We had Daniel's birthday party on Saturday and it was a lot of fun! Daniel chose a pirate theme which Jake and I were excited about because there's a lot you can do with it...like dig up buried treasure in your very own backyard, of course!
Here are the kids on the treasure hunt, finding clues around the backyard (Joshua became the designated Clue Reader since he was the only kid in the group who could read)
Off in search of the next clue
When they found the spot where the chest was buried one of Daniel's little friends asked, "Is this where the pirates buried the treasure?" So innocent and cute, I almost started to feel guilty!
Jake buried the chest decently deep in the ground, so the kids really got to dig. Their efforts were rewarded as they claimed their booty -- candy! I have to say it was nice to have a change from the standard pinata
Here's the pirate cake that we had a fun time decorating ourselves:
All in all we feel very successful for having pulled it off. And very brave. For those of you who don't know, it is incredibly tricky to throw a birthday party so close to the 4th of July holiday. Everyone is either on vacation or at family reunions or whatever. But we really wanted to do it for Daniel and are so glad that enough of his friends were still in town and that it was such a success!