Fairies and Pirates...

These were the invitations that went out to about ten lively preschoolers - seven arrived on august 2nd to greet my little tinkerbell, including two pirates and one princess.













While waiting for guests to arrive, I revived an old traveling light skill by entertaining the kids with balloon animals. Once all the guests had arrived, we began our main activity, the treasure hunt! Pottery Barn had pirate themed supplies for summer parties this year, and I had gone into the store in search of the sandbox bones I had seen in a catalog. While there, the saleswoman did her job well by also introducing me to their dry erase treasure map and clues! It was too cute to pass up... the kids were told that captain hook had heard about the tinkerbell party, and determined to make sure on one in neverland had fun, he hid a very vital part of our party. to be sure he could find the treasure later, he had hidden clues around neverland. peter pan had learned of his treachery and stolen the last clue written, the one that would lead to all the other clues and eventually the treasure!

That clue was read to the kids and the treasure hunt began!
"There's a door to the place you jump around. The clue is below, facing the ground."





"Look in a house where you might play - above the door a clue may lay"







"Baby birds once called this home, now a clue rests here alone" (this clue was for the birthday girl since she alone would know which bush the birds had made a nest in earlier this summer)





"Beware the swamp and those lurking about! The clue is guarded by a long green snout!" (upon our blue tarp/river were green crocodile heads made from poster board)




"Many a man was buried with his woes...your next clue may be under his nose." (the pottery barn bones were buried in the sandbox, with the clue placed in a plastic bag and tied through the eye/nose holes of the skull)









"You've solved the clues to find my map! It's under the table where the presents are wrapped!"

After reviewing the map, the kids headed through the yard to find the treasure, which was, of course, the goody bags for the party. Michaels had a cute wooden treasure box on clearance for 1/3 of its original price! I had wanted to paint it before the party, but the cake took way longer than I had anticipated!


I love making cakes for the kids parties and always look on-line for ideas to copy. I loved the idea of the meringue mushrooms, although I had never tried to make meringue before. It went surprisingly well, and I think the cake was a hit (although it doesn't take much to impress preschoolers).










After Brody's nap that evening, we took her to Build-a-Bear to 'redeem' her birthday present from us and spend some of her b-day cash. She has been telling us how she "needs" another Build-a-bear, and imagine her delight when she discovered they even had TINKERBELL costumes for the bears!! Once Tinkerbell was complete (yes, that's the bear's name too) we headed to Indianola, just south of Des Moines, for the annual balloon festival. Unfortunately, it was too windy for the balloons to go up, and since we had heard that as we were pulling in the parking lot, we didn't even bring our camera up to the field with us. The kids did get to see one balloon who braved the winds to inflate while on the ground, and then at dusk, there were fireworks, which are always a hit with our kiddos.

Overall, we had a great day celebrating with our five year old!