Pirates birthday party ideas

[skiingwife]

Hi, My DS is turning 8 this month. I want to plan a Pirates of the Caribean themed birthday party. We have a boat and was thinking that maybe we could do a treasure hunt similar to the Grand Floridian pirates cruise. We could follow a map to places along the lake where they get out and search for more map pieces and finally the treasure. Has anyone done something like this? Do you have any other ideas for a pirate themed party?

 

[TwinkieMama]

Hi! I had a pirate themed birthday party for my DS (now 12) when he turned 4... this was way before POC movie but we were inspired by the POC ride.... we didn't have a boat and my guy was much younger but this was one of the all time best boy parties...

We had treasure map invitations.

We played pin the tail on the donkey-.. except it was a treasure chest on a map and you had to get it on the X.
There may have been another game, I don't remember. I wanted to do a scavenger hunt but decided that 4 was too young.

The hit of the party was that we, (ok... my mom), made hats for everyone... and eyepatches... and swords. The hats were folded butcher paper (white). The eyepatches were black felt sewn to 2 black ribbons. The swords were cut out of cardboard and then the blade was spraypainted silver and the handle was left cardboard. I had all sort of stickers, paint, markers, glue, glitter and little plastic jewels and gold coins for them to decorate their swords and hats. The little girls loved that- most of the boys could care less.
However, girls and boys ran around and played swordfight for most of the party. I also handed out necklaces and coins as "loot". The cake was also a treasure map.. very easy to do since I am cake challenged.
I think that your guys would have great fun with a scavenger hunt- with or with out a boat. The swords were a huge hit and the kids (including friends and neighbors) talked about them for years.

Have fun! I think I'll do this party again my little pirate is old enough!

 

[mom2isaac&ella]

We just went to a Pirate party & my DS wants one for his 5th, so we've been looking for ideas. Oriental Trading has a ton of cheap pirate things that would be great - eye patches, treasure boxes, swords, stickers & more. The party we went to had a water balloon toss - they tossed "cannon balls" at a picture of a skull & crossbones (maybe a pirate ship would work too), they had hid treasure (coins & necklaces) in a sand box & they popped bubbles with hooks made with an aluminum foil coming out of a plastic cup (the cup hid their hand. She had gotten POC toy figurines for the top of the cake. They kids had a great time.
Best of luck, can't wait to hear everyone else's ideas.

 

[skiingwife]

Thanks! I love these game ideas. I will check out Oriental Trading. Keep it coming.

 

[tinker-belle]

Hi. We did a pirates themed party last year when my DS turned nine. It was a blast. We made a CD full of pirate themed music.
When the kids arrived, we gave them each a pirate tattoo & then they each made a pirate hat.
We played "dismantle the bomb"- the game where you wrap a present in lots of wrappers of newspaper & everytime the music stops, the kid with the gift unwraps one layer.
We played "pin the patch on the pirate."
I made a treasure hunt. I made a treasure map of things around my house but called it more 'scary things'. Like serpent's lair, or whatever. The treasure map I also crumpled up & then dyed it with a tea bag so it would look old. The kids were on a wild goose chase around the house with about 10 clues I made up (each one rhymed with something piratey- like me hearties & yo ho ho")
At the very end they found a pirate's treasure chest that I made & inside was a pirate's sword, eye patch & small treasure boxes filled with chocolate coins with their names on it- for them to keep.
Then we served lunch- we made mac & cheese & fries & served red & blue hawaiian punch (pirate's blood & sea water)
I made a pirate ship cake (I found a recipe on the web)
And at the very end as we waited for parents to come we had "cannonball launch" and the kids had a water balloon fight.
Good luck!

 

[PA Princess]

We had a mermaid party for dd's 6th birthday this year, but this invitation would work equally as well for a pirate themed party...we sent out messages in a bottle. We used water bottles, added sand, small shells, and a few pieces of green sea weed paper. People just raved about the invites and the kids loved getting them...many even reused them to send their own message in a bottle to someone. We hand delivered many, but we also mailed like 8...just added postage of about 80 cents, address and return labels, and off they went. Enjoy the party planning and the party - kid parties can be so fun!

 

[TwoMonkeys]

I did a pirate themed party for my son's 5th birthday. We held his party at the local park. I made message in a bottle invitations. I was so pleased by the way they turned out. I took cream colored paper, stained it with wet tea bags and then ironed them to dry the tea and help with the aged look and to help smooth the paper back out since it had become wavy from being wet and I needed them to go through the printer. Then I printed the invitation that I had worded in "pirate language" on the front and a map to the park on the back done like an old treasure map. I then burned the edges with one of those handheld lighters and then rolled them up and tied them with brown yarn. I had saved enough water bottles for the invites (cleaned, dried, with the label removed) and I put a little bit of beach sand and some shells in the bottom of the bottle and put the rolled invite in. With one end of the yarn hanging out of the bottle (for easy invite removal) I screwed the caps back on and then attached a mailing label to the front with the child's name on it. My son invited his entire PreK class so I just asked the teacher to hand them out at school so I wouldn't have to worry about mailing them. The invites were a hit!

I made goodie bags to look like treasure chests by using brown paper lunch bags. I put two strips of black electrical tape down the front of the bags to look like the metal straps around a wooden treasure chest and made a little keyhole type shape on an adhesive address label to use as a sticker to hold the folded over bag closed. I just found some pirate type items at the party store and added gold covered chocolate coins I found at the dollar store for the goodies.

I made a treasure chest to hold the goodie bags by spray painting a styrofoam cooler with brown paint and adding electrical tape straps. And at the party I had a treasure map for the children to follow (using Paint Shop Pro) that I had made by taking digital pictures of the playground equipment and directing the children to follow the trail on the map and do what the map says at each stop (like slide down the slide, etc) I used pictures of the equipment on the map since the children couldn't read yet. Their parents did go around and help them with the map. I was standing next to the "treasure chest" ready to hand the goodie bags to the kids as they got to it.

Other than the map activity, the children just had fun playing and I had pizza and the pirate ship cake from Publix (local grocery store). I decorated a little with some pirate party things from the party store.

I thought it all turned out pretty cute. I found lots of ideas on the internet by googling "pirate party" etc.

Oh, for thank you notes I had taken a picture of each child at the party and then used Print Shop to make a little card with the child's photo on the front. I then wrote the note inside and had my son sign it.

 

[all4fun]

We did a pirate themed party for my 3yr old this year. Since he's just three it was pretty low key and we didn't have any organized games (it was mostly adults anyway). We made a really cute pirate ship cake - I found the recipe and template in the April issue of Parents magazine (or maybe it was May, I can't remember for sure). I found a ton of pirate party ideas at birtdaypartyideas.com

Also if you have a Party City store near you they have some really cute pirate themed party supplies and in their latest ad they even had POTC themed paper plates.

 

[stacy6552]

We had a pirate party for a younger child a few years back. We did the treasure hunt. The kids decorated treasure chests while waiting for everyone to arrive. We had a pirate call class ("ARRG!" "AVAST!"), and the kids had a "battle at sea" standing in two cardboard pirate ships and throwing water balloons at each other.

 

[D&DDisney]

We did a "walk the plank" game. Took 2 2x4's and put a full bucket of water at one end and an empty can at the other. Kids had to take a teaspoon of water and walk the plank to the other end to fill up the can. The team with the most water after 2 min. was the winner. This was a big hit.
I bought cheap scarfs (headband/ hanky type) at the dollar store and wrapped them around their heads like pirates. We made our own eye patches too.

Found an easy cake on the Family Fun website, to make a pirate ship. It was made with 2 round cake pans. Turned out very cool and was very inexpensive. Check it out ... http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50180