Underwater on a rainy day

The Under the Sea birthday party was a success. Well, as much of a success as having 14 kids between the ages of 4-6 stuck inside on a rainy day can be!

Luckily I had spent some time decorating our family room. I just didn't trust the weather folk who kept telling us it would clear (which it did, 20 minutes after everyone left). The bottom half of the walls were covered in craft paper so the kids could draw fishy things and sign their names.With kids everywhere, getting a good picture was hard. And since I didn't get parental permissions to plaster their kids' faces all over the internet, you'll have to make do with backside shots and the occasional mug from kidster #1, the birthday boy.

We made fishing poles out of shovels, went fishing, and used the fish we caught to "stick the fish in the ocean".

I made flippers for each of them (how do you like the fish on my head? Ha!)and then goggles and snorkels rounded out the attire. It was supposed to be a scavenger hunt, but I didn't want kids all over the house so I sort of just handed everything out. (Bummer.) We swam like our favorite fish and had a few other swimmingly fun games before cake and presents.

The birthday boy was happy and that made me happy.

Back to normal

I thought I'd start you off laughing :)

The pirate invasion has ended and they have sailed off to find deserted islands. It was loads of fun and the weather held out, just barely! I managed to get everything done in just about a week!

I built a ship out of cardboard that they could climb into for photo ops (we have this awful brick fireplace thingy, so really I just wanted to cover it up!). No time for sails, unfortunately. Maybe next time. I did manage a few flags for the yard though.

We had tattoos, made Oceans in a Bottle, had a "Dress Like a Pirate" scavenger hunt (complete with corny made up rhymes from yours truly). They had to find parrots, hooks, eye patches, sashes and gold beads. I had some eye patches and bought the beads but made the parrots, hooks, and sashes. It's hard to see the parrots in this pic since they are falling over, but you get the idea.

Then they used their hooks to fish for pretzels! That was so cute. After that we had to stop our rival pirates from cannonballing our ship. The Pop the Cannonball game was as hilarious as promised! After some pirate playtime it was time for pirate cupcakes and presents.

Overall it was a fun party and I think the adults were entertained, too! Not my goal, but certainly a nice outcome.

On the knitting front, I finished another hat for the charity baseball game on Sunday. I had started before I spent the week making pirate stuff, and finished it Sunday night. So even though I didn't finish it in two days, I did finish it in two days! Let me know if you like it in Ravelry!

Goin' Pirate

Aye me hearties! Been piratin' around the briny deep. Shiver me timbers! Look what treasure I looted. Get ye very own swashbucklin' pirate name! Have fun ye ol' seadogs, or be off to feed the fishes!

Signed,
Cap'n Elanor Bluebeard
aka Pirate Helga the Well-Tanned
(Knee deep in pirate party stuff, with fingers unglued now.)

Did you know you can go pirate on Facebook? I just did it and it's hilarious.
I really get into my planning, maybe too much (\;0

Googly boogly

I know those googly eyes are around here somewhere...I can't seem to find them ever since I hot glued my fingers together.

My new job...

This week, I've got a new job. I'll be spending it figuring out how to turn my backyard into a Five Year Old's Pirate Birthday Adventure for a dozen preschoolers. The ideas in my head look so great, now it's just a matter of being able make it happen in real life. I'm thinking ships and sails and flags! But remember about my stick figure dysfunction? Aye, matey.

Oh please, please, please don't let it rain.

This was last year. It was a "Build Your Own Ice Cream Sundae" Party. A trip to Home Depot for a roll of construction tape that we put everywhere, a dozen balloons, and a few signs seemed to do the trick. We decorated our toolbelt aprons and had a scavenger hunt to fill them up (with kidsters' play tools).

Then we played Stick The Tool In The Toolbox. I put some paper behind play goggles as the blindfold. (Don't you just love duct tape?) The pinata didn't work out so well, as the first child (mine) pulled the magic string and opened it up. Instead of a five minute time killer it was over in one. So we wont be doing that again this year.

Oh please, please, please don't let it rain!