Number 9!

Yesterday, Logan turned 9!!  Kinda crazy to think I have a 9 year old in the house now.  We've warned him it's his last year in the single digits - he just sorta shrugs it off with a huff, as his pre-teen personality shines through more and more these days - but gosh!  if only he knew what a big deal it is!  Last year in the single digits.  Man.

When Logan and I started talking about birthday party themes a couple of months ago - he decided he wanted a "Clash Royale" party.  But, for the life of me, I really couldn't get behind it.  I had NO IDEA what I could do, to work with that sort of theme.  My (creative) mind was drawing a complete blank. When I asked Logan what he envisioned, he said oh you know Mom, I'd like to have everyone battle, like we do in Clash Royale (it's an iPad game where knights basically battle each other, using cards with special weapons or powers), with swords and bows and arrows and stuff.

And I said Uhhhh, No.  You're crazy.

I thought a Medieval Knights themed party might be something I could work with, so I started dreaming up what I could do with that.  And then, somewhere along the road of my (Pinterest) research, I thought a Pirate Party (complete with treasure hunt) would be really swell.

So, I read aloud some potential treasure hunt riddles to the boys one night, to see if they were too hard, too easy, or interesting at all.... and they both leaped on the idea of a treasure hunt with great enthusiasm, begging me to read more, so they could solve the puzzle!

Our Pirate Party / Treasure Hunt was born.

I put together a total of 8 riddles which would lead you, somewhere in the house, to the next riddle.  When you found the next riddle, you also needed to collect a piece of a map (to our house).

After you were done with all steps, you would have 8 pieces of the map to put together (like a puzzle).  Once put together, that puzzle would then spell out the NINTH riddle (because Logan turned 9 - get it?!?), leading you to the final treasure chest (with their party favors).

Because I didn't want the kids to team up and leave some behind, I mixed it up so that each kid would start with a different riddle in their rotation.  These were hidden in their pirate hook, that they picked up, alongside their eye patch, to get the hunt started.

The kids were crazy fast!  (and, many ended up teaming up, or showing each other where the next clue was, anyway)  So, our treasure hunt didn't last as long as I thought it might, but they had a ton of fun and loved the challenge!  :)

After, they played and ran around the house screaming their heads off and banging on walls and punching and kicking and basically being a rowdy bunch of boys (there were 18 kiddos creating chaos in our house!).

It was too rainy and wet outside (it basically poured the entire afternoon) to do the pinata we had planned - the only major disappointment for the kids.  But, I think they still had a good time, regardless.

Since it was post lunch / pre dinner time, I just put out a bunch of themed snacks to munch on.

And, of course, yummy cupcakes to decorate and sing Happy Birthday to the main guy.

Logan opened his presents while the kids screamed in excitement over his good fortune at all of the fun loot he scored.

And then I put on Pirates of the Caribbean for the last 30 minutes to try and calm some of the rambunctiousness down, as they waited for parents to arrive.

All in all, a big success I would say!  We're so happy to see Logan reach another big milestone and can't wait to see what this next year unfolds. :)