The Pirate Party!

Well the day finally came!  Eli's 3rd birthday party!  I think I enjoyed it more than anyone!  (I guess that's what it's like to be a mom, huh?)  I planned pretty extensively for this and made some really cool decorations/food, so seeing it all together and being enjoyed by the kids and adults at the party was SO rewarding for me!  And, of course, seeing all these little kiddos playing together and so many huge smiles was just awesome.  I will (and I know the kids will) miss all these people so much when we move!  All the kids were so well-behaved and I really enjoyed meeting the parents--what wonderful people!  So anyway, enough rambling about MY feelings about the party!  Let's talk about the actual party!  Obviously there are lots of pictures, and I can't post them all here, but I'll post the best.  

    For food and decorations, I think the most impressive to they eye were the Jello Oceans and the Melon Pirate Ship.  The Jello Oceans were made by making blue Jello (with slightly more water than called for), putting it in clear cups, and after about 1 hour of refrigerating, pushing in the gummy fish/sharks to where you want them and they'll stay!  The Melon Pirate ship was obviously just carving and slicing and putting together!  (I got tons of these ideas from others on the internet, so they get some credit!!)  I think the most popular eating-wise was the peanut butter cannonballs.  They ran out FAST!  I was told that they tasted like Reese's Pieces.  They were made by mixing 1 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, and some Cocoa Krispies.  Then, I rolled them in more Cocoa Krispies and refrigerated them.  YUM!  Other things I put out were Goldfish crackers, Shark fruit snacks, Deviled egg "boats" (put pirate flags in them), Gummy fish/sharks, and "fruit cannonballs" (melon balls from the watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew I used for the pirate ship and some grapes.)  Of course the cupcakes are always popular, too!  :)  When the guests sang "Happy Birthday," Eli was hugely happy--he had the biggest smile on his face I've ever seen and he was giggling the whole time!

  For games, I had stations set up.  One was for playing the game "Pop-Up Pirate," one was for coloring pictures I printed off the Disney website of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," one was for playing with the Little People pirate ship/accessories, one was to decorate frames with pirate foam stickers to put pictures I took of the kids wearing a pirate hat and holding a hook in and put foam with magnets on it on the back, and the last station was a plastic tub filled with sand where they went on a treasure hunt for necklaces, ring pops, chocolate coins, silver chocolate "nuggets," and pirate rubber duckies.  The kids all had fun with the stations!  I think it was a really fun party and I'm actually kindof sad that it's over!  Oh...one more thing...check out Eli's t-shirt!  There isn't any "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" stuff out yet, so I found this on E-bay--someone who makes shirts from the show with names on them, so Eli's shirt says "Eli and the Neverland Pirates!"  I so appreciate this person's work!  If you want to see more party pics, here's the link to my Facebook pics.!  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100642020397857.2977622.8621722&l=e6444ce026