A Shark Pirate Party....Arrr!!!

We were so blessed with a beautiful day and terrific weather for Charm's birthday party.  It was a shark pirate party because Charm kept insisting he wanted a shark birthday, and I wasn't quite sure how to pull that off.  I kept hinting that perhaps we could have a pirate birthday party with sharks.  Charm suggested that he could dress up like a shark and chase everyone at the party who was dressed up like a pirate.  Perfect.  Charm's Shark Pirate Party was born:).  

Bill and I had a blast coming up with fun party ideas, but the real reason his party was so special was because he was surrounded by his family and lots of good friends!  Here are some a plethora of pictures from Charm's big day!  (Warning:   The quality of many of these images is not great, but hopefully you'll still be able to get a sense of all the fun we had on Charm's birthday!  I think next time I'll give all camera responsibilities to my sister:).)

Upon entering our house, we had a table set up with eye patches, pirate hats and bandanas:)!

The shark cake and cookies were made by a local baker:

Lucky and I made these fun and edible pirate marshmallows.  The black faces were drawn using an edible marker that we picked up at Michael's.  

The treasure hunt:

Booty Bags

Treasure Maps

Lucky, Charm, Oma and I made maps using Sharpie markers on natural colored duck cloth that was cut to the size of a standard sheet of paper.  Then we just rolled them up and tied a ribbon around each one.

Our Pirate Ship: Bill and I made a flag pole using a spare finial and some leftover closet rod we had in the garage.  The Jolly Roger flag was purchased here.  The crows are Halloween decorations that I've had for a couple years.

The Plank: We used a couple 6 foot boards we had stained for a different project that didn't work out (more on that some day.).  Bill attached the boards to the crates with more than just the rope seen on top.  He used a drill and screws and washers so we wouldn't have to worry about it coming apart with a child on top.  The three foot swimming pool was $6 from Menards and we grew the green alligators for 72 hours in our garage.  (We bought them at Michael's for $1 each with a sale/coupon and they grew quite a bit from their original 4" size.)

The prize for crossing the plank: alligator cut outs from Michael's.

Buried Treasure=A tub of sand + plastic gold coins, gem rings and beaded necklaces.

'Shark Attack' Photo Op:  We had a piece of eucaboard in our garage that we cut to size: 48" x 64" if you're curious about scale.  Bill created a stand for it in the back using spare wood from the garage.  I had to pick up a couple jars of craft paint from Michael's to paint the shark.

Letter initial prize for getting a picture taken in the shark's mouth.  I purchased unfinished wood plaques from Michael's and painted them.

One large treasure chest at the end of the hunt!  This was really a box from our new patio chairs that just happened to open like a treasure chest.  I wrapped it in brown paper that I picked up at the dollar store and added some rope handles.

Party Fun:

Pirate Uncle D.B. handed out small bags of Pirates Booty:)!

Bill and I bought this treasure chest for Charm.  It was about $22 from Joann's with a coupon and was unfinished.  I stained the chest, and then used polyacrylic to seal it.

Please note:  I wish I could take complete creative credit for the party, but I looked to this , this and this blog post for ideas.  (Also, after seeing the Shark Party Link, I realized I should have just listened to Charm initially and created a shark party....but the pirate party invites had already gone out:).  There's always next year?:))