We have made some great friends living here in Cologne and it just so happens that two of Kellan's friends also turn three this June. It also just so happens that those kiddos' mommies are two of my favorite ladies here, so we decided to do a combined birthday party. The theme? Pirates and Mermaids!
Summertime is outdoor time in Germany and we spend many days at the beautiful urban forest in Cologne, called Stadtwald Park. We decided that if the weather permitted it, this would be a perfect venue for our party. Fortunately, we lucked out and got a beautiful day! Partly sunny with temps in the low 70's - doesn't get much better!
We encouraged all of our little guests to dress up as either mermaids or pirates and then offered some extra costume pieces to them when they arrived: pirate hats, fish headbands, eye patches, arm bands, bracelets, leis and his/hers swords. Most of the swords had already been cleaned out by the time we took this picture!
We also set up a couple of seashell sandboxes with sand toys for the kids to play with at the beginning of the party. Later, we used them as place for the kids to find buried treasure during the treasure hunt!
Another fun activity for the kids was face painting, which allowed our mermaids to be adorned with colorful hearts and fish and for our pirates to sport scruffy beards and eye patches. I couldn't talk Kellan into it! He was too busy!
It was great to get together with good friends...
And it was fun to dress up like a pirate - or in Matt's case a pirate/biker.
We had an awesome spread of food, which I think I forgot to take a picture of because I was too busy eating. The guys grilled up some chicken skewers, shishkabobs and the ever-popular bacon-wrapped sausages.
After lunch it was cupcake time!
And time for the birthday boys and girl to blow out their candles.
The cupcakes were delicious! Thanks Allison E!
After cupcakes, it was piñata time!
The kids absolutely loved the piñata. Kellan didn't really get it. When candy would fall out and the kids would all come tearing over to pick up candy, Kellan thought everyone was just running around screaming with delight. So that's what he did: ran around and screamed with delight, completely oblivious to the fact that there was candy all over the ground.
While the kids were distracted with the piñata, we set up a treasure hunt. We scattered tons of candy, costume jewelry and pirate paraphernalia around trees, in the pop-up playhouse and even buried some in the sand boxes we brought.
We then lined everyone up to hand out their treasure bags, snapped a group shot and set them loose!
I think it's safe to say that the kids loved it!
We ended the party with opening presents, which of course the birthday kids loved.
As things winded down, everyone pitched in to help clean up, then we loaded up and went home for a nap.
I couldn't have asked for a better party for Kellan and was so grateful to have a shared celebration with such wonderful friends! We are truly blessed!
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