Pixies and Pirates Birthday

​Taegan missed out on having a third birthday party. We had just moved, didn't know a lot of people in the area yet, and frankly with my health issues I simply wasn't up to hosting a big shindig. So to make up for last year we decided to go all out. By that I mean my planning started in July for an October birthday lol. I have absolutely no idea how I'll ever match up if I have to plan multiple birthdays in one year (if our family ever grows) but this was def one for the books. I chose a "Neverland, pixies and pirates" theme because it would be attractive to both genders and I knew at this age we would be inviting a pretty split down the middle crowd. The clincher was our setting. We live on a few acres with a creek and already had a fairy garden with tinker bell figures and a teepee we grew with string bean plants on a wood frame. Can't ask for a more perfect Indian camp, pixie hollow, or crocodile creek! I added the sandbox (skull rock), playground set (hangmans tree/lost boys hideout), Jolly Roger (lawnmower cart turned pirate ship) and our hammock (mermaid lagoon) and decorated each location to complete our Neverland landscape. Once we had a theme I started looking into renting a pirate bounce house for wow factor (but wow are those things expensive for a one time use rental) when I stumbled upon diy backyard zip lines. For more or less the same amount it would cost to rent a bouncer my husband could put up a permanent 200ft zip line. He's very handy and decided to save a few bucks, increase the length, and piece it all together from a professionals website but amazon also makes a great simple kit for those like me who are less than handy (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00Q2POYZE/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1508352689&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=zip+line+kit&dpPl=1&dpID=51KeELMrUDL&ref=plSrch). The "flying to neverland" experience made the party unique and though I thought we might have some scared 3-5 yr olds, they were almost all surprisingly brave enough to go soaring across our creek! 

For other activities we made a map of our yard with hidden treasure "aka plastic gems, gold coins, feathers, tiny golden chocolates, dollar store pirate eyepatches, beads, and painted golden rock nuggets) at each location. The map was a google image of neverland my husband photoshopped before we printed, burned the edges, and rolled with twine. When the kids found a treasure from each spot they could claim their favor (fairy wings or a pirate hook...again good ol dollar tree). 

We painted Michaels treasure chest boxes and filled tiny jars with pixie dust (white sand colored with grated chalk...and a sprinkle of glitter) for a craft. T enjoyed sprinkling her fairy dust around the driveway to make colorful pictures as you can see. 

I tried to keep costs and labor reasonable by doing a mid afternoon party with just light appetizer type food. Paper napkins were folded into Peter Pan hats. We served cannonball meatballs on sword toothpicks, hot dogs with a paper pirate sail, lost boys trail mix, fish (goldfish) and (potato) chips, Fairy fruit (flower shaped kiwi with a raspberry center), and Tink wands (pretzel sticks dipped in green candy). I served Taegans favorite (sparkling cider) in fancy mini plastic champagne glasses so the kids could toast to her. Since we had a large crowd hubby fashioned some themed tables from plywood and firewood stumps. I covered the tops with cheap burlap found at Walmart and a couple simple pirate/fairy toys for centerpieces found on consignment. 

We had about 25 children show up and they all seemed to have a great time! So glad we got to celebrate Ts forth birthday in a big way but I hope she never grows up....because I'm not anywhere near ready to start planning the next one 😜