The boy that made me a mom turned 5 last month! We were all really excited to celebrate his birthday in our new home on Vancouver Island. For his birthdays in the past I’ve picked the theme based off of things he likes at the time (we’ve done monkeys, construction trucks, dinosaurs etc). But this year I thought he’s old enough to pick his own theme! So when we asked his answer kind of surprised me, “I want a ferry party!”
“As in the boat?”
“Yup!”
Just to make sure he really knew that’s what he wanted I gave him a few other suggestions, we could do trains, or goats (he loves Coombs) or airplanes? Nope he was set on B.C Ferries, so B.C Ferries it was! Harrison loves the ferry, the fact that there is a boat that carries hundreds of cars sailing on the ocean blows his mind! As an adult the Ferry can seem less exciting, we see the ferry as the line ups, the sailing waits that can happen in the summer etc so it really charmed me to see the excitement over a ferry ride through the eyes of my child. I remember feeling really excited for ferry rides when I was younger too, and he’s right, the ferry IS cool!
When I started planning I reached out to B.C Ferries Instagram account to let them know their biggest fan was having a party in their honour, they were kind enough to send him a captain’s hat, a toy ferry, a bunch of stickers, and tickets to ride the ferry!
Now for the decor!
I’ve always wanted to do a balloon garland and thought it would look like a wave if I could get it arching over the table. I’m surprised at how easy it was when you get a balloon pump and a kit, the whole process took me an hour!
I completed the scene by using Harrison’s large B.C Ferry toy and making a little ferry boat scene in the center of the table.
The cake.
The cake was legendary! Joelle from Lil J Delights did an unreal job! It was exactly the vision I had in my mind, I still can’t believe how amazing it turned out!
Pirate Packs
What would B.C Ferries be without Pirate Packs?! Yup! each guest sailing on our B.C Ferry party was served their dinner in a Pirate Pack, complete with a shiny gold coin. Huge thank you to White Spot for supplying those!
Craft Activity
I decided a fun activity to do at the party would be pirate masks, I had a hard time finding activity ideas that really stuck closely to the theme (car Jenga maybe?) so we decorated pirate masks, but I do hope that B.C Ferries never has to contend with real pirates…
So there we have it, I’m not sure if it’s been done before, but the B.C Ferry birthday party was a hit, Harrison was in heaven, and I will never look at a Ferry quite the same way again.
Thank you for Sailing with B.C Ferries,
xo
Emily
