On our sister/cousin/family text thread this week, we were discussing things that make us feel like we have our shit together–“feel like” being the operative phrase here because, admittedly, we’re daily falling apart. For my sister, it’s matching pajamas–J Crew’s classic button-up, to be exact. For my cousin, it’s prepping meals ahead of time. Other cousin–freshly painted nails. Mine? Among others, bringing a hostess gift to someone’s house makes me feel like I’m a poodle, not a wolf. People who bring nice hostess gifts certainly don’t have backseats covered in important school papers they never read, stale Cheetos from two weeks ago and a broken hanger from God knows where. I’m not saying I’m always good at remembering the hostess gifts, but when I do, it’s an invigorating Poodle moment. My friend Meredith is so good with hostess gifts–nothing over the top, but a quick handover of a simple gift when she drops her daughter off, before she turns to leave. The orchid she brought me a few months ago is still going strong on my windowsill. Last week’s hydrangeas held us through Easter. Another friend of mine is so good at hostess gifts, she has a cabinet dedicated to storing small gifts that can work for any hostess–candles, napkin rings, fancy wine bags, her favorite scone mix.

In my lifelong effort to bring more Poodle to my instinctive Wolf-ness,  I have gathered seven easy, thoughtful hostess gifts that don’t cost much and can work for anyone at any time.

1. Homesick Candle, Mini – A fun way to recognize your recipient if you know where they’re from. Or, you can gift your own state or “New Home” scent for a housewarming gift.

2. Tea towel and olive wood ladle  (Hearth & Hand has the loveliest 2-pack of flour sack towels)

3. A small house plant in an artsy planter (I love this one or this one or this beautiful tabletop terrarium)

4. A pretty mug with a pouch of your favorite coffee or tea inside

5. A homemade all purpose cleaner you made, in an amber bottle with a handwritten label

6. A pair of earrings packaged on a photo you took (the stud earrings here were only $4.99 each at World Market and photos are the small square prints from Social Print Studio). I love this one–so simple and inexpensive and yet personal and thoughtful.

7. The “Crappy Day” grab bag: a mini bottle of wine/champagne (World Market has so many good ones to choose from) with a good chocolate bar & a package of bath salts

 

Before we move on to important business, a quick Oscar recap.

For years–even before kids–I’ve watched the Oscars in my pajamas with Heidi. We put our hair up, wear costume jewelry and eat all the food the nominees have been denying themselves the last three weeks to fit in their dresses. When kids came along, we made them part of our tradition, eventually adding a red carpet, plastic Oscar statues and made-up games with no point that keep the kids watching and writing things on paper throughout the night. We eventually named our little soiree “Pajama Glama Oscar Party,” and I love our archive of memories from this evening.

This year we turned an Oscar drinking game into a fun contest for the kids (without the drinks, of course), and they were ALL IN. Basically, I printed a list I bought on Etsy of 30 things they had to watch for (winner stumbles over opening speech paper, someone stumbles over teleprompter script, someone cries, winner puts reading glasses on, wardrobe malfunction, etc.), and whoever called it first received a point. Most points at the end of the party won a prize. Dash was DEDICATED, holding his little paper and pencil front and center.

The candy platter was a major hit. And despite the fact that I showed the kids how to properly hold an award, they kept flipping it over butt-side-out because butts are funny.

Now on to a few wrap-up thoughts.

1) Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. LORD. HAVE. MERCY. I can’t handle the chemistry. I know they’re actors and used to making out with costars, but we are beyond that now. WHAT WAS HAPPENING ON THAT STAGE? Dear Lord, my heart was racing.
2) Green Book – I just saw the movie over the weekend and loved it. I was so happy to see Mayershala Ali win for Best Supporting Actor.
3) Fave Dresses of the night:

Gemma Chan’s dress was heaven–the color, the high neck, the pockets…LOVE.
Charlize Theron could easily pull off a garbage bag, but that minimalistic dress with her dark hair and jewels…perfection.
Didn’t love the hip jut-outs on Lady Gaga’s dress, but it was so Gaga. She pulls off classic Hollywood so beautifully.

4) Besides the musical performances and a few memorable speech/presenter moments, I thought the whole show was a bit of a sleeper this year without a host to pull the energy together. Leave it to the old SNL stars to pull together what they could.
5) The teary “I worked so hard for so long for this moment” speeches always get me the most. People can poo-poo the Oscars all they want, but behind all the Hollywood “extra” is artists who stayed dedicated to their dreams and worked for pennies and dealt with self doubt and showed up over and over and over, through rejection and failure, to stay committed to their craft. I love seeing them win and fall apart a little up there remembering the journey it took them to get there. I love those heartfelt speeches. Last night’s favorites: Lady Gaga, Regina King and Olivia Colman.

There you have it–a quick Oscar wrap-up. Off to make lunches.

When it was decided a few weeks ago that Dash’s party would be pirate themed, Brett suggested we look into one of our local beach pavilions to host it. I drove up to check out the facilities for rent last weekend and called Brett, ecstatic.

“Oh my God, it might as well be called Pirate Beach. It basically looks like a pirate movie scene. Like we don’t even need to bury a treasure because there’s probably a real one already buried there.”

So a pirate party was born, and this weekend we gathered some mateys and celebrated Dash’s six years with sword fighting, plank walking and a treasure hunt led by my dad who went all in on the pirate theme.

Okay, we all did.

We used the beach facilities (Delnor Wiggins State Park) to grill burgers and dogs, and brought chips and cupcakes to keep the food simple which always works out best for kid parties.

And then we dug into our Halloween bins for some skeletons and didn’t need much more decoration because the entire scene already looked like a beach overtaken by pirates.

My dad used painted foam core, a large plank of wood and a roll of blue cellophane to set up a “Walk-the-Plank in shark-infested waters” activity that quickly became a favorite. Dash was so nervous to walk it without someone holding his hand at first but was running across it alone and having sword fights in the middle of the plank by the end of the party.

I found some unfinished wood treasure boxes at Michael’s for the kids to paint. They added jewel stickers and filled them with plastic gold coins (Hobby Lobby).

The pirates battled in a cannonball toss on the beach (black water balloons). We  made a big deal of making sure everyone was super careful to pick up any balloon pieces if they broke, but then they never broke because they were made of some freaky thick latex.

The kids searched for the bones of Blackbeard on the beach and dug them up when they found them…

…and used a treasure map to find three buried treasures along the beach boardwalks.

When I visited the beach last week to check it out, I drew a rough map of the trails with landmarks, noting where I’d bury the treasures. I transferred it on a big sheet of butcher paper (I burned the edges and some holes in it first), embellished it with some pictures and then crumpled it up to make it look old.

The treasure boxes were filled with little trinkets for the kids–light-up bouncy balls and pirate bracelets and rings (these were so cute–and stretchy so they fit adult fingers too!).

Dash’s one major request for his party was a pinata. He has been talking about a pinata for weeks, and he was ALL BUSINESS when he was up to bat. Back up, kids.

I actually had a broomstick-looking bat packed in the car before the party, and right before I left, Safety Dad saw it and said, “WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Is that for the pinata? BIRTHDAY RULE #1: PLASTIC BAT. Good thing I caught that.” Nothing gets by Safety Dad.

We also generated pirate names for every guest, and wrote them on little sheets of paper. This pirate name generator site is fun and includes descriptions of pirate identity: Oscar “Shiny Buckles” Jewell, “The Plague Bringer of Parrot Sands!” Oscar be consorting too much with the locals on the mainland!

So the verdict is: Pirate beach parties are the best. Dash is the kid who talks about his upcoming party ten times a day three weeks in advance, so it was so much fun to see him so delighted that it was all coming to fruition.

When the party was officially over, a few of his friends stayed to hang out with us on the beach, and the boys took off exploring with swords and skeleton remains. One friend was so dedicated to the pirate theme, he kept a hook on his hand for a good hour. Dash was in heaven.

We love birthdays around here, and celebrating Dash this weekend reminded us again of the unique way each of our kids fits our family. We love you, Dash and can’t imagine life without your joy and humor!

A few party sources if a pirate party is in the works:

Pirate flag
Pirate signs (these were so great to hang all around the beach trails)
Pirate hats (or just use red bandanas–$0.99 at Hobby Lobby)
Pirate jewelry favors
Chocolate Gold bars (we had one of these for each little pirate to put in their treasure box to take home)
Dash’s Pirate Shirt
Unfinished Wood Treasure Boxes (or a smaller version here)
Swords & Eyepatch Set