A Pirate's Life For Me



On vacation in 2010 at Nags Head North Carolina



              Time moves by so quickly but we never seem to notice until an event, like my grandson's 8th birthday party. All three of my grandson's are growing up way to fast for me to get a grip on it.I can still remember when I was small and family members made those same comments and I thought to myself, are you kidding me I can't grow up fast enough!

Well now I want time to slow down and give me a chance to catch my breath. I swear these kids were born yesterday....or so it feels.I know the day will come when I won't have any little ones to help give cute little parties for. So I am enjoying each and every moment while I can.



Soda pop and sparkling juices with his own private label



He and I share so many similar traits. Like for example,I worry constantly about everything,and so does he. Another example I have always been a crafter of all sorts,and so is he. I have an attention issue as I've mentioned before,and sadly so does he. I'm a talker,which could explain the blogging,and boy, oh boy is he. Even funnier is how we share almost the exact same tastes in foods. When we eat out ,it doesn't matter what I order he will want mine over his.

From the moment he could walk and talk he has been my private jester,entertaining me at every visit. When we visit which is often since we all work together,he finds a reason why I need to be in his room alone with just him.It's in there that he will show me a dance he's discovered or a song he loves or a game we need to play together.Whatever it is he will do what he can to turn it comedic to make me laugh. He is a kind,sweet,very mannerly little boy who can melt our hearts with a smile.

 So this year we decided to do a pirate party Arrrgghh! Our plans were just to have a simple party with the usual decor from the party store. But the day before the party Amy came up with the idea of making the wood stove hearth area into a pirate ship. We truly had no idea how on earth we would make this happen.

After discussing a million ideas she came up with 2 tri-fold presentation boards. We drafted the men into this pirate adventure and had them tape the two boards together. Then we glued the brown paper to it using an adhesive spray glue.
With a black permanent marker I drew lines on the paper giving it the look of wooden boards with nails. At this point I realized it needed something more. That's when I noticed the black paper plates she had picked up to serve the birthday cake on. So shiver me timbers we now have port holes!

The best part was when we stood back and wished we could give the ship some sort of sail.I mean all good pirate ships would have sails. Luckily she had bought an old curtain at the Goodwill just in case. That's when Papa came up with the idea of where to set the sails,giving the stove pipe the real look of a mast. We then began to think that the finishing touch would be a steering wheel for the birthday captain and his first mates. Amy came up with the brilliant idea of using a saucer from a flower pot. Papa made a quick base with a 2x4 that the steering wheel/saucer was nailed to,leaving a little room in order for it to be able to turn.



Birthday boy wearing his pirate party hat I made him

As we began to clean up I thought it still needed something more ,an octopus! I mean any self respecting pirate ship should have a scary creature from the sea. So luckily she had 2 yards of green fleece. I simply stuffed the head with polyfil and wrapped string around the neck. I quickly cut out eyes from felt and glued them on. The legs were made from cutting the body into strips and tying knots for a look of tentacles. Well he may not be all that scary but I think he's rather cute.

 We knew we were limited when it came to games since our world was covered in ice and snow. So we set up a treasure hunt through the house with Captain Preston leading his mates. Each clue lead to the next which then lead them to the band of scally wags armed and ready to defend their pinata treasure chest. This I wish I had photos of. Papa,Daddy, and Uncle JJ all armed with foam swords and bandannas. Of course they lost the battle and the pinata was beat until the booty poured out all over the floor.
Here's an example of clue number one.

 I made him and my youngest grandson each a small treasure chest with a map and jewels. You can't tell from this photo but I did some wood burning and really got hooked on that process. What amazes me is our parents let us do that when we were pretty young. That thing gets as hot as a welding torch,it's a wonder we don't all have pirate scarces from that 1950's-1960's popular hobby.

The red heart was an idea I had from The Pirates of the Carribean movie where they had to capture the heart of Davy Jones. Skulls, gold doubloons,old keys and jewels from a kings ransom to finished it off.

Amy had the brillant idea of just leaving the balloons on the ground instead of using helium. It saved the kids constantly jumping up to try and get a hold of them. This way they could kick them and toss them around....really kept them busy.

 Then it was time to decorate the dining room as well. After we trimmed it all out with the usual party fare we decided another octopus would be needed. It just so happened she had purchase an old beat up fleece blanket from Goodwill that same day just in case.

Amy made some great chocolate sucker pops for the kids to add to their loot. She also made a board for each child to be blind folded and made to walk the plank,which was a real hoot to watch.

Then it was time to present the cake. Oh what a cake it was! Our local bakery Sweet Stuff I believe gets excited when she comes in to order. She always presents them with a challenge. Like the Avatar birthday we did last summer for my niece, or the 18 birthday for a neighbor girl ( who is a foster child) and she's grown very close to. Or the 15th birthday for Patrick that we did like a carnival,but his cake was an Ipod which was very realistic. And my favorite was my Harry Potter cake for my, well lets just say my waaaay over 50 party.

So it's on to the next grandson's birthday.Our youngest grand-kiddo is turning 5! Yeek! If only we had rewind button!

Our youngest doll baby will turn 5 very soon!

I am linking this post to Crafty Friday and Creative Friday. Stop by and check out the great crafters.