B's First Birthday

It finally came. B's first birthday. I want to make sure this post doesn't get too weepy about my little man turning one, so let's keep it straight to business and I'll show you how we threw an awesome pirate-themed party on a budget. I gathered most of my ideas through my board on Pinterest (you can see the whole board here), so I'll give credit to each of the sites as we get to them. Also, I had plenty of help from my family members that were visiting so when I say "I" going forward it usually means "we" :)

Our homemade, pieced-together pirate costumes

Let's start with invites. We wanted to do something fun an memorable and knew the majorty of people that were being invited lived nearby, so we opted for a hand-delivered option rather than standard invites. We were came up with a message in a bottle concept. Now, keep in mind, the bottles alone were $1 a piece from the dollar store, but initial plans were to have them double as favors later. I'll get to that part in a bit...Anyway, so we had the bottles, a little chalkboard paint covered up the oil/vinegar labels Then I wrapped some twine around the top, threw in some "play" sand from Wal-mart and some sea glass and jewels that were on sale at Michaels. I also got the paper for the invite at Michaels. They had decorative scrapbook paper 6 sheets for $1.00. I printed them and then we burned the edges to give it that "rustic" look.

Total invite: $2.13.

Just painted over the label with chalkboard paint

Found some catchy pirate lingo online

 

 

All of our guests were going to come through the front door, so we had to do somethign fun. I saw this wreath and thought it would be perfect! I had to re-create it! Once again, I hit the Halloween section at Michaels and supplemented with the wooden crafts at Hobby Lobby to make this wreath. Total cost about $15. 

 

 

 Then came time to decorate the house!

 

 

The birthday banner was made with 2 large posterboard pieces, $.97 each, from Wal-Mart and twine from Hobby Lobby (A large spool that was originally about $5.00, but I had a 40% off coupon that you can print off their website). The sticks on either side were taken off the trees from the backyard and the black webbing was on sale at Michaels in their Halloween department. This was also used for the wreath. The red and white material you'll see throughout, I also got that at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and the jars and vases on this table I already owned. The banner stringing was loosly based on this site.

I didn't want to go overboard on a cake, and trust me, there are TONS of cute pirate cakes, but none that I would have been able to make myself, so this one solved that problem! I got the recipe here. Instead of chocolate cake, I used marble instead.  The ring pops were four for $1 and candy necklaces were at the dollar store as well. Rolos were used for "gold". 

Whoppers, Sweedish Fish, and Kisses. The red skull is a borrowed vodka bottle with water and food coloring.

Many of my clever names came from here.

 This was the main table. Since it was an afternoon party, we went with snack foods rather than a "meal" of sorts. We used fruit, pasta salad, chips/salsa/guacamole, goldfish crackers, bread sticks and cheese cubes. The treasure chest in the upper left was a wine case that was on clearance for $1.49 at Michales that I just painted with acrylic paint. The candlesticks I already owned. 

  Another closeup of the decorations. I used the leftover seaglass from the invitations, soem party beads and plastic gold coins. Again, giving credit here for the awesome name suggestions!

 So these "cannon balls" came from this recipe and were a HUGE hit! They were honestly the first thing to go. We also grilled chicken wings (below) and served those with dipping sauces. The picture I took of the other dish didn't turn out so well, it was cocktail weenies and meatballs. We put them in one crockpot and labeled them Dead Man's Fingers and Eyes. Those went quickly too!

























After all that food, you must be wondering what we had to drink. I borrowed two beverage jars from friends. One had cucumber water and the other had sangria. I didn't like the recipes I found for grog, so I made "sangroga" instead. The cups were mason jars wrapped in the red and white scrap fabric, the twine from earlier, and a plastic gold coin. All of it was secured with the magic of hot glue, and the coins functioned as a place to write your name so you didn't mix up glasses!

The next part was a fun one for me. We had 7 little ones at the party, all around the age of 1, with one older boy who was all of 3 years old! I found little wooden pirate dolls at Hobby Lobby for $1.49 each and placed them in ziploc bags. Each bag had a couple squirts of paint and then they were taped to a card table on the floor. The kids were able to "paint" their dolls through the bag without getting paint everywhere!

Since the paint took longer than expected to dry, it was all kept in the bag and then put into their goodie bags.

The goodie bags has temporary tattoos, a bag of Pirates Booty popcorn, the dolls, and these fun bananas!

These bananas were irresistible! The idea for them came from here. Notice that red and white fabric, showing up everywhere!

Lastly came the man of honor himself, his little outfit. What to wear, what to wear. Well, when you cloth diaper, a birthday party is the perfect venue to go without pants and show off some cute fluff!!

This pirate diaper was made by an awesome, local, WAHM. She owns My Goodness Creations and made this cute pocket diaper. I stuffed it with a MF insert and and hemp doubler just to make sure he lasted teh whole party in it, and he did! Not one leak! The fit was amazing, and the snaps held up fantastically. Little B has been known to be a diaper houdini and I'm happy to say, this diaper stayed on him the whole party long! It was easily 4 hours, not one snap was removed! This has since been a favorite diaper of mine and after a few washes, I'm happily shocked that the color hasn't faded at all! You know how much I love a great WAHM diaper and this one is definitely a great indication of a well made diaper, plus her prices are awesome as well! Check out her Etsy and facebook pages for more info!

So, after seeing that picture, you must be wondering what B is wearing. He rocked a customized, white t-shirt to go with his fluff. Remember the car seat cooler pads I reviewed? Well that mama, Heather, also makes custom clothes, so I contacted her to help me out with a shirt for B. I apologize for the crummy picture, that kid wouldn't stay still! It has a skull patch, and a little pirate ship in the bottom right. It also says "ARRRR! It's me 1st Birthday!" I gathered the initial idea from here and Heather helped me come up with the final plan. Plus, she added the name patch on back (above) which I thought was a cute touch!















So there it is, the whole party! Our sweet little boy is already one. It has been a memorable year and I can't wait to see the changes life has in store for us going forward.

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish

-Rascal Flatts "My Wish"