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My daughter is almost 16 now, so themed birthday parties are a thing of the past. That makes me a bit sad! I can honestly say she had the BEST birthday parties growing up! They were always homemade, inexpensive and creative. I dug out these old photos, which are almost 11 years old (way before digital photography) and took photos of the photos with my digital camera. I wanted to share them with you.

We always had small parties so they would be manageable, less stressful and more fun! I used to go crazy when I’d take Rachel to parties years ago where there were dozens of kids running around and parents yelling. And who wants all those gifts all over the house? We actually attended one party for a 3 year old with more tan 80 guests. It was horrible, and we left as soon as possible. No one was having fun. And I’ve never seen so many gifts scattered all over the place! Can you imagine a 3 year old opening 80 gifts? It really repulsed me. I think parents forget that young kids can get easily overwhelmed. A good rule to follow is to invite around the same number of kids of the age of the birthday party child. So when or child turns 5, have 4 guests plus your child to equal 5 kids for a 5th birthday party.

Now, back to the party….I remember that first I sent out invitations that looked like a treasure map. I drew water and a pirate ship and land with squiggly lines that led to our house. (You can use clip art if you like.) There were only 6 invitations, so I made each one by hand. (You can make 1 and take it to a copy center also.) I did them on yellowish/cream paper and them burned the edges to make them look authentic.

I made this cake to look like a pirate ship, with the back end starting to sink a bit. I always started each cake by making a sheet cake first and then cutting it up and stacking it to look like whatever I wanted it to be.

I bought a cardboard treasure chest from a catalog that came with pirate related finds and I also added more goodies for the kids. They had to play a game and do a treasure hunt to find the chest. I hid clues all over the house. First I gave them one index card that I aged and crumbled a bit. It had a rhyming clue that would lead them to the next rhyming clue on an index card and so on. I think I had about 10 clues before they found the chest. One was hidden in the dishwasher, another in a flower pot in the back yard, in the shower, pillow case, etc. The kids were running all over the house and were so excited when they figured each one out. The parents were following them back and forth across the house and yard. It was a blast.

I dressed my husband up in this homemade pirate costume and pinned a stuffed parrot to his shoulder, and he held some sort of hook in his hand. He came out of the bedroom in costume playing his guitar, singing “yo ho ho…” and since the kids were only 5, they did not recognize him as Rachel’s Dad. They REALLY thought he was a pirate. All the parents were hysterically laughing. We even had a pinata of a pirate filled with candy. We blindfolded the kids and let them take several whacks at it. They loved that! The pinata was so hard to bust, that my husband had to do it at the end with his hook hand!

I hope you try a pirate party. Not only will your kids have a great time, but so will you!

I’ll be sharing many more party ideas with you. Stay tuned!

This is just to say that Alkelda of Giggleswick's feast day is this month: March 28, to be exact. I just thought I'd mention that to you because it might be of interest to those of you who are in a scholarly mindset... Oh, all right, it's also my 36th birthday. You know what I've always wanted for my birthday? A surprise party. Actually, I've already had one. Here's the story: For my twentieth

I always laugh at funerals.

Was that Homer Simpson? I think so. Anyway, I went to a wedding last night in my hometown. One of the other guests was my 8th grade science teacher and junior high homeroom teacher.

Wow, Jennie that's really exciting.