Well, the time had come. My son was turning five and the question always arises- what should we do for his birthday? I have wanted to have an outdoor birthday party for him, but having a winter birthday in New England makes depending on weather for that day very tricky. We couldn’t count on snow for sledding or the like- especially this year. My son wanted a pirate themed birthday party so I began thinking about boats. I’ve posted here before about how we live very close to a commuter boat that goes to Boston which is a great value and fun to ride. So, we decided to take our guests on a pirate adventure to Boston. Our destination was the playground that is steps from where the boat lands. You might think that taking 12 kids under the age of 6 out on a boat for a birthday party might be a recipe for disaster, but it was great, and this is how we did it.
We all met at the ferry terminal and waited for our ship to come in. Thanks to a huge group of boy scouts that disembarked, our group was a sigh of relief to the crew!
Every pirate got a hat to decorate, which kept them busy and served a very important role playing purpose. After that we had lunch: “healthy” hot dogs (that I pre-made and packed in foil), Pirate’s Booty and juice.
Land ho! It was not too long before we reached our destination.
It was as if they knew we were coming: when we got off the boat there was a place where you could take your picture as a pirate! The driver of the boat also said goodbye to us with a loud “Aaargh!” over the loudspeaker.
We made balloon swords for the kids so they could swashbuckle on the playground.
Then we rounded up the pirates for a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” followed by pirate cupcakes.
Mmmm…
While nobody was in the sandbox, my husband “hid” their treasure (goody boxes) in the sand and then told the kids that he spied treasure. They all went running in a pack to find it.
After that we headed to our home port and enjoyed the view from the top of the boat as it moved slowly out of the harbor. It was a great day.
