Pirate's Booty

Pirates in general didn’t have the best diet…..or I would imagine. All the photos I’ve ever seen their teeth are all gnarly, skin atrocious and overweight. Who knows, they may have been healthy guys but all the photos and drawings like to show awful portraits of the pesky fellows. But that doesn’t mean that your kids have to eat trash at your child’s pirate birthday party.

I’ve never bought Pirate Booty online. We have it here at our Trader Joes. If you don’t have a Trader Joes, there are tons of places online that sell the yummy snack. The full name is Roberts’s Gourmet Pirate’s Booty. Comes in cheddar, bbq, veggie and others. Just do a search for the name and you’ll get lots of results. Enjoy!

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Pirate Party Captain

Just like you might hire a caterer or servers for a dinner party, hire a party “captain.” This gal was part of a package that the birthday boy’s mom purchased at a local store that sells pirate garb. But even if you are having your party at home, you can still do this. Now, I’m not talking about an entertainer. I’m talking about a person who takes the planning that you have set into motion and carries it out. This leaves you to pay attention to the pirates or to other moms.

A college student would be perfect but really any responsible kid could carry it all out. My daughter “big kid helps” at my son’s preschool. She is only 7 and totally guides the little ones in the activities for the day. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be able to carry out the basic functions of a birthday party if she were allowed to be in charge.

Regardless or not if you have someone else run the party for you or it’s you yourself running the party….don your favorite pirate captain’s costume and it will make the party all that much more fun for the kids. And it helps you get into character as well!

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Partly Pre Printed Thank You Note

This card has the child’s name and a cute little image on the front and then this message reads as follows:

Wording:

“Dear________________,
Thank you so much for the
______________________
______________________
That is just what I wished for.
Love,__________________”

I’d love to give the printer credit for the card but they didn’t put their information on the back!!! And knowing this family as I do, I know that they didn’t print them out themselves. I would imagine any of the small custom card printers out there would be more than willing to print the inside of the card like this for you!

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Directions to your Birthday Party

It seemed like for so many years we were inviting friends to our parties who knew our neighborhood. Now, that my daughter is in first grade, we are inviting a whole new set of folks. It’s no longer the kids of my friends who are coming but her friends from school. And not very many of them live in our specific neighborhood so they get lost!!!

Really all it takes is a simple sign that your kids help to make. Or get a couple of extra balloons to tie to the front gate or a stop sign where they need to turn.

Another nice gesture is to put a copy of the directions in the invitation and not just an address. I’m so dependent on my IPhone to get me where I need to go that I forget not everyone has one or uses theirs in that way. This is really easy to do if it’s your home. Just type the directions in a word doc and size it small so you don’t have to resize all the time to print. Save the Directions Document for all the parties you throw.

So, no matter what kind of party you are giving or gathering, it’s helpful to assist your guests in arriving on time and with as little stress as possible!

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Towels for Party Guests

Are you planning an outdoor water type party? If you are having a summer party, it is just too much fun to have it at a water park, where you can turn on a sprinkler or even at a pool if the kids are old enough!

First off, it’s always good to either put on the invitation or on an insert that your guests should bring a swimsuit, towel and sunscreen. But I don’t care who it is or what age party it is…..someone…..will forget one or more of the required water enjoyment items. We’ve been to 3 water involved parties this summer and at the most recent one, another one of the little girl’s mom forgot to bring her swimsuit. Tragic! Luckily, I had taken my swim bag and it had an extra swimsuit in it! It was about 2 sizes too big but the kid didn’t care. All she wanted to do was play in the water.

So, as the hostess of a party that includes frolicking in the water it would be good to remember extra towels, sunscreen and a swimsuit or two. That is if you have extra you are willing to share. Forgetful moms and/or dads will be thankful!

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Ghost Lantern Template

Resources: Heavy Stock Scrap Booking Paper and glue stick found at craft stores like Michaels. Card shops carry velum for letters that can be cut down.

Directions for Project: Halloween Birthday Party Lantern Idea Directions

To See Template:
Click below link through 2 screens.

Ghost Template for Lantern Idea

Image taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Opening Presents

Honestly, this is a tough one. But here goes and these are just my personal thoughts based on going to many many birthday parties and hosting them myself.

For kids younger than Kindergarten age, I’m not sure that it’s necessary. For those kids it can take a really long time even if there are only a few. Most of the time, the kids don’t even know what present they brought and so it’s just not as effective. For those age kids, they can get a bit overwhelmed with even 2 presents but the first one may be something they want to sit down and play with right then. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be much nicer to have the luxury of saying…..”no problem…..we’ll just open the rest of these later.” Plus, if you are trying to have a relatively short birthday party this can lengthen if unnecessarily. BUT, if there is a child who really wants to see your child open his or her present, by all means at the end of the party, pull that one out and open it up right then and there.

Now, for kids Kindergarten and older. Most parents have learned at this point that having a smaller party is better. I’m not one of those but my husband is pushing me towards it! So, let’s start with the small parties. I for sure think you need to open the presents at this age as the kids who come to the party are just as excited about this as your child will be and it can be built into the schedule of the party. If the party is a longer one, let that be an activity during a lul in the scheduled events. While pizza is cooking is the perfect time!

If you are nuts like I am and have a huge party, I couldn’t bear the thought of my daughter opening all her presents during the party. We had 26 kids to come. There were a few who asked when we were opening the presents and for those that were really interested in seeing her open the presents, we did it after most of the kids had gone home and they could sit down in a small group and enjoy it more.

The biggest thing to remember is to assign someone else besides yourself to be in charge of writing down who each present is from. I know Miss Manners says that if you open a present while the giver is sitting there with you, there is no need to send a thank you note. But I just think it’s nicer for the kids to start off early letting their friends know how much they appreciate them. So, no matter if you open the presents during the party or not, it’s good to have a record of who gave what. And it needs to be someone else who is in charge of the list since you will be busy doing other things!

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Kids Making Playdough

Following are some recipes that I’ve accumulated. My favorite is recipe #1. I would recommend you try them all and see which one works best for you. All the recipes for the playdough are very similar. Only slight variations but as with baking, slight variations will make very different playdough.

Play Dough Recipe #1

Directions:
Mix together dry ingredients:
2 Cups White Flour
1 Cup Salt
4 tsp Cream of Tarter

To 2 Cups of Boiling Water, add:
4 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tsp Food Coloring

Pour liquids into the dry ingredients and stir well. When slightly cooled, knead for a few minutes until smooth.

Hint: Use and electric mixer and it’s sooo easy. If you are doing it by hand and the kids are helping, you might choose to put the food coloring into the dough after it is kneaded. And the better or more concentrated the food coloring is, the brighter the color of play dough you will get.

Play Dough Recipe #2

Directions:
Mix together:
1 Cup Salt
3 Cups Flour
4 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 1/4 Cup Boiling Water
Food Coloring

Makes 4 small plastic containers of Play Dough

Play Dough Recipe #3

Directions:
Mix Together in Saucepan,
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
3 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 1/4 Cups Water

Cook above over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes until batter is like mashed potatoes. Pull of stove and let cool. Add food coloring into the mixer or add later when the kids can knead it in.

Be sure and keep the playdough in an airtight container or a plastic storage bag and your playdough can last up to a month!

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Greeting Guests

Saying Good Bye

It’s equally important for your child to say thank you after receiving or opening gifts and to say good bye when guest are leaving and say thanks for coming. This may seem so trivial to some of you reading this but these little details are often either forgotten or allowed to be slipped under the rug. Don’t let these proper manners go by the wayside.

No matter if your child is 3 or if they are 15, it’s never a bad idea to take 30 seconds the morning of a party to go through guest etiquette.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Princess Party Food

Mask any sandwich in an interesting design and kids will eat them. For a Princess Party, cut your sandwiches in a crown design. These were cut with a cookie cutter in the shape of a crown. There were two choices: a cheese sandwich and then a peanut butter sandwich.

In addition to the sandwiches, the Princess Hostess served platters of fruit and cut veggies. That always keeps the moms happy. And it’s very easy to cut up and have prepared ahead of time!

Resources: If you put in a google search “Princess Crown Cookie Cutter” you will come up with many results for the cookie cutter that was used here.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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