With the Kids

Pirate Birthday Party Ideas…Arrr

Round up your gold and treasures, it’s time for a Pirate Birthday Party! We’ve gathered up a few ideas to help your party goers become the best kind of pirate captains on the stormy seas. Ahoy, Me Hearty!

Invitation:

Arrr Matey! You’ve been invited to walk the plank at (child’s name) birthday party. On the __ of __, 20__, you’ll meet at (child’s name) ship for a pirate adventure.

But beware of Captain Jack. He’s still looking for his lost gold. You’ll be on a hunt to find it!

Pirate Hats: Using a piece of newspaper, fold it into a Pirate Hat. See here for directions on folding. Let the children decorate their hats with feathers and gold colored crafty supplies.

Food:

  • Pirate Pita Pockets – filled with red blood sauce and golden cheese
  • Pirate Punch – red fruit punch with a black pirate drinking straw flag. Using a black paper rectangle, cut 2 holes into the paper and slip it on the straw. You can decorate your drink flags with a skull sticker or use a white crayon.

Cake: This was my sad attempt to make a pirate cake a few years back, the green writing gel didn’t work so well. I’m sure there are other more fabulous cakes, but this did the trick for us. I decorated it with half water and half land. The ship’s mast and the treasure box came from a pirate toy set we have. And the treasure is chocolate gold coins and the canon balls are chocolate malt ball candies.

Games:

  • Walk the Plank – We cut a large piece of cardboard into a long plank, about 1 foot by 5 feet. I set it on top of 2 blue mats and had the children walk along the cardboard. They jumped from the edge of the “plank” onto the “water”. This was a great activity for 3 year olds, they really were nervous about jumping off!! That’ll teach those lazy ship mates to mess with the captain!

  • Find the Lost Treasure – Take the little pirates on a treasure hunt to find the gold. I wrapped some golden Rolo candies into some fabric and tied it with a ribbon. I gave them a few clues to it’s whereabouts, and then the little pirates were off searching for the lost treasure.

  • Toss the Treasure – Toss toy coins into a large treasure box. I spray painted a white styrofoam ice chest with brown paint to resemble a treasure box. Or you could simply use a cardboard box with the top open. Have the children toss plastic coins into the chest from a 3-4 foot distance away. See how many coins they can toss in without missing.
  • Pin the X on the Treasure Map – Draw a map onto a large piece of white poster board. Here I am explaining this treasure map to the kids. They each took a red paper X’s and tried to pin in on the treasure!

Pirate Booty Party Bags: Each child will get to go home with their pirate hat, as well as some pirate goodies. I found a pirate costume kit at the dollar store that I picked up for each child. It came with an eye patch, plastic sword, a hook, and a telescope.

What swashbuckling party ideas have you celebrated a pirate birthday with?

11 comments

  1. LOVE these ideas!!! I love the simple newspaper pirate hat!

    We did a pirate-themed party for my son’s 5th birthday. All the kids came dressed as pirates (I had extra clothes for those that didn’t have any). And our invitations were pirate maps that led them to our house!

    I shared a couple more ideas here: http://dressesandmesses.wordpress.com/category/pirates-2/

    What is it about pirates that is so fascinating for kids?! :)

  2. Virginia – Thanks for sharing. Great ideas for little pirates!

    Heather – I LOVE that the adults dressed up too! Grandpa looks so great!

  3. I gave a pirate dress-up party for my oldest son’s first birthday party (all the guests were adults – ha ha!) I made a pirate sail from two cheap pieces of lumber (sort of like long yardsticks, less than $1 for both of them) and a plastic dollar store tablecloth. I tacked it to the deck and made the deck into a ship.

    Here are pics of our party! http://croqzine.com/?p=1013

  4. He was so little! I love his round baby face, so sweet! And your hair was short…so cute!

    I see a pirate party in my future for sure! so thanks in advance!

  5. When my son was four we had a pirate party for him. Once fun thing that the kids loved was to decorate their own pirate booty bag. We had red handled bags with a picture of a pirate that the kids got to color while we waited for all of the guests to arrive. Then we did a scavenger hunt to find the pirate treasure! Each kid grabbed their pirate booty bag and we set sail! We started off with a clue…something like where do you play like a monkey? And then all the kids ran to the monkey bars to find their next clue. We continued like that until we came to the last clue which took us to the hidden pirate treasure; a big box with some small toys, candy, and coins. It was a huge hit!

  6. Love a pirate party–this is what I’m doing for Asa’s 2nd birthday…I’ve been planning it since before he was born! :)

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