Amelia's "Pirate" Birthday

I don't think Amelia really liked the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, but she certainly became interested in the legend of pirates. It took her no time at all to decide that she wanted to swashbuckle her way through her birthday party.

The Plan The Party Pictures
The Plan
	We picked up a bunch of cool decorations and favors well in advance. We also found a treasure-chest pinata and everything went into the garage weeks before. Amelia and I drew-up a plan of what we wanted to do to decorate the backyard fort. Then we scheduled out all the activities. Finally, we worked out a plan of what had to be done over the previous week (and trust me, there were a lot of tasks). But everything came together and the kids had a wonderful time.
The Party
	There were nine girls total (Amelia, Natalie and seven quests). Many of them were dressed up as pirates when they arrived. We gave each one an eyepatch and a necklace with a skull on it. They played outside on our "pirate ship" fort for a while before we announced a game of "musical islands." Now, according the the legend I heard... "15 men on the Dead Man's Chest" refers to when Blackbeard marooned a whole shipload of mutineers on Deam Man's Chest Island and gave each a cutlass and a bottle of rum. When he returned a month later all but 15 were dead. Pretty cool for a party, right? We made cardboard "islands" and played a variation on musical chairs. Next came the craft activity. We made oceans to take home. We took plastic cubes, filled them about 1/3 full of water with blue food coloring, then topped it off with baby oil (the two liquids won't mix), and glued the tops on. They turned out really cool. After some more free time, I presented a note from Captain Stinkybottom that read... I have hidden the treasure and sailed away. If you want to find it, this game you must play.   I won't make it easy, so for hints you must look. You'll find your next clue in a Scooby-Do book. The girls spent a while finding clues inside and outside the house. The finally ended up in the sandbox where the pinata was hidden. I hung it up and they whacked the candy out of it. It was finally time for the "treasure island" cake. I had made it myself this year. Two layers of strawberry cake with raspberry filling. Quite yummy if I do say so myself. Amelia got to open her "loot" and most of the girls went home. We kept a few to for an overnight visit. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.
Pictures
	Pirate Ship Fort Amelia and her cake Nat and candy Amelia at rest The Pirate Crew Got Loot? Fun time had by all