Yo Ho Matey's, A Pirate Party That It be!!

Ahoy sprogs, ye're invited to our scurvy pirate party. So lift th' sails, load th' cannons 'n ready th' plank, because ye in fer a jolly the hour.

Invites

Of course, what good is a pirate captain without a crew to fill the ship? You'll need to send out your pirate party invitations well in advance. Give parents plenty of time to prepare for the party and write it in their schedules, and you'll have a full ship's roster for your child's birthday.

You might consider buying "Pirates of the Caribbean" birthday invitations or other pirate themed invites from an online store or you may want to simply come up with some of your own.

Buy some generic white invitations and paste some pirate stickers to each, along with a message similar to this template:

"Ahoy there!
Ye be invited to attend [your child's name]'s birthday
party on [date and time].
Ye'll heartly enjoy snacks, pizza, drinks, party games,
'n a wee adventure on th' high seven seas!
Gather pirates at [your address] 'n let us be knowin'
if ye can join th' adventure by callin' [your name]
at [your phone number].
Yarrrr!"

Please note that the "Yarrrr!" is optional!

See more Pirate birthday party invitation ideas here!

Decorations

Whether you want to change a room into a full pirate's cove or simply add a few pirate party decorations to recall the pirate theme, you can have some fun changing around your living room for a Saturday afternoon.

Give these ideas a try:

• Get some sidewalk chalk and have your child sketch dashes that lead to your front door, much like the "X marks the spot" style of pirate treasure maps.
• Instead of leaving the usual drapes over your windows, add some white material with a drawn-on skull and crossbones.
• Be creative. Use cardboard to make a treasure chest and fill it with plastic gold colored beads and other materials to make it look like a found treasure. Place this in a corner of the room.
• Remember to stick to red, black and white as your color scheme. Use these colors for everything from your tablecloth to your balloons and streamers just to name a few.

See more Pirate birthday party decoration ideas here!

Games

Preparing in advance will make your pirate party that much more of an adventure. It's your job to make sure they have that adventure, and you can do that by leading some fun party games.

Here are a couple of party games to try out:

• Find the Treasure - Hide a "treasure" somewhere in your yard - it can be some candy or toys so long as it's a "treasure" of some sort. You might even be able to hide a few plastic gold coins to give the little pirates a whiff of where the treasure might be. Hide two treasures and divide the kids up into teams so that more kids can get involved in finding their own treasure. Don't make it too easy, or else the kids will find it right away - try to add a few clues and riddles along the way.
• Walk the plank - Simply lay down an old white sheet on the ground, folded or cut to look like a plank, and tell the children that they'll be playing a game of musical chairs. Once someone is left out of the chairs, it's time for them to "walk the plank" - but let the kids who've walked it win some treats so they're not too unhappy about leaving the game early. Play a few rounds if you want to.
• Pass the Parrot - This game is played the same way as Hot Potato. Find a stuffed parrot and some pirate music (If you can't find pirate music, simply use any of your child's favorite music). Have the kids pass the stuffed parrot until you randomly stop the music. Whoever has the parrot when the music stops is out of the game. Be sure to give all of the kids a prize with the winning child getting something a little more elaborate.

See more Pirate Birthday Party Games here!

Costumes / Props

Not everyone has to dress up in full pirate gear for your pirate party theme to set sail, but you might want to consider handing out some small props to your guests as they arrive.

We suggest a treasure map (to go along with your find the treasure game mentioned earlier), an eye patch and a pirate hat. You can either make the patch and hat or you can but them online at reasonable prices.

See more Pirate birthday party costume ideas here!

Food and Drink

A few pirate-themed snacks that will keep their imaginations going.

Try out some of these:

• Chocolate coins wrapped in gold are great for "buried treasure" themes.
• Ruby Jewel Punch - The day before your pirate party, freeze some fruit punch in your ice trays. Serve some clear soda's such as Lemon Lime in clear cups using the punch ice cubes to represent ruby's or gems. Your little pirates will love the effect.
• Peasant Fingers - Make some pigs in a blanket (hotdogs wrapped in biscuit dough), cut them in half and serve with ketchup for dipping.

See more Pirate birthday party food ideas here!

Cake

Since the colors most associated with pirates are black and white, a chocolate and vanilla cake makes an easy tie-in to your theme. Whether you want to decorate the cake yourself or have a custom-baked cake made for you, you should have no trouble finding a pirate-themed birthday cake with enough pieces to go around.

If you plan on baking your own cake, try to stick with one color - vanilla or chocolate - for the insider layer(s). For the frosting, try to come up with a design before you get ahead of yourself. You can add a full chocolate frosting and then draw a skull and crossbones with white frosting on top of that.

See more Pirate birthday cake ideas here!

Party Favors / Loot Bags

No one goes to a pirate party and doesn't expect to return home with some loot, so make sure you oblige their expectations with some nice party favors! Since many of the kids will probably have taken off their pirate hats and eye-patches, gather these up and place them into the party bags. You can also include the treasure maps you made.

Be sure to use leftover treats and prizes in these loot bags as well, and try to distribute them equally.

See more Pirate birthday party favor ideas here!