As promised in last weeks post, today is all about the remaining details of my son’s VeggieTales Pirate Party.  I had so much fun putting this party together.  A lot of effort was made to have as many of the party details match scenes from ‘The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything’ movie – needless to say, I lost count of the number of times I watched the movie and my son still comes out with an ‘Arrrgh’ at the most random of times.  But that is all just part of the fun.

Party Highlights:

• The theming of the food was definitely a highlight for me, in particular the little fish and chips boat dishes.
• I thought I would have a go at making the birthday cake as well as all the modelled chocolate figurines.  I was pretty pleased with how it turned out even though there were moments of great frustration.  Let’s just say I have a new found appreciation for those who do this for a living.
• The recycled pallet furniture and the barrels did a really good job of setting the party scene.
• The way I managed to dress the soft toy, Larry, to look like his character, Elliot, from the movie.
• Lastly, I loved the little treasure chest favour boxes.

Party Décor:

The furniture played a big part in setting the party scene.  With help from my husband, we used some old shipping pallets to make bench seats for the children to sit on, and for the ‘lemonade stand’ style food table.  We also hired some barrels from First Scene prop hire.  These came in handy for displaying the favours, as well as adding to the décor.  At either end of the children’s table we constructed two ship masts and then hung bunting from one to the other.  The bunting was from the As You Wish Events ‘Simply Nautical’ printables collection.  From this collection also came the ‘Happy Birthday’ banner, bottle wraps, cupcake wrappers and toppers, toothpick flags, buffet labels and the fish and chips boat dishes.  The overall look was finished off with a tea stained tablecloth, hessian runner and a few themed props for the centrepiece.

Party Favours:

To help set the atmosphere, as each guest arrived they were given a spotted bandanna to wear, just like Elliot’s. I had managed to find the perfect fabric for this at Geoff’s Emporium in Dominion Rd.  In addition to this each guest received their own little treasure chest, which I had found on Trade Me.  Each one held a small bag of gold chocolate coins, a Veggie Pirates bookmark and a Veggie Pirates sticker.  The bookmarks and stickers were among the free printables on the Veggie Pirate website.

Party Entertainment:

For this party we decided to keep the entertainment rather simple.  We set up a colouring-in station with pictures download from the Veggie Pirates website.  We also had a barrel of fish which could be caught by a magnetic fishing line.  Lastly we finished off the party by watching the ‘Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything’ movie.

The Party Food:

As mentioned earlier, we worked really hard to make all the food connect to some part of the movie. As a result this is what we had on the menu:

• Fish Bites and Chips with tomato sauce served in the boat dishes
• Evil Cheese Curls – aka ETA Cruncheese Corn Snacks
• Fudge Cupcakes with themed cupcake toppers
• Rocks of Malabar Sundaes – aka Vanilla Ice cream, coloured with blue food colouring and rocks made from modelling chocolate.
• Cannonball Munchkins – these were from Dunkin Donuts
• Pirate Pea Cakepops

Summing Up:

Because the weather wasn’t great we had to squeeze all the guests into our smallish house – but I wouldn’t have changed this as I think there is something special about entertaining guests at home, and no one seemed to mind.  There were enough places to sit, plenty of food for everyone and the hush that came over the children as they ate, said to me “Job well done!”

Vendor Credits:

• ‘Simply Nautical’ Party Printables: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Veggie Pirate Printables: ‘VeggieTales: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything’ Website
• Décor & Styling: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Catering: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Photography: Adam Ferris

Back in February I had the privilege of designing a Construction themed birthday party for a young man who was turning six years old.  This was such a great theme to do as there was no shortage of ideas.

Party Highlights:

• Once again I was really pleased with how the printables turned out.  Out of these the Toolbox Favour box and the little flags have to be my favourites.
• I loved planning and making the food to match the theme.
• I was so pleased to find yellow plastic construction party hats at a $ value store and the tool shaped erasers at Manna Christian Store in Henderson – they fitted the theme perfectly.
• The ‘Build your own Gingerbread House’ activity was a hit, entertaining guests both young and old.
• And probably the best part for me was the Birthday Boy’s unmistakable excitement and awe for how it all came together.

Party Décor:

The weather was brilliant for this outdoor party.  As the guests arrived they were directed to the backyard by signs made especially for the occasion.  One of the first things they would have seen on reaching the backyard was the big birthday banner, from the Construction party printable collection.  We created the dining space by using the gazebo and a couple of giant road cones paired with ‘Caution’ tape.  We also used the ‘Caution’ tape to wrap around the backs of the chairs and the backdrop for the food table.  The guest table had two small road cone centrepieces and a hessian table runner, along with place settings consisting of a placemat, plate, serviette, themed drink bottle and favour box.

Party Favours:

Each guest received a construction party hat along with a Toolbox, favour box.  These were a little tricky to put together but looked great in the end.  Each favour box contained a tool shaped eraser, pencil and a ‘Builder’s Notebook’.  The covers for the notebooks were from the printable collection which we wrapped around some little notebooks we found at a $ value store.

The Entertainment:

There was no shortage of things to do at this party.  The main activity was to ‘Build your own Gingerbread House’.  Each guest was given their own ‘kit set’ containing everything they would need for building their house.  After giving a quick demonstration and appointing a couple of the dads as the foremen for the job site, we left them to it.  As the party progressed the guests played ‘Pin the Bucket on the Digger’ – simply a theme appropriate version of ‘Pin the tail on the Donkey’; played with the build a picture set and listened to our storyteller read one of the popular ‘Little Yellow Digger’ books.

The Party Food:

This was an exciting menu to put together.  We had:

• Chocolate Fudge cupcakes – displayed with wrappers and toppers from the Construction Party printable collection.
• Hard hat cake pops
• Tool-shaped cookies
• Mini Boulder Burgers – displayed with little flags from the Construction Party printable collection.
• Popcorn served in cones from the Construction Party printable collection.
• Drill bit curly fries
• Road Works Pudding Cups.

The buffet table was set up using a variety of toolboxes and an old nail box along with a few other pieces we had handy.  We used labels from the Construction Party printable collection to tie everything together.  At the centre of the buffet table was the amazing ‘Digger’ birthday cake made by a family friend.

Summing Up:

Overall this was a fabulous party to put together.  The most challenging part was dealing with the heat from the sun – but once we had everything properly positioned under the gazebo and umbrella we were good to go.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially the Birthday Boy.

If you have any questions or comments regarding how we put this theme together or if you would like us to create a party for you then please contact us either via email or through the comments section below.

 Vendor Credits:

• Party Printables: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Décor & Styling: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Catering: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Photography: Christine Kehinde
• Cones hired from Hirepool
• Caution tape purchased at Super Cheap Auto

One of my earlier printable designs recently underwent a fairy-makeover for my niece’s 5th birthday party.  The weather was just perfect for the outdoor party which took place in their back yard last weekend.

Party Highlights:

• The pretty pink and white ‘Fairy Princess’ party printables.
• The Dress Up stations with ornate pink mirrors.
• Gran dressing up as the ‘Fairy Grandmother’ who read the guests a beautiful book in the ‘Storytime Tent’.
• The Fairy Princess Pudding cups and Fruit Wands.
• And when I asked my niece her favourite thing she said “the presents”.

Party Décor:

This time around we started out with our party printables which gave us the colour scheme of pink and white and a splash of purple. Much of the décor was determined by the activities we had planned.  I had some old white carpet runners sitting in my storeroom waiting to be thrown out, but instead I decided to cut them down to mat sizes and draw designs on them.  I then used these to define the areas for eating, dress up and story time.  I wanted to keep the eating area looking clean and bright – which was achieved through the use of white tablecloths and a white satin backdrop. This also created a background on which the party printables could really stand out.  A few other items I had in my storeroom were the two little white tables that I was able to pair with ornate pink mirrors from The Warehouse to create child-sized dressing tables for the Dress Up station.  The ‘Storytime Tent’ was made from a Mosquito Net that I got on special at Briscoes along with all the cushions I could find.

 Party Favours:

As part of the party printable set, we designed a lovely little handbag box.  In each box was a mini chocolate bar, a pink balloon, a sparkly hairclip and a lip gloss.

The Entertainment:

Instead of games we opted for three activities.  We had the ‘Make Your Own Wand’ craft; the Dress Up Station and Story time.  As the guests arrived they were able to join in with making their own wand and once they were done they were free to play with the dress ups or wherever else there imagination took them.  Towards the end of lunch we sung happy birthday and the beautiful cake was cut.  At the same time Gran came out dressed up as the ‘Fairy-Grandmother’ to read all the guests the story of ‘The Rose Princess and the Special Gift’.  This was then followed by the opening of the presents.

The Food:

On the menu we had:

• Castle Club Sandwiches – these were served in little lunch boxes placed at each guest’s place setting.
• Crinkle Cut Fries
• Popcorn
• Chicken Bites – served in little cupcake cases purchased at Countdown.
• White Chocolate Cake Pops
• Vanilla Cupcakes – displayed with wrappers and toppers from the Fairy Princess printable collection
• Fairy Princess Pudding Cups
• Fruit Wands
• And a mini candy buffet with 3 types of theme coloured lollies.

The buffet was set up using a collection of glassware, white platters and a box that I covered in stripy paper.  The fabulous centrepiece on the buffet was the amazing doll cake made by Sweet Bites Cakes – a decadent chocolate mudcake – yummy!

Summing Up:

It was really fun to transform my sister’s backyard into a fairy princess’ garden.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves having plenty of activities do and yummy treats to eat.

If you have any questions or comments regarding how we put this theme together or if you would like us to create a party for you then please contact us either via email or through the comments section below.

Vendor Credits:

• Party Printables: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Décor & Styling: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Catering: As You Wish Events Ltd
• Photography: Adam Ferris
• Cake: Sweet Bites Cakes