Sandra Salisbury Photography Blog: Hey Look who turned 5!..... yes, I know, look who turned 5, last October!

My baby, Susie, grew up last October! she turned 5. I cried, laughed, yelled, danced, jumpped, jiggled, smiled, begged, rejoiced..

You get the Idea. We celebrated with a way over the top Pirate party at our home. Having an Oct b-day party is great becasue you can always do a costume party and let kids (parents really i guess) get more bang for their buck on halloween gear. All characters were welcomed at the party and we had about 60 guests in total! Planning was in the works for a few months ahead and I had tons of help form my mom, Nancy, who is THE greatest party planner and had the most incredible ideas. She is an amazing seamstress and got me motivated to make my familie's pirate costumes myself. Susie wanted to be Elizabeth Swan from the movie Pirates of the Carribean and Alex along with Zach were both Captain Jack Sparrow. I was in no need of a spiffy famous pirate alias and was myslef, the almighty pirate mom! I made the invitations from a picture I took(see above) of Susie all decked out in her Pirate ensemble. I then mailed them as postcards to about 80 friend and family. this was our first year inviting school friends, and placing the invitations in her friends mailboxes in class was a must! I planned out a fun filled day and as little pirates arrives they were greated by me and my tresure chest fulll of custom made pirate hats and eye-atches for all! Might I add that I tried my best to saty in character all day, pirate lingoa nd scratchy voice included! Until we had a full ship, the little mateys snacked on Barbosa's green apples with carmel dippin sauce, along with a bucket of kids rum punch and cheesy nachos and hot dogs. Once we had a hearty crew, it was off to find the treasure map. Clues led the team to the front yard and back. The chest was hidden behind the home made giant Jolly Roger flag and from there the crew strung it to a tree and smashed at it wildly till the loot poured out! They all were given hand sewn ( by nancy) booty bags to collet all their goods. After a calm, the crew headed off to have their faces painted ( by the amazing pirate character ordered form Auntie EM's Classy Characters... aka my lil' sis erin) and eat cake. I had made an island setting complete with Captian Jack and Davey Jones dueling it out atop a mound of never-ending (or so it seemned) frosting. Of course we finised up the festivites with capt'n Susie as she rummaged through her ship (wagon converted into gift holded/transporter) full of treasures! This was by far the most ellaborate party I have ever thrown . I woudl do it again in a herat beat. Even through the last minute pannic the night before, thinking" can i in anyway just move the whole thing to chuckie chees and forget this craziness?". I was worth all the lost sleep and the over spent budget! I could have done it with out all my ship mates. Thank you to
My mother and partner in party crime, Nancy. My sister, who never fails to surprise me, Erin. My Hubby, for letting me always do it my way and support my expensive paryt habits. Oh and my Grandma, Roberta, or should I say my Grand-crafter, for who all inspiration has been fashioned! And of course to my amazing little pirate, my joy, Susana!