Pirate Birthday Party Theme

Make an invitation that looks like a treasure chest or large gold coin.

For the party information word it in Pirate language to get the kids ready for the pirate experience.

Example:
Arrrrrr Maties!
Avast we seek t’ celebrate ____________ (birthday child’s name) day o’ birth.
Come aboard me pirate ship and sail into some fun.
T’ pirate ship is in t’ port of ______________ (address).
We be sailin’ on ____________ (date)
When t’ clock strikes t’ hour o’ _________ (date)
Yer landlubbers can pick ye up at the dock at _________ (time party ends)
RSVP t’ let us know if we be seein’ ya dare.

Decorations
Decorate with pirate flags, parrots, treasure chests, treasure, gold coins, and brown streamers to look like a
pirate ship. Decorate the table in black and white and sprinkle gold coins around the top of the party table.
Decorate a large treasure chest and fill the bottom with batting or a gold pillow - just enough so that you only
have to fill the very top with jewelry, coins and pirate loot. Let some trail down the pirate chest and onto the table.

Fun Ideas
A great idea for a pirate party is a treasure hunt. Make clues that lead the pirates from one area of the house to
the next. The clues should be hard enough that they have to think, but easy enough for children to figure out. To
make the party last longer we always make the guests have to do a challenge or game to get the next clue at each station. Once they finish the challenge then they get the clue to the next destination. Some great pirate themed
activities and challenges would be:

Walk the plank - Lay a large flat board on the floor. Blindfold the first player and they must walk the length of the
board and back (can’t turn around, must walk backwards!) without stepping off the “plank”.

Gold Coin Toss - Pirates have to throw plastic gold coins into a treasure chest to move on. Set the chest on the
floor (or table) about 6 feet from the base line where the pirates will be standing. Give them each 5 gold coins
and tell them to try and get the coins into the chest. To move on the group must get a certain number of coins
in the chest - a good challenging number is to multiply the number of pirates x 4. They may have to try over and
over to get the correct number in the chest … which will make it challenging.

Face Painting - Tell the pirates they must first look the part to be worthy of the treasure hunt. Paint on beards, mustaches, scars and sideburns with face paint or draw on with eyeliner.

Island Scurry - Cut out five large shapes out of poster board - about 12“ x 14“. Decorate them to look like small
islands. Tell the pirates they must use only these five islands to get from one end of the room to the other (or if
playing outside make the space at least 25 feet). They must take the four pieces and move their team by having everyone stand on the pieces together, taking the back piece … moving it to the front and so on. If they step in the “water” then they must start at the beginning. No one can be left behind - they must all move together.

Sword fight - Place two blocks of wood or low step stools about 2 feet apart. Two at a time give the pirates a pool noodle and step up onto the platform. They have to try and knock each other off their platform with the pool noodle within 1 minute. Let everyone have a turn.

Parrot Piñata - Fill the piñata with candies and small prizes and a clue to the next location on the treasure map. Let
the pirates take turns trying to open the piñata. * When the pirates first arrive at the party you may want to have them decorate a paper lunch sack to use to hold their “loot” when the piñata is opened.

Games
Sword Relay Race
Use foam swords for this fun relay race. Divide pirates into two teams. Give each team a container with 20 gold plastic coins. Set two baskets or treasure chests at one end of the playing field (or room). Give the sword to the first pirate in line on each team and have them balance gold coins on their swords and run to the treasure chest. After they deposit the coin they run back and give the sword to the next pirate in line. First team with all of their coins in the treasure chest wins. If they drop the coin they must run back to the start line and place their coin back in their teams container. Then the next person in line grabs a coin and begins.

Pirate Water Bail
Divide birthday party guests into 2 teams. Use 4 buckets - place two at the starting line and two 30 or more feet away.　 Fill the farthest buckets with water. Players take a sponge and run to the far bucket, dip the sponge in the water and then run back to the starting line bucket and squeeze the water into the empty bucket. The first team to fill their bucket wins. (Use larger buckets to hold the water first since a lot of the water will be lost as they race back to fill their bucket.) Variation: Race backwards for a crazy birthday party game twist!

Cannonball War
Make 2 "Ships" from cardboard boxes or plywood (decorate, name and cutout portholes) Place in yard facing one another with a large blue tarp in between for water.  Divide kids into 2 teams and provide with cannonballs (100+ black water-filled balloons!) Let the chaos ensue!!  If you don't want to use water balloons make cannons out of balled up newspaper wrapped in black hockey-tape

Activities
Face Painting
Tell the pirates they must first look the part to be worthy of the treasure hunt. Paint on beards, mustaches, scars and sideburns with face paint or draw on with eyeliner.

Making of a Pirate
Dress the pirates up with doo rags (bandanas), clip on hoop earrings, eye patches, temporary tattoos, and foam swords. You can also make sashes from black and white cloth or pick up pirate hats for them to wear. (Long John Silver’s has paper pirate hats.)

Pirate Names
Before the party come up with pirate names for each of the guests. Use their last names or personality traits. Write the names on name tags and declare that they must use each others pirate names for the rest of the party.

Food
Serve fish and chips from Long John Silver’s.

Macaroni and cheese using the Shells pasta - serve in large conch shells.

Goldfish crackers in upside down pirate hats.

Fill small clear plastic cups with blue Jello - add Swedish fish candies.

Fruit kabobs - skewer pieces of cut up strawberries, pineapples and bananas on pretzels.

Scurvy Dogs - Hot dogs.

Octopus Hot Dogs - cut hotdogs long ways into 8 strips … being sure to leave 1” of one end of the hot dog uncut. Place in the microwave to heat - the 8 “legs” will curl up while cooking and will look like an octopus.

Peanut butter and jelly(fish) sandwiches cut into starfish shapes with a cookie cutter.