A pirate party has to be one of the most popular parties of all… just for the lingo… Arrr Matey!
Send pirate invitations with a poem:
“Arhh Matey! Be brave and bold!
And come hear stories untold yet…
Of treasure chests full of gold
So walk the plank and come down
To the best pirate birthday party in town!”
pirate invitations:
- Invitations can be a message in a bottle, a tea bag-stained rolled-up paper with burnt edges, or a wanted sign (use a gothic-style font).
- To make it a little more challenging for the partygoers, give them directions based on landmarks or with latitude and longitude (there are websites that will give you your coordinates and Google Maps will give you an address based on the points) . You can add additional instructions for “Land Lubbers”.
- Sprinkle it with great pirate language. Invite the child by his pirate name… like:
Long Tooth John, Left Eye John, John the Grim, Blind Eye John, John Blackbeard, John the Red, Scorbut John, Peg Leg John, Scarface John, Dirty Dog John, Black John, Sea John…etc.
Pirate Decorations:
- Have some skeletons dressed up (maybe a hat and eyepatch).
- You can make fantastic skeletons out of milk jugs (visit the family fun site).
- You might want to have some warning signs, like: “Dead men tell no tales!”
- Spray paint a couple of large Styrofoam chests (good for drinks/snacks, or treasure/loot bags).
- Paint some shoe boxes and add jewels and glitter for the pirate chests.
- Decorate the walls with flags (easily made from black paper or fabric and make the skull and crossbones with white paint/liquid paper/fabric paint.
- Make “cannonballs” out of crumpled up newspapers painted with black paint (or covered with black duct tape), cannonballs can be used in games (below).
- Shine the pennies (soak in a salt and vinegar solution) and display them as pirate “gold” or scatter chocolate gold coins around.
- Paint rocks and pebbles gold to get “pirate gold”.
- If you’re ambitious, make a pirate ship out of 1 (or more) appliance crates.
- Make paper anchors and stick them to the walls.
- Play music for your little rogue pirates. There is a lot to choose from: Muppets – Treasure Island Music, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates of Penance… etc.
Pirate Party Costumes
- Many elements can make up a pirate costume: the hat, the eye patch, the earring, a pirate scarf, a mustache, a hook.
- These costume items can also be made by hand…a pirate hat can be made from two pieces of black cardstock stapled together (add some wavy red streamer around the top for a fancier hat).
- A hook can be made from a black plastic cup hidden in a sleeve (cut a hole in the bottom of the cup and glue a foil-shaped “hook” through the hole).
- Make a pirate patch out of black cardstock and punch holes in each side and thread a black elastic through.
- To add to the scurvy pirate effect, ask partygoers to wear a striped shirt and black pants (ripped at the bottom if possible).
- If you have some red fabric you can make red sashes to add to their outfits.
- Make a pirate telescope out of a paper towel roll covered in black paper and decorated with duct tape details.
pirate party activities
- Classic games are usually good (give them a pirate touch)… try “Put the patch on the pirate”.
- Use the cannonballs you made to play “Sink the Pirate Ship” (the team that is able to throw the most cannonballs at the “Ship” – (upside down cardboard boxes that can be decorated if you have energy/time) .
- “Swab the Deck” is a fun relay: use mops to push target items from one side of the party room to the other side (and back). Some people have had great luck with ping pong balls.
- Make the “Sea in a Bottle” by taking unbreakable bottles and filling them with a combination of vinegar and blue tinted oil…add sparkles and little sea creatures/pirate bits and glue the tops on (adult supervision), so the sea bottles will not leak when children play with them.
- Make Crackers the Parrot sit on your shoulder: Attach a parrot-decorated toilet paper roll to your shoulder by stapling it with a loop of sewing elastic. The elastic loop is then slipped up the arm.
- Have a tug of war (2 different groups of pirates at war).
- Walk the Plank (an easy way to do this is to have a long strip of thick cardboard decorated with a “wood grain” (use a marker) taped to the floor.) The children are blindfolded and if they take a step out of place (from the “plank”) they lose.
- Hook the Treasure (use your pirate hook).
- Write things down with an “antique quill” (tape or glue a large feather tuft to a regular ballpoint pen).
- Play “Pass the Pirate Hat” (if you get caught with the hat when the music ends, you win a doubloon – this way you don’t have to play until “the bitter end” until you have all the “losers” and just one) winner . You can withdraw at any time.)
- Play Sharks and Minnows.
pirate party food
- Serve Hardtack (cookies) and Grog (soda)
- Your cake can be a pirate chest or a ship (placed on top of blue blocks of Blue Jello for a “rough sea”).
