A Pirate Birthday Party

For about a year now I've been wanting to start working in the area of children's birthday parties.

Last year I put up posters at area businesses including some of the party supply stores to try and make some contacts to book birthday parties.

Well it wasn't until this past week when I went back to work at ShopNBC that I made my first real birthday party connection. Yesterday, I entertained at a small birthday party for the daughter of one of my coworkers.

Although it was just a small party with mostly preschoolers; it was good first experience. The little ones, including the 3 year old birthday girl had a fun time.

What was special about this first experience was that the party had a pirate theme. I promised my coworker that if she booked me for the party one of my puppets and I would dress up like pirates.

Well I gathered costumes, accessories and supplies throughout the week. These included: a small treasure chest with lot of pirate "treasure" in it; costumes, for both me and Ruben Nathaniel Young (see picture above); a CD of pirate music, a new parrot puppet named Archie (see 2nd picture above) and more.

I brushed up on my pirate vocabulary and came up with a routine. At the party I called on my skills for entertaining preschoolers from my days as children's church teacher.

I took the children on an imaginary treasure hunt with the birthday girl as the leader of the crew. The hunt came complete with an ancient treasure map and lots of sailing and digging and orders from Captain Ruben Young.

At the end we "found the treasure chest. I opened it and gave everyone a piece of the "bounty" while giving the birthday girl special tiara proclaiming her not just a great pirate but a princess as well.

Like I said the kids all had a good time. My coworker and her husband were really pleased. I got my first birthday party experience under my belt. Now I have something to build on so I can offer a "program" for parties in the future.

This was just another great experience on my journey of ventriloquism. I hope it's a road that leads to the highway of party performances.