff. That is when we found party items for Jake and the Neverland Pirates (a show in the Disney Channel). Peter Pan has made guest appearances on the show over the last year, so Josiah was super excited to have Jake as his birthday party theme. After looking on Pinterest (best ever place to get party ideas) I started planning. I knew I wanted to make a cake, I wanted to have games for the kids because he is at the age where playing party games is possible/fun and I wanted him to remember this special day!!! My list making had begun.
I wanted to save as much money as possible, because we all know birthday parties add up. I started with making our own Pin the Patch on the Pirate Game. I printed a coloring sheet off of DisneyJunior.com and took it to Staples and go it enlarged to a 16x20 size. I colored Jake the Pirate and cut little patches (ovals) out of card stock. Each child had a patch with his/her name on it. I took the colored pirate and patches back to Staples to get them all laminated. I knew I also wanted the kids to be able to make a treasure chest of some kind so I went to AC Moore, Jo Ann Fabric and Hobby Lobby to look at our options. Since we had children coming to the party ranging from age 10 months to 12 years old, I knew I had to have something that work for them all (or at least most of them). While looking online I found some papier-mache chests that I decided would be perfect and way, way cheaper than buying the wooden ones I was going to buy at Hobby Lobby. If we ended up doing the wooden ones I was going to have the kids all paint theirs, which in the end would have been one big mess and I would have had to have a lot more supplies. I ended up spray painting the papier-mache ones gold and getting jewel stickers for each child to decorate their chest. That worked out so much better than my original plan and I am so glad that it did. We also had a pirate ship pinata that was a hit and I bought a bag of gold coins for the kids to go on their own treasure hunt.
The week of his birthday party I kept checking the weather, since we were planning to have the party at the park. One day it would say 10% chance of rain, the next it would be 0% chance and then 20%. So by Wednesday I decided it would be best to reserve our apartment clubhouse...so glad it was available because by Friday the forecast for Saturday was 100% chance and it definitely rained!!! Regardless of the rain, I think the party couldn't have gone better. The room was big enough for everyone invited and the kids seemed to have a great time...and since it was in one room that meant the kids were confined to one area versus having to yell all over the park to get them to do a game or lunch.
After a late night Friday night (actually early Saturday morning at 2am), my mom and I got a few hours of sleep before getting up to finish the final touches to food. We had everything packed in boxes and drove over to the clubhouse to set up. I couldn't have done it without my mom! She made another awesome veggie tray (she has made one for all 4 of his birthday parties) and she ended up making the fruit salad that I was planning on doing but took extra long making and decorating the cakes. She also did so many more things that helped us both to be able to even go to bed that night!!! Setting up the clubhouse went smoothly with my mom putting the food out, my dad and Josiah hiding the gold coins, Josh going to pick up the subs from our local grocery store and I decorated the rest.
When the kids arrived they were able to pick up their pirate gear all labeled with their names on each (that is the teacher in me)...a hook, a telescope, an eye patch, and their choice of a colored bandana. (there were 12 kids, there were 12 different colored bandanas so each pirate could have their favorite color and look unique). The kids played and mingled for a little while until most of them had arrived. I allowed them to begin decorating their treasure chests with the jewel stickers (and each chest had a surprise of one piece of gold in it). After everyone was finished decorating we set them out to search for gold. My dad and Josiah really did a great job with the space we had hiding 150 pieces of gold...some in easy places for the little ones, and some a little more difficult for the older kids. I think they had a lot of fun searching for gold and being able to take it all home in their treasure chests.
After allowing them to play for a little while, we then went on to doing the Pin the Patch on the Pirate Game. We covered all of their eyes with a pirate sash, but for the kids over the age of 5 we also spun them a few times to make it fair! The winner of this game won a foam sword! After this game we went on to having lunch. We had subs with all of the fixings from the local grocery store that were absolutely amazing (I want to buy a tray just to have our lunches made for a week at home...they were that good), a veggie tray, fruit salad, chips, gold fish, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for kids who don't eat subs, and drinks. After everyone ate lunch we moved onto the pinata...which of course brought lots of excitement from the kids. We had the kids line up on a line and each child was given a little gift bag with his/her name on it. Each kid got to take a few swings at the pinata on their turn. (We eventually went from a foam bat to a wooden one...glad we had both with us). The pinata was finally busted and the kids went diving for the goodies inside! The child who busted open the pinata also got a foam sword to take home!
Then we moved on to cake. Josiah asked for a chocolate cake. I had made a pirate ship cake (chocolate) and a treasure chest cake (vanilla pound cake and I got the idea from pinterest). For my first time really decorating a cake by hand and by scratch it turned out pretty well. Josiah loved it and that is all that counts! They didn't turn out as bad as I thought they would, but not as good as I had hoped! Let's face it...I am no Cake Boss and never plan on opening my own cake shop! At 1:30am Saturday morning, I told my mom to remind me to never do that again, but to be completely honest I am sure I will do it again next year. He is worth it and making the cake is fun for the most part.
Opening gifts was the last thing we did. Josiah was so excited to have all of his little friends there and it cracks me up that at every kid party you go to the kids all start off sitting down while the child opens his/her gifts and then by gift #2 or 3 they are swarming around the birthday child to see what they got. Luckily I was able to remember each gift and who it came from in order to write correct thank you notes!!!
All in all the party went great and smooth!!! Each child went home with some pirate gear as well as a small goodie bad and a homemade coloring book I made out of coloring sheets from the Disney website. Josiah had a blast and was so excited about turning four! I can't believe he is four already!!! I am so grateful for that little boy....we love him more than we ever could have imagined. He brings so much joy to our family and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for entrusting us with him!!!! He truly is a blessing!!! And, the next day he asks, "Mommy, can I have another birthday tomorrow because that was fun??!!!" Him saying that made all of the hard work of planning and late night of decorating completely worth it!!! His smile was priceless!!!!
When the kids arrived they were able to pick up their pirate gear all labeled with their names on each (that is the teacher in me)...a hook, a telescope, an eye patch, and their choice of a colored bandana. (there were 12 kids, there were 12 different colored bandanas so each pirate could have their favorite color and look unique). The kids played and mingled for a little while until most of them had arrived. I allowed them to begin decorating their treasure chests with the jewel stickers (and each chest had a surprise of one piece of gold in it). After everyone was finished decorating we set them out to search for gold. My dad and Josiah really did a great job with the space we had hiding 150 pieces of gold...some in easy places for the little ones, and some a little more difficult for the older kids. I think they had a lot of fun searching for gold and being able to take it all home in their treasure chests. 
After allowing them to play for a little while, we then went on to doing the Pin the Patch on the Pirate Game. We covered all of their eyes with a pirate sash, but for the kids over the age of 5 we also spun them a few times to make it fair! The winner of this game won a foam sword! After this game we went on to having lunch. We had subs with all of the fixings from the local grocery store that were absolutely amazing (I want to buy a tray just to have our lunches made for a week at home...they were that good), a veggie tray, fruit salad, chips, gold fish, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for kids who don't eat subs, and drinks. After everyone ate lunch we moved onto the pinata...which of course brought lots of excitement from the kids. We had the kids line up on a line and each child was given a little gift bag with his/her name on it. Each kid got to take a few swings at the pinata on their turn. (We eventually went from a foam bat to a wooden one...glad we had both with us). The pinata was finally busted and the kids went diving for the goodies inside! The child who busted open the pinata also got a foam sword to take home!
