When it comes to celebrating our sweet boy, I spare no expense and pull out all the stops! I LOVE throwing a party and in my true type A fashion, I gave attention to every detail. Some of the pictures below were taken after the party due to time issues, but here is our party in detail...
Welcome to Captain Nicholas' third birthday party! It was cool and rainy, but we didn't let that stop us!
I didn't use my Cricut as much this year because I bought printables, but I did use it make the striped pennants and the letters. The polka dot pirate pennants came with my printable file, but more on that later. This was originally to hang on my fence over the gift table, but with the rain, we had our gift table in the foyer and hung this over the fireplace. I failed to get a picture of the mantle finished, but it had lanterns, a framed picture, and a centerpiece jar (you'll see that in a few pictures) in the center.
I also made a banner with my Cricut to hang over the drink table. I strung everything with twine.
My very most favorite thing I decorated was the table to eat at. We moved our patio furniture out and put up 2-6ft tables and 12 chairs to make the eating area. The kids LOVED it and I couldn't have turned out any cuter!
I used 2 black vinyl table cloths from Party City and a red and white stripe fabric from Hobby Lobby for the table covering. I found packs of treasure maps at Hobby Lobby for placemats then placed party hats, telescopes, red cups, napkin, and silverware for each child at their place.
My centerpieces were my absolute most favorite creation! My printables included 4 inch circles with I paired with 5 inch striped circles I cut on the Cricut and hot glued them to a rod. Tied some ribbon on them and stuck them in a mason jar filled with sand, shells, and a gold coins. I LOVED how cute they turned out!
They were each 2 sided off of 4 different designs.
As always I used my island in the kitchen for my food buffet. We went small and simple with food this year and I'm glad we did. It was plenty without a lot of work.
We got 2-6ft subs from Walmart in 3 different meat/cheese combos. I cut the sails from the same printable file.
My mom cut a watermelon pirate ship. I loved what a fun decoration it was!
We had chicken bites for the kids. I printed toothpick flags from the printable file. All of our food tents were also from the same printable file.
Now for the centerpiece of any party, the cake table!
For the 2nd year in a row I used cupcakes instead of one large cake. This is for two reasons: 1. Nicholas specifically asked for "chocolate pirate cupcakes" and 2. I enjoy being able to visit with our guests and see Nicholas eat his cupcake rather than cut cake. It makes things so much more enjoyable and easier!
I made the cupcake toppers from my printable file, cut with a 2 inch circle punch, then paired with 2 1/2 inch circles cut on the cricut. I glued them to a black coffee stir stick. I also had wooden pirate motifs such as anchor, treasure chest, ship, and treasure map placed on the cupcake tower to add a little more decor.
I found a $9.99 wood box at Hobby Lobby which I filled with gold candy. I printed stickers and cut with a 3/4 inch circle punch to personalize the candies.
We served single serve ice cream inside of cupcake paper to add a little something to them as well. I wanted something other than just the plan plastic cup.
I also made chocolate lollipops again. This year we found a mold online a few months ago (I actually can't remember where I found it) and made 50 lollis.
Outside we had a canopy from Academy Sports off of our covered patio where my aunt helped me by face painting (although no one wanted their face painted) and applying pirate tattoos. The kids loved having pirate tattoos! I printed this sign from my printable file and attached it to a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper for additional detail.
One thing I wanted to do to make our party a little more fun, was instead of traditional favors, we handed out small $.99 buckets from Party City and had each child fill it from our "treasure chest"...also known as a trunk I got from my parents house before they were going to sell it in a yard sale!
I wanted to have a special social media hashtag for any pictures that went on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, so I started using this one a couple of weeks ago and it was so fun to see everyone's pictures at the end of the night on Instagram! I highly recommend doing this for parties!
A lot of what you see what Pinterest inspired, but with additional details to make each thing different. I have to say that this party was by far the most fun to craft and it was even more fun that Nicholas sat down with me and looked at pirate party ideas and told me what he wanted. I love that he is started to get involved with his parties!
Now for a list of our party resources:
Invitations and Printables: Amanda's Parties To Go, Etsy
Cupcakes: A friend who has made Nicholas' cakes and cupcakes since he was 3 months old!
Pirate Hats, Telescopes, Eye Patches: Amazon.com
Gold Coins, Necklaces, Rings, Balloons, Tablecloths, Plates, Cups, Napkins, Silverware, Buckets, Candles: Party City
Scrapbook Paper, Ribbon, Sand, Shells, Paper Straws, Placemats, Chocolate for mold, Pirate Sign, Pirate flag (didn't get used because of rain), fabric for tables: Hobby Lobby
Mason Jars: Walmart
