A Pirate's Life for Me! A Pirates of the Caribbean Party Done Frugally: Invitations, Treats, Favors, Decorations & Even a Shipwrecked Cake!

Hi there and thanks for stopping over!
You must have pirate-crazy kids if you're here;
 the whole Jolly Roger / Black Pearl scene is pretty cool, huh?
When it's not ruthless, bloody and inhuman.
But let's focus on the, well, fun of the seafaring life, shall we?
My son turns 12 tomorrow~ yikes!
How did a dozen years go by already?
And honestly, he's one sweetheart, stand out kid.
....you've 'heard' me gush, if you're a regular here.....
His birthday post with photos through the years is coming soon.... :)
A couple of weeks ago,
 we held a Pirates of the Caribbean party for him.
Since then, Thanksgiving,  living our advent traditions 
and preparing for Christmas have all  taken precedence.
I've not had time  til now to really organize the bash in words and photos.
My little man may seem a  bit on the older side for a
pirate theme, but as a budding thespian who 
performs in much community theater,
he's heavy into and  oh-so hooked on
.....ha, see what I did there.....
the actors in both
 Once Upon a Time, namely the "devilishly handsome" Hook,
aka Killian Jones~ 

and  ne'er do well, but hilariously self deprecating 
 Jack Sparrow, one of his all time
 favorites, Johnny Depp...

In fact, I personally can't stand the POTC movies, but 
my crazy kid has seen each of them only
about twice and has. each. movie. memorized. 
I kid you not. The entire movie.
He memorizes whole movies, tv episodes and plays "by accident," he claims.
So since he's been a walking wiki on all things OUaT and POTC,
a pirate birthday theme was a no brainer!

The birthday boy pretty much came up with all the aspects of the pirate-y theme,
from the invitation ( we made a cool one
and if you, too, are having a pirate-y themed party, email me and I'll
be happy to send it to you)
to the decor, to the treats,  the favors and the music.
We even salvaged a shipwreck of a cake.
Ok it looked far from impressive, but it did look authentic pirate.
Extra icing and a wealth  of paper  and candy 
skull and crossbones  decoration do wonders.
And luckily big brother had the honor of DJ-ing!
So here we go~

~Decorations and preparations~

We bought a box of banner letters and paper fasteners 
at Walmart
to string up pirate expressions!

ARRRG
and
AHOY MATEYS

Next came the Dolloar Tree skeletons with the AAA battery operated blinking green eyes
which we had on hand from Halloween....

hung with a gruesome warning.......

...apparently depicting a morbid movie scene!

Lots of candy making in the kitchen!

Chocolate molds of the skull and crossbones, etc were artfully crafted....

...And the day of, we iced, labelled and set up the pirate bounty!

Do ya love the rigging we have going on  with the crutches holding up
our turtle's nighttime lamp?
I've said it before, we've got decorating style....!

Anyway, all of the serving accessories save that pretty cupcake display,
were purchased at the Dollar Tree.

Pirate-y photos, fish nets and blue lights strung around the house

gave a nautical "glow."

~Pirate treats~

Sorry I can't  turn these few shots, no matter what I do!

All the food was Pirates of the Caribbean -inspired and
 conjured  by the birthday boy.

A close up of the handmade chocolate~

...and more goodies concocted with yellow chocolate and dark chocolate:

...with Dollar Tree pirate coins strewn around~

Blue jello and candy skulls~

~~The cake~~

What we used to decorate and make, above and
what came out of the pan, below~!

With a lot of patience and time, we salvaged it:

 ~~The favors~~

This year they were simple, frugal and very appreciated.
Clear favor bags from Michael's, decks of cards--- 2/$1 at Dollar Tree,
pirate themed pencils and skull and crossbones bandannas. 

tied up with red ribbon.

~The music and fun~

Ghost stories and marshmallow roasting~

Older bro provided music, complete with garage-sale bought disco ball!

And THAT pretty much sums up the revelry among the local pirates~!
I don't share pictures of kids other than my own here on my blog;
so all the group shots around the cake, campfire and the "dance floor"
are still on the memory card.
Great,smiling faces and tons of fun with all his friends.
He's very lucky to have them...and they, him!

For my little guy's actual birthday, we have a quiet but fun day planned
which includes a trip to IHOP, strolling around a local port town which is super festive at this time of year, his brother's track meet,  cake, simple gifts 
and  a Christmas-y movie/video of his choice.

~The birthday tree~
I create a birthday tree for my boys to display  photos of them
throughout each year and "charms" depicting their hobbies and interests.
It's easy and they love a special tree dedicated to them!
This post gives the how-to.
Here's a quick shot of the almost- birthday boy's 10 birthday tree:

Before I close, may I share some good news and ask a favor!?

Campfires and Cleats has been nominated in THREE categories

 at the Homeschool Post Blog Awards #HSBA2014 and

I. Am. Thrilled!

It is truly an honor and I'm blown away!

May I ask you to please click over and vote?

It's quick and easy. 

I promise.

Here are the three links...

just click my blog name and then scroll down a touch to 

click on the "vote" button.

Best Encourager Blog

Best Photos Blog

Best Homeschool Field Trip/Nature Blog

Thank you for spending some of your precious time today

here at my home on the web! 

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THANK YOU!

Until next time,

~Chris