Kye party was on March 7th at 3:30 in the afternoon. I did a morning party for Britt (11:30) and liked it but had a LOT of fun activities planned and wanted to do an afternoon for that reason. Kye’s birthday party day typically sees some not-so-great weather. One year it was FREEZING and another year we LEGIT had tornadoes. I tend to avoid any outside activities for that reason. We just have to plan on it being horrible weather. This year I didn’t stress it. If it rained all the pirate activities we had planned could take place in the garage if needed. It ended up being THE most beautiful day!!! I seriously couldn’t get over it and told Zach that it means we are totally doomed for rain on Tess’s first bday (we plan to do a pool party) because we never get lucky with weather haha!
You can see all the decor and activities and such that went into the party here! This post is covering the actual party fun rather than any of the decorations 🙂
I work pretty hard on putting together the birthday slideshows for the kids but they don’t actually see them until their parties. It’s funny b/c they see me take pics constantly of them but never actually see the pictures I take! They are always mesmerized by their birthday slideshows. You can see Kye’s from this year here 🙂
Kye got his pirate costume for Christmas and I just went through all the random pirate stuff we had and let Britt decide what she wanted to wear. She looked like a LEGIT pirate child. Haha
Ready to parrrrrty!
For Zach and I all I did was buy a couple white t-shirts and cut them 🙂 I really like how they turned out!
For Tess I did order a onesie. I would have made something but who has time for that? Me and Reekie is a great shop on Etsy that does custom work and is VERY affordable! I love how her onesie turned out!
Our crew!
I stole this from Casey’s Facebook b/c I LOVE IT! I always love how into themes Casey gets! Carter made an adorable pirate and Casey was the only other adult who dressed in theme for the party. She makes a hot wench huh? 😉
In hindsight I should have taken all the pirate pictures at the start of the party. Before everyone got sweaty and before everyone was in a rush to leave since the party went so long (more on that in a minute). I was SUPER happy that EVERY kid came dressed in their pirate attire. I think it made the party even more fun for the kids to all feel like authentic pirates 🙂
When planning the party we had to keep it VERY small when it came to the amount of kids we had attend. I wanted to make it super fun and the more kids you have, the harder that is to make happen. I wanted to keep it at 10 or less which allowed us to plan fun activities and to be able to spend money on neat prizes! It worked out great and we had 8 kids total!
Payton! (Colt was not feeling pics!)
The Mullican Family
(I love LL’s and Cooper’s costumes!)
The Smith girls
The Bacons
My littlest pirate
Doesn’t Carter look like he’s saying “arrrrg”
Too much cuteness!!!
As guests arrived we told them to go ahead and get food and start grubbing 🙂
Kye loved being able to fix his own plate and get whatever he wanted
Everyone ate outside and enjoyed the weather
Tess is my most reserved baby. Britt was the most attached to ME but she’d go to others and such too. Tess isn’t as attached to me as Britt was (like when we are at home she never wants me to carry her around or anything) but she doesn’t like to go to hardly anyone. I remember being EXACTLY like that when I was a kid and I remember how it felt and how I didn’t want to be forced to kiss on my aunts and uncles and such so I try not to force her into anything. I’m fine socially as an adult so I know she’ll be fine too. Although I do know it hurts feelings and it also can be a pain like when I’m trying to host a party 😉
I knew the activities and treasure hunt would take awhile. I tried to get it going as fast as I could but it still took over an hour to get through it all. The kids had a BLAST so it was all totally worth it but I do feel bad about how long the party lasted. I ended up telling everyone not to worry about staying for gift opening. Luckily it was just a close friends and family party so it was all very casual and I don’t think anyone felt bad about missing the gifts being opened or uncomfortable about just leaving when they needed to go. Typically the parties I throw last an hour and 30 min from start to finish. This one was 2 hours and that didn’t even include opening presents!
You can see all the clues and activities for the treasure hunt here
Captain Zach gathered the crew to kick off the hunt!
Everyone got their own treasure chest and a compass to kick things off
First activity was pin the patch on the pirate!
Once they pinned their patch, they got their treasure to add to their box
Next activity was completing a coloring page!
When I planned for this I assumed the kids would scribble super fast to get done to move on to the next thing but instead it was the exact opposite. ALL the kids took their TIME and colored the pirates SO neatly! Even Britt did an awesome job and even Colt, who is not a big coloring fan, took his time and enjoyed coloring. It surprised me that the kids enjoyed that portion so much!
The cannon balls were probably my favorite. 8 kids in my living room attempting to pop a bunch of balloons by sitting on them was HILARIOUS. It was loud and crazy and wild and just FUN! We were all cracking up!
Ring toss time! The kids all did wonderful taking turns and being patient. And since we were outside they would just go play on the playground after their turn was over so there was never any issue of anyone being bored!
I set up a blanket with baby toys and such for the babies to play on since they couldn’t take part in the activities
I didn’t get any pics of the kids digging for treasure because it was pretty messy and I was wiping off the jewels as they found them 😉
Next was walking the plank!
Colt is THE sweetest child when it comes to his cousins! He ALWAYS looks out for Britt and is SO precious with her! It’s like she has 2 big brothers 🙂
Tess did good warming up to the family as they played pass-the-baby 😉
Little Mama had to give it a go too!
When Zach read the clue about the pinata the kids were PUMPED! We let the little ones go first and I really wish I’d video taped the whole thing rather than taking pictures because it was pure entertainment. Zach was spinning the kids around and moving the piñata up and down to mess with them. Aubrey was the best. She was spinning and swinging and we were all just laughing. I think pinatas are more fun for the adults than the kids!
Cheering his friends on in hopes of some candy!
We had Colt go last because we knew he’d take some good swings 😉 It didn’t fully bust so we let Kye finish it off! Candy made the perfect treasure to finish out the hunt
By the time we were finished with all the fun it was already 5:00. Which is usually when the parties end! We rushed everyone in so we could sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles and allow those that needed to head out to go ahead and go 🙂
SO glad Kori and her crew were able to make it! I have such awesome friends and it meant the world to me that she and Robyn (and their husbands too of course!) got their kids dressed up and came out 🙂 I love that our kids are all friends and that we get to see them grow up together! (PS Robyn I’m sad we didn’t get a pic together!)
Once everyone who needed to go left we ordered pizzas for those that stayed to hang out and while we waited on the pizzas we opened gifts. Kye did wonderful being so patient for his chance to open them. He was in Heaven with his friends and cousins and didn’t mind one bit putting off the gift opening for awhile!
Sweet Aubrey and Mary Allen made him a card!
This makes me laugh…I think the party made me go a little crazy huh?!?
Best. Picture. Ever!
(Courtney: we have to get a copy of this to frame for Brad for his bday or something haha!)
Jordan looks thrilled 😉
Sweet Aunt Katie couldn’t be there with us but still sent a present!
It continued to be a beautiful evening so it was nice to have everyone just eat outside and allow the kids to run and play together.
The morning before the party I asked Kye what he was most excited about and he said “eating pizza for dinner with the family.” I about died laughing! All the work and effort to throw a big, themed party and he was most looking forward to just eating pizza and hanging out with the family 😉 I love that he is such a happy kid and so easy to please. He really had an AWESOME day and I’m so grateful to everyone who was able to come help him celebrate and make it extra special for him.
Just as a means of record keeping for him here is everyone who attended Kye’s 6th birthday: Daddy, Mommy, Britt, Tess, G-Mama, Big Papa, Little Mama, Mema, Aunt Karen, Aunt Courtney, Uncle Brad, Colt, Payton, Uncle Jordan, Aunt Casey, Carter, Mr. Matt, Mrs. Robyn, Lorelai, Cooper, Mr. Michael, Mrs. Kori, Aubrey, Mary Allen
Kye had an AWESOME time and I love that he’s old enough now where he truly will remember this party forever!
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