I found a Jake costume at the end of the Halloween season and I surprised Garytt with it that morning. He was pretty excited to dress up like Jake for his party!
My mom and I ran over the the gym a few minutes early to help set up the table and the put the cake and cookies out. Justin and I made cookies with pirate skulls on them and then some that were "gold dubloons" with the number 4 on them. The cake was a last minute change. I was planning to use fondant but then Justin suggested that we use the same technique I used to make Westyn's birthday cake to make the blue part look like the ocean. Then we just used graham cracker crumbs to make the top look like an island. It was a great idea!
Pretty soon Garytt and Westyn arrived, followed shortly by our party guests. Each guest received a pirate bandana when they arrived. Originally I made these just red and pink as Jake just has a red bandana. However, when I tested it out on Garytt, I thought he looked too much like a Ninja, so I added the skull and crossbones to them. I really love the way they turned out and I think most of the kids really liked being a pirate. Garytt did tell me later that it wasn't a "real" Jake bandana because he doesn't have that picture on his...ha!
Garytt and some of his friends were pretty excited to peak into the cake room.
Soon it was time for the party to start! (As you can see, the girls leading the party even got into the pirate fun!)
They kept everything in the pirate theme while doing the gymnastics activities. They started by introducing themselves and then "opening the gate," which was knocking over a big cheese mat.
Then they all "sat on the boat" and sang Happy Birthday to Garytt.
Then they did some running and dancing to warm-up.
After that, the
They got out the parachute next. And they had Garytt sit in the middle, they all wrapped him up and then quickly unwrapped him like a present. It was pretty cute.
Then they put cannon balls on the parachute...
They were allowed to explore on their own some more.
Finally it was time to get out the jump track, which was a pirate ship in the ocean waves.
Who doesn't love to "walk the plank" when it's a jump track?!
Even Isaac look like he enjoyed it!
Time to ride the waves back down.
The last thing the pirates had to do was go on a treasure hunt. They had clues all around the gym that would lead them to a gold dubloon (gold chocolate coins that I brought).
After all those fun pirate adventures, it was time to get some cake! We took a quick family picture first.
And we took a picture of Captain Garytt with his cake...what a cheesy smile!
Here comes the rest of the pirate crew!
They all picked a seat and we sang Happy Birthday
Cake!
Here is a picture of the whole pirate crew...notice how enthusiastic Westyn is...Yo Ho Let's Go! (Top row: Maddi, Luke, Westyn, Elsa, Anastasia, Isabella, Addison, JW. Bottom row: Sage, Zander, Captain Garytt, Collin, and Zander's brother.)
Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us! Garytt had a great 4th birthday party!
