Thrifty Birthday Party Fun

Ahoy Matey! Welcome aboard!

I"m going to go through what I did to do a big, yet low budget, birthday party.  My kids get a friend birthday when they turn 5.  Knowing the theme WAY ahead of time helps.  Everytime I go through a sale or clearance isle, I know what I can look for.

 This is where the ship sets in port.

I turned our deck into a ship for the party.  Most everything I had on hand, but I did buy a few yards of material-I have another purpose for all of it and it was about $20.

 Put yer cargo here!

For the signs I downloaded a font that I found on Pinterest-it was free!

 Watch out for Black Beard or he may make you walk the plank!

#1 made the plank out of boards our church had ripped out during construction.  We've collected and repurposed many of them.  I got a lot of my ideas from Pinterest.

 Our sail is up and ready to go.

The mast is a cardboard tube I got at JoAnn Fabrics when I bought some plastic to cover our diningroom table.  It was free.  The jolly roger we borrowed from a friend, and the sail is a table cloth we have.

 The first mate will make sure you get yer pirate gear!

Snug was in charge of passing out gear.  The bandannas were less than a dollar a piece as were the swords that each came with an eye patch.  We had 12 kids at the party so everyone was "outfitted" for less than $2 each.  We got them off Amazon and we have Prime so no shipping costs either!

 I cut the ships wheel out of a big piece of cardboard I got last time I ordered Rosebud's pictures from MPix.  It was helping to keep them stiff during shipping.  We had the large brown paper-we have a big roll of it that was here when we moved in.  The little black and red flags are material that I got that day at JoAnn's, and I will sew them together to make cloth napkins for the kids.

 Here's a side view.

 Sweet Pea enjoyed the very beginning of the party and then hit her berth.

 Rosebud was SO cute.  However, most of her costume was gone about 15 minutes into the party because it was HOT.  I made her costume out of an old dress shirt, and pieces of material.  Her pants are just brown capris.

 LMM didn't care how hot it was, he wore his gear till we went to the pool that night.  A friend gave us his costume when her boys outgrew it.

 I take too many pictures of her.  I can't help it!

 Snug's costume is the same-I made it from things we had around the house and his bandanna is the leftover material from making the little flags.

 I used black acrylic paint to give any of the party-goers facial hair if they wanted it.

 Another friend of ours had this ship and was putting it in her garage sale-she gave it to us for the party instead.

Snug's facial hair.  He was the first mate and LOVED having a job.  

 Before the party even started my kids were on and off the plank.

 #1 was the villain-Black Beard.  Again, I made his costume.  I wore one too, but I never made it into any pictures.  He stole the birthday treasure and the kids had a series of games to play in order to find it.

 Black Beard being apprehended.

 The kids caught him and he actually got whollaped a few times with their swords.

 Part of the birthday treasure was found here in the piñata.  I saw him at Kroger but they wanted $20 just for the piñata!  I waited a few weeks and he clearanced out at $5!  Yay!   He was filled with Easter candy that also went on clearance-none of it even looked Easter-y.  It was like Snickers and Pixie Sticks and stuff.  There were also some pencil toppers that I had from way back when I was a teacher, and some little bubbles that I had as prizes at Snug's 5 year old birthday party.

 Rosebud LOVED hitting the piñata.  We had a stick and after all the kids had two turns we got out a baseball bat.  Everyone had one more turn, then we let Snug have a last whack and as expected Snug+baseball bat= piñata open!

 The kids are throwing "cannon balls" at Black Beard.

Look closely and you can see a water ballon just about to hit #1.  He was then re-apprehended and led them to the rest of the treasure.  

 In the sandbox we had hidden bead necklaces (13 for $1 at Dollar Tree and someone gave us a whole bunch that they'd collected too-tell people things you are looking for.  Often people would love to un-load stuff).  There was also plastic pieces of "gold" that I got on big time clearance after St. Patrick's Day and ring pops.  I had a friend step in and buy 6 on the way to the party as I realized there might be tears if everyone didn't get one.

 The cake was an idea Betty Crocker had on their site.  He was SUPER SUPER easy.

It rained for awhile, but the kids didn't mind.  We had a big cooler of water out for the kids as it was in the high 80s and HUMID.

 I love this man.  Drama type activities are NOT his thing, but he played the part of the pirate so nicely.

 I made (with fabric I had on hand) each birthday guest a bag to put their treasure in.  When they did the piñata I had the bags in a box and as they collected things they brought them to me to put in.  Then I took the bag to the sandbox where they added more.  I then put a thank-you note inside each one, tied it up, and gave it to the parents as the kids left.

I was hoping to get more of these and have them as decoration, but never got around to it.  It is a olive oil bottle.

 After the party it all had to come down.  I think he was a pretty happy little guy.

Happy Birthday LMM!  We love you!!!!