Well, my oldest child Owen is a big fan of pirates and octopuses. He decided that for his 4th birthday this past April that he wanted a pirate party with octopuses tied into it. For his invitations, I checked out the internet and got some great ideas. I decided to get some white cardstock and dip it in tea. When I ran it through the printer it came out looking very old, almost like a map. I wanted to burned the edges but figured that it would too messy. My mother in law drew some octopus and pirate pics for us and also made Owen's banner. I found the napkins and plates at Party City. I always get a pack or two of the theme printed napkins and plates but then I add some solid colors in to save money. Dollar Tree also had a lot of pirate decorations. I bought a fish net at Michael's and we attached some wooden fish and seashells that I had. I took one of the napkins and plates to the lady that was going to make the cake and told her we wanted the cake like the napkins but also to have an orange octopus on it. She definitely delivered, the cake was precious! She's also reasonable. I think I paid $28-$30 for half a sheet cake. We grilled hotdogs and had chips as well as gold fish. I made everyone telescopes out of empty toilet and paper towel rolls. Everyone in my family and even some of my patient's were saving them for me. We painted the toilet paper rolls black and attached a clear piece of plastic wrap with a rubberband on one end. It was a homemade telescope. I wanted everyone to have a bandana but it was too expensive, so I bought some pirate fabric at Walmart and my mother in law cut triangle and sewed the edges. For a game we went on a Treasure Hunt with a couple of clues around the yard. All the children did it as a group. I would read the clue and they would answer the question leading to the next clue. The last clue led them to the party favors- pirate goody bags with gummie fruit and bubbles tied with a tag thanking them for coming to Owen's 4th Birthday Party. The favors were in a little antique chest that I borrow from my parents. It actually looked like a little pirate chest. Owen had a big pirate ship that he got last Christmas so I used it on the gift table as a centerpiece. This was a fun party and everyone had a blast.
play with varous balls in the 
house and throws 
them. When it began to get around Thanksgiving we started to let the boys watch, The Polar Express. It instantly became Parker's favorite movie and he had to watch it almost every night. All he talked about was the choo-choo. So I decided to give him A Polar Express party. I searched for invitations on ebay and found a seller that sold tickets as invitations and they were only $.80 a piece and she even had return address labels. I knew that there were not any Polar Express paper products out yet so I decided to go to the dollar store and pick up some Snowflake themed plates and napkins. My mother in law drew his birthday banner as well as some signs like, Reindeer Crossing, Welcome to the North Pole and The Polar Express Stops Here. I found foam snowflakes in packs of six and hung them up throughout the garage. I had some snowflake lights left over from Christmas that I hung up as well. For favors, each child received "a sleigh bell" with a tag reading "BELIEVE" attached and a bag of hot chocolate with chocolate chips and marshmellows. We had The Polar Express movie playing in the house and The Polar Express Soundtrack playing in the garage. I had some coloring sheets for the children to color to keep them busy for a little while. The colors we used 
were white, light blue and 
royal blue. All the children dressed in their pajamas and had a blast.
