A pirate-themed birthday party is a popular choice for many ages. My son chose this theme for his fifth birthday, and it was a huge hit with his little friends. I always follow the same basic plan for birthday parties: a craft as the kids arrive, first game, make-your-own-pizza, second game (while pizzas bake), pizza & cake, treasure hunt, gift opening, the end. It flows well, keeps them busy, takes about two hours, and can be done with one adult in a pinch although it’s much easier if you have some backup. Here’s how to put this plan to work with a pirate theme….
To get the guests into the mood right away, I made pirate hats and eye patches ahead of time for them to put on as they arrived. (For older kids, this could be the craft, but I thought it was a little beyond the five year old skill level.) I cut pirate hat shapes out of black posterboard, and just stapled two pieces together at the sides. Then I cut a skull and crossbones out of white paper and glued it onto the front of each hat. The eyepatches were even simpler – a patch cut out of black felt with two small slits in it to put the elastic through. Tie the elastic in a loop large enough for a child’s head, and you’re done.
Once the first couple of kids had turned up, I started them on the craft – decorating their own telescopes. They were each given a cardboard tube and all the markers, glitter glue, and stickers their little hearts desired. This occupied them all while we waited for a few stragglers to turn up. Once everyone had arrived and their “telescopes” were decorated to their satisfaction, we played the first game.
Our first game was “Pin the X on the treasure map” – a pirate-themed variation on good old “pin the tail on the donkey”. My son & I had made the map the day before. We used a blue posterboard as the background, then cut out an island shape from green posterboard and glued it on. We decorated it with drawings of palm trees, sharks in the water, a compass rose, pirate ships sailing the ocean, etc. On the “beach” we drew a treasure chest – this would be the target for them to hit. Every guest had an “X” with their name on it (which prevents arguing later about whose X was closest) and a little sticky tack on the back. They took turns with the blindfold and tried to get their X closest to the treasure chest on the map. The prizes for this game were pirate sticker books I found at the dollar store. Everyone got a prize, with first place choosing their book first, second place choosing second, and so on.
Then it was time to make the pizzas. I used storebought individual sized crusts, and had sauce in squeeze bottles, grated cheese, and toppings all ready to go. Kids love this part and it’s an easy lunch as long as you can fit all the little pizzas in your oven! For younger kids, you may want to put the sauce on the crusts ahead of time – this eliminates the messiest step of pizza-making.
Once the pizzas were cooking, they washed their hands (sauce does get everywhere) and we played the second game. This was a “Treasure Toss” – an emptied toybox was the treasure chest, and they had to take turns trying to toss a bag of chocolate coins in from increasing distances. The winner was the child who was able to make the toss from farthest away. At the end of the game I opened the package of chocolate coins and they all chose one (again with the winner choosing first, second place second, etc) and gobbled it up. You can make this game as quick or as long as you like, depending on how close to the chest they stand. If the pizzas are ready and you need to wind it up quickly, just have them do a toss from really far away – that will eliminate most if not all of your contestants!
Lunchtime – your chance to sit down and take a few deep breaths in temporary silence. The lunch table was the only thing I decorated other than a few balloons hung on the door outside. I used a dark blue plastic tablecloth and found pirate ship toys at the dollar store. These made a great centerpiece and they even came with a few pirate figures, a treasure chest and palm tree, etc. If you can’t find anything like that you could use any sort of pirate toys that your child has as a centerpiece instead.
After pizzas came the cake. If you are short on time, just order a pirate-themed cake from your local grocery store or bakery. Or if you were able to find good pirate toys or decorations at a dollar store, use them to decorate a sheet cake. But if you can spare two hours or so the day before, I HIGHLY recommend this pirate cake featured on the Betty Crocker website. It looks amazing, and it is easy enough that a novice baker like myself was able to make it with no problem. The decorations are all candy, so you just have to be able to cut the cake in the right shape and then ice it. Easy peasy. You can bake the cake a few days ahead and just put it in the freezer until you are ready to decorate – this also makes it less crumbly and easier to cut & ice.
After lunch it was time for the treasure hunt – always the highlight of any party. Because the kids were too young to read clues themselves, I went with photo clues. I took photos of very identifiable spots in the house, then printed the pictures and cut each photo into 4 or 5 pieces. The pieces went in an envelope, and the envelope had a child’s name written on it. This way each guest gets to “solve” a clue and no one is left out. I handed the first envelope to one child and off they went – opening the envelope, putting together the pieces to see what is in the picture, and then racing en masse to that location. There they would find another envelope with the next child’s name, and so on. You need the same number of clues as you have guests if you want to give everyone a turn. The final clue led them to the “treasure” which was their loot bags. I made the loot bags from brown paper lunch bags, with black electrical tape stripes to look like a chest, and a lock drawn on. Inside the loot bags I put a long bead necklace, a ring pop, a bag of chocolate coins, some pirate stickers, and a pen that looked like a crocodile.
Finally it was time to open the gifts. This went very smoothly, in part because all the kids had their loot bags to keep them busy while they waited their turn to give their gift to the birthday boy. Just as the gift opening was winding up, parents began arriving to pick up their children. They left with their hats, eye patches, telescopes, and loot bags – a bunch of happy little pirates.
Supply list for this party:
For the pirate hats & eye patches: black posterboard, white paper, black felt, black elastic
For the craft: cardboard tubes from paper towels or plastic wrap, lots of washable markers, stickers
For the X marks the spot game: green posterboard, blue posterboard, markers, prizes
For the treasure chest toss game: some sort of box or chest (an empty toy box is fine), a bag of chocolate coins
For the table decorations: a dark blue plastic tablecloth (the ocean!), toy pirate ship and accessories (from the dollar store if you’re lucky!) and some sharks for good measure.
For lunch: small pizza crusts, sauce in squeeze bottles, grated cheese, toppings – pepperoni, ham, and pineapple are safe bets.
For the cake: If you’re making this pirate cake from Betty Crocker, you need: one cake mix (any flavour), eggs and oil as listed on the cake mix box, 1 container vanilla frosting, 1 container chocolate frosting (or make your own favourite icing – a double batch), chocolate sprinkles, red Fruit by the Foot (or a similar product), 1 chocolate covered mint patty, 1 marshmallow, 1 blue gumball or smartie, 1 yellow large Life Saver or similar, square white gum, black licorice rope. You can improvise a bit on some of these – for example, I used a peanut butter cup instead of the mint patty.
For the treasure hunt: pictures of distinctive spots around your home and yard (for the younger crowd) or clues if the kids are old enough to read. Photos are easier!
For the loot bags: brown paper bags, electrical tape, pirate goodies – bead necklace, chocolate coins, ring pop, pirate stickers… whatever you can find at the dollar store!
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/392246_ahoy-mateys-plan-the-perfect-pirate-party
