Arr Your Ready to Party? Luke is currently very excited about pirates to this party theme was a must for his fourth birthday. As I mentioned on instagram, life has been crazy busy since launching my photography business, Kristina Hale Photography. Therefore, the party prep time for this event was a little last minute than I would have liked, but nevertheless, I love how everything came together. Does anyone else thrive under pressure like I do? lol
Party Location
Luke’s birthday was held at Play Street Museum – Cypress Location. (This company brand has many locations all over Texas as well as a few states. Each location hosts a different themed play experience which I think is really neat.) I actually found the party spot due to professionally photographing multiple birthday events there over the past few months Luke.
A few key notes on this venue:
- The museum is closed on the weekends, therefore, allowing private parties to take place.
- It’s VERY CLEAN and well taken care of.
- The venue is all open play and a great fit for kids of all ages – there is so much to do and explore!
- Employees help assemble to party during the 30 minute decorating time window.
- Employees help with hosting duties during the event. (example: passing out cake, etc.)
- Employees help break down and clean up the event. (Allowing you to fully enjoy the party!)
- The party area is all white- making it a great backdrop for any event theme! (the area also photographs nicely, which is a bonus in my opinion lol)
- Party area supplies the kids table and benches, so no need to rent or bring your own.
- There are different party packages to pick from. (I selected the DIY option) However, Play Street offers styled birthday parties where they take care of everything!
Play Street Muesum also has a few “add on” activities you can apply to your birthday party package. I added on for our guests to make slime. (A great add on if you have a few older kids attending)
Party Details
I ordered a few goodies party goods through Ellie and Piper Co. and amazon primed the rest. lol Thank you Amazon Prime for coming in clutch for this last minute Lucy. LOL A few of my party items were also found at Target. (Target has some paper goods for a pirate theme located in the party aisle or shop that collection HERE.) However, I used a different brand for my paper goods to achieve this look. Which I will discuss and link under the section titled Tabletop.
The balloon garland is a DIY I made myself during the night before. I usually order my garlands through my friend Tiffany, the owner of Glamfetti. However, her family recently moved and aren’t taking orders at this moment in time.
To achieve this garland I used these balloons: red, chrome gold, light blue, and navy. I added a handful of black pirate balloons that can be found here. For more details on garland assembly and hanging tips you can watch my highlight bubble on my Instagram titled balloon garland for help on this party DIY.
The gold AHOY balloons are from HERE.
Helpful Balloon Tools:
- Electic balloon pump (your lungs and arms will thank you!)
- Balloon Tape
Party Favors
During the summer I came across these brown mini treasure chests in the Target dollar spot. I purchased about 15 of them knowing that I would probably be hosting a pirate theme party for Luke in September. I’m feeling thankful that I grabbed them when I did because I haven’t seen them in stores since.
I filled each treasure box party favor with a jar of play dough and small treasures to create a sensory play activity kit. I used this set of gems and coins treasures to fill them- you’ll want a handful of packages depending on your party size and treasure chest. I thought a small pirate figurine would have been fun to add in as well, but being so last minute with this party prep I didn’t have any on hand.
I’m sure you could find another alternative treasure box online since mine is no longer sold, or a great substitute is this gold treasure box that comes with kinetic sand and treasures hidden inside.
The pirate bags are from here and I also put pirate themed bubbles and a small pirate spy telescope inside. If you don’t want to purchase a pirate bag another idea I had is to DIY a brown paper lunch bag by drawing a map on it with a black marker. Example of ideas to draw: X marks the spot with a few dashed lines in a row or swirl shape, a compass rose, and a skull and cross bones. So cute, EASY, and cheap! You could even dress the bag up a little more by closing it with a pirate sticker or hole punching two holes at the top of the bag (bag top would be folded over) and threading a ribbon through.
Tabletop
These brand of paper table runners are an absolute favorite that I love using for each party I host. I purchased these through Ellie and Piper. The runners come in many colors and patterns and goes with mostly any theme. I love that these runners are study/great quality, looks dressy, and it’s disposable! I think they really add a fun pop to any tablescape!
Here are the links for the rest of my tabletop paper goods:
- Gold cross bones plate
- Light blue plate
- Parrot napkins
- Pirate party hat
- Coins and gems
- Red and white table runner
Adorable tabletop ideas that I brainstormed but didn’t execute execute due to time:
Using a brown paper table runner and burring the edges to make it look like an old treasure map. On the runner I would have hand drawn a map using the easy map art like I shared previously regarding the paper bag party favors.
Another idea I considered was drawing a red x and black dotted line above each table setting. like this: X _ _ _ _ _ _ Then with fun handwriting I would list the guests name on the dashed line. If handwriting names isn’t your thing, a wood or acylic name place maker would be adorable to use instead. I love the ones I own from Modern Birch Co. They are beautiful and are high quality.
Cake Details
Luke’s birthday cake was purchased at my local HEB bakery. (HEB is a Texas chain grocery store). In my opinion, their bakery makes really delicious cakes for an inexpensive price… which in turn keeps me coming back. With that said, an HEB cake is a great way to save a little money in your party budget.
When ordering my cakes, I usually buy a plain white cake with the intent to decorate it myself using either florals or cute cake topper. (HEB bakery can fully create your cake with decor and colored frosting, but I love working with a plain white canvas.)
Decorating the Cake
To create the look of sand that circles the base of the cake I pulverized graham crackers. Super easy to achieve. I placed mine in a gallon size Ziploc bag and took a meat cleaver to smash it up into pieces. If anything please learn from my error and place your graham crackers in a gallon size Ziploc bag before you begin to smash it up. I started out by leaving the crackers it the wrapper and it quickly gained a small hole. I then realized I needed to stop being lazy and get a real bag out for this process. Lol
Another way to achieve sand for your cake would be to use a blender. Honestly, this kitchen tool might have had a better end product. Mine was a little chunkier than I would have wished for but it was 3 am when I decorated the cake and didn’t want everyone to wake up. I thought a blender would have produced a finer and more sand like texture.
To complete the cake I added a pirate cake topper which you can find HERE. When I was brainstorming the cake decor I thought about adding gold coins as a trim, or even a small treasure box that would be opened and filled with coins and gems. All cute ideas but I simply ran out of time to achieve them. LOL However, now that I’m looking back on the final cake product; I honestly love the simple statement of just the ship topper. It’s clean, simple, and elegant!
The two gold treasure boxes on either side of the cake are from HERE. (I actually discussed these chests at the top of my post as a party favor substitue.) The cake navy cake stand is from Home Goods and the red is so old from Target dollar spot. The large white cake stand is from HERE.
The map table cloth turned runner is from HERE. Decorating tip* I didn’t unfold the table cloth all the way to turn it a runner. Avoid opening it up all the way before laying it down for a clean and crip look.
Arrrrr you inspired?
ARRR you feeling inspired? Lol I hope this post helps you achieve your future pirate party! As always, feel free to pin any of the images to pinterest to save for future inspo. š
Bye matey, thanks for stopping bye.
Shop the Post
Shop by clicking the product image. I also included some great pirate party finds.