Last year we had a pirate themed party to celebrate our son’s 5th birthday. This year he requested a pirate theme again and I encouraged a twist which resulted in our “LEGO Pirate” theme. And, arrrghh, was it fun, matey!
Thankfully, Trent had the good idea in early spring to book the party at PlayNation where we had his Blast Off birthday party in 2012. We thought indoors might be a winner since July can be quite hot & humid here in NC. We got lucky with unusually cool weather last year, but were doubting we’d be so lucky again. And we were right – it was HOT and oh so humid plus a storm hit while we were inside partying. Combine that with having someone to help set up and do the clean up? It was a win all around.
Having his party at another location also meant I was able to keep our party planning very minimal and simple.
DIY Themed Outfit
Keeping with tradition, I made him a special shirt for the day. I purchased a plain gray t-shirt at Michaels and then decorated using supplies I already had. The LEGO minifigure head was made using yellow fabric and HeatnBond® UltraBond. Next, I made a stencil using freezer paper and my x-acto knife to paint on the face. Finally I added the eyepatch using black fabric and Heat & Bond plus added a little machine stitching to add a bit of dimension.
The LEGO pirate hat was from LEGO KidsFest last year. I found it in the bin of dress up clothes in the playroom and packed it for decoration. Little did I know my son would discover it and want to wear it!
Pirate Party Food
We kept the food similar to last year and I even reused the pirate themed name labels: berried treasure, pirate booty, and Jolly Roger cupcakes. I created a new one (“gold nuggets”) for our addition of chicken nuggets. [Last year’s party was in the morning so we had “shipwrecked sandwiches” (i.e., chicken mini breakfast sandwiches from Chick-fil-a) instead.] I set the food up over a black plastic store bought tablecloth and added a few LEGO minifigure cutouts I created using my Silhouette.
I purchased mini cupcakes from a local grocery store (exactly the same I got for his Four-esta Party). My son helped me with the toppers. We used some leftover pirate flag ones from last year and then I made a few LEGO minifigure head ones using my Silhouette & yellow card stock I had in my scrapbooking stash. I literally got the Silhouette the week before the party so I didn’t quite figure out the print & cut option until it was time for the goody bag tags which meant my cupcake topper heads were all blank. This actually worked out well as he had fun drawing on all the faces and helping me assemble them.
LEGO Goody Bags
On a table opposite the food, I set out a small decorative display with the goody bags. The subway art was an updated version of the same one I have been using at most of his parties since his Cars birthday party. I purchased the big LEGO minifigure head for use at the party and later for LEGO storage in his room. I added a pirate patch leftover from last year’s party to tie it in with our theme.
The goody bags were super simple. I reused small plastic shopping bags from the LEGO store (and realized just how often we go in there when I found we had more than we needed!) and added a small personalized tag I made using the Silhouette. The message read, “Thanks for helping me to ‘build’ a great party!” Then tied on the tags with baker’s twine left from Valentine’s day.
Inside the bags were small wrapped minifigures or a small Duplo set depending on age. Trying to stick with the party theme, we went to the LEGO store and created individual minifigures with a “pirate-ish” look to them for the older kids. Each child got a different one. Then I packaged them in small white bags from Michaels, added labels I created, and sealed the enveloped with the same washi tape I used on the invitations.
I couldn’t quite pull off the pirate theme for the DUPLO sets, but I’m doubting the under 3 crowd minded. I ordered the DUPLO Creative Animals set. It came with blocks for 5 different animals. I built each of the animals and then package them individually in a zippered sandwich bag and added a name label.
All in all, it was very simple and lots of fun. The latter of which was definitely the most important. All the kids were happy, sweaty, and exhausted afterwards. Especially my own two.
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