So I’m a recovering pirate. Piracy, it seems, is an addiction and before long you’re using ‘Argh’ and ‘Matey’ in everyday conversation and this gets you frowned at in the grocery store.
I’m wondering if there’s a twelve-step program for moms who’ve thrown their six-year-olds a pirate-themed birthday party and now just can't leave their bandana and eye patch behind.
I know, I know. You want pictures. And honestly, I had every intention of posing in my pirate get up and posting the proof on this blog. But I got too busy! My husband had the camera, and in true traitor-male fashion, only managed to capture unflattering angles of my costumed splendor.
Chunky’s party was an epic success despite the spring snow storm we had the day before that prompted the district to cancel school.
We had 34 mini-pirates. No one mutinied. No one was shipwrecked. No one got scurvy. No one walked the plank. Well, ok, they did walk the plank, but not into Davy Jones’s locker.
It turns out I had no real concept of what 34 kids in one house looks like. Thankfully, my husband, my mother, his mother, and several friends rescued me from my own madness by stepping in to help. I owe these people all the buried treasure on my island!
I should have known better. My brother and I grew up with this kind of huge home party. We never had any money, but we always had these spectacular and unique birthday parties. I remember one I had where the guests were told to bring their teddy bears. My family built bleachers for the bears, and during the party, our favorite toys got to watch us play games. We even made pennants so they could cheer us on.
I don’t think I’ll be repeating a legendary bash like this one anytime soon, but that’s ok. I’m pretty sure Chunky will never forget his sixth birthday. Sunday night we put the boys to bed then Kory and I headed to the living room to watch Sherlock Holmes. Monkey and Chunky were making lots of noise in their room and were told to settle down and go to sleep several times. Finally, Chunky called down, “I just can’t go to sleep because of my awesome birthday party yesterday!” A good excuse if I ever heard one.
What about you? Do you remember any special birthday parties from your childhood? Have you done anything really unique for your child’s birthday? I’d love to hear about it.
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10 months ago
5 comments:
34 kids? You have officially crossed over into the realm of the totally insane! But I'm glad it was fun!
Unique? Not really a word associated with me. :-)Therefore no cool birthdays. Maybe someday though...
His birthday sounds awesome, awesome!
Thirty-four kiddos in your house? Oh. My. Gosh.
I want a photo of at least some of those pirates, Evangeline!
Okay, birthday memory: I'm a twin, so there were always two cakes on my (our) birthday: My sister got the chocolate cake and I got the vanilla cake. Tradition for many, many years.
Thirty-four kids? I’ve never been that ambitious, though I have thrown some creative parties for my kids. We had a treasure hunt party once. We divided the kids up into teams of two and gave each team the end of a piece of yarn. They had to follow their yarn, winding as they went, all over the large property where all the yarn was crisscrossed like a spider web. The yarn eventually led them to the first clue, and the clues took them all over creation before leading them back to the “pot of gold” (candy bars) which was waiting in the backyard by the grill.
Another time we had a backyard campout. We set up a tent and had a campfire. The kids all got to cook their own hotdogs over the fire. I mixed red and green Koolaid to make a disgusting brownish-green liquid and told them it was “swamp water.” They loved it. I made the cake look like a campsite with a little tent and logs and a “fire” on it. I took them swimming in “the lake” (a nearby indoor pool) and then we played Twister in the tent by lantern light. After all the guests went home, I slept out in the tent with my own kids and they loved it.
Then there was the progressive picnic party, the princess party, and two parties at the lake, one of which was a success and one of which was a massive failure due to the thunderstorm which hit right at suppertime . . .
Oh, dear! Maria's b-day is coming up and I have to send out invites. I'm limiting it to 4th grade girls in her class. I hope there aren't 34--
We did pirates AND princesses last year. This year, we've talked her into a "Parables" party. She wants to hunt for hidden treasure in a field... ;)
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