It's a pirate's life for me....

Arghhh Mateys I'm turning 3!!!

I often fret that I haven't made my little guys birthday parties as special and memorable as I would have liked. Not this time! Gage chose to have a pirate party this year for his third birthday and I'm having the best time planning everything! So check out some of my favorite pirate resources if you are interested in throwing a pirate party or just having a swashbuckling great time with your kids.

Face Painting 

Ideas: courtesy of http://www.maedolls.com/pirategirlparty.htm

Example: Boy Pirate from website

Example: Girl Pirate from website

Decorate Treasure Box:

Here are some examples of inexpensive treasure boxes

I bought my treasure boxes at Joann's Craft Store and used my coupons (you can double up with the iPhone app coupon and mailer :) I also purchased stickers, paint and gems!

Balloon Pirate Sword:

Pirate Sword made with two balloons

Single Balloon Pirate Sword

I haven't had time to test this out yet, but I found a ton of online tutorials on how to create simple balloon pirate swords using a single balloon animal balloon. I'm super excited and will let you know how it goes!

Bandanas:

Buy a couple yards of pirate fabric

Cut in half length-wise

Square off and cut

Fold into triangle and cut again...Viola!!! Pirate Bandana (no need to sew unless you are going to wash)

Tie the bandana on and have a great time!  (see Gage's pix of my bandana!)

Treasure Chest for Favors:

After a long search for a pirate chest that would hold larger size favors for 20+ kids I gave up. Fortunately, one of the mom's at Gavin's preschool was uber crafty and made this pirate chest from a Rubbermaid container. It works great and I'm so grateful she let me borrow it for the party!

Top View

Front

What's Your Pirate Name?

Gage has my favorite pirate name: Swashbuckler Morgan the Dark Heart

Gavin's is:Second Mate Sylvester the Gold

 Addy's is:Admiral Mary Cricket the Dark

Jeff's is:Bartholomew Rough Eye

Mine is:First Mate Esmerelda

http://www.froggynet.com/cgi-bin/pirate.cgi

A Day at the Spa

It's been so long since I posted and I feel like I need a little pampering after such a crazy month. Yet out of madness came such a great idea. I would love a spa getaway and maybe my kids would too. Truth be told I have never seen them so excited! After a long afternoon of running errands and helping me clean house I decided that we needed a little TLC. We enjoyed it so much they are already asking if they can do all the chores tomorrow morning and earn another :) Here are a few of the things we included in our spa day  and some ideas I want to try next time. Hopefully, this will get your creative juices flowing and help you and your kids Zen!

My Crazy guy went bonkers over his crazy hair!!

Head:
~Fancy Hair (let them style yours too for a great laugh)
~Make-up (innocent as chapstick or as divalicious as you like)
~Face Mask (I used cetaphil because there's no need to rinse)
~Beauty sleep mask (with classical music)
~Warm face wrap (warm wash cloth)

Gavin relaxing with his "foot bath"

Body:
~Body Scrub (easy recipe: 1/2 c Brown sugar, 1/4 almond oil/olive oil, drops of vanilla)
~Massage (we formed a massage circle for shoulders then yelled "switch!" then we quickly turned 180 degrees to rub the other person shoulder. They thought it was hilarious)
~Yoga or Peewee palates (my guys lasted 3 moves)

Miss Addy's 1st Pedicure

Feet:
 ~Warm foot bath
~Paint toes

Remember: No spa day is complete without delicious snacks and drinks. We ate fruit kabobs drizzled with honey, mini sandwiches, and drank tea and "spa water" (just water with ice and lemons/oranges/mint or cucumber floating in it).