Pirate Party; Pirate Themed Birthday Party Ideas

Host Bee on Sunday, April 11th, 2010

Party Like a Pirate - Swashbuckling Pirate Party Ideas!

Pirate themed birthday parties have been around for a long time, but there a lot of new and creative ideas that will make your party stand out from the crowd!

Pirate Birthday Party Invitations

From Plum Party - this unique package includes 12 invitations and 12 thank you notes! The invitation doubles as a pirate’s hat and the thank you notes as a treasure map! (Pirate Party Invitation, pictured at top)
From Birthday in a Box - guests will love to receive this invitation in their mailbox – it’s a message in a bottle! A clear, plastic bottle opens from the bottom and is filled with a blank invitation, sand, eye patch, pirate ring and sticker. Even better, this bottle can travel through the U.S. mail! (Message in a Bottle Invitation)

From Organize.com – crisp and modern best describes this pirate party invite! With a simple blue, brown and white color scheme, this is a great choice for a personalized invitation! (Personalized Party Invitation and Coordinating Thank You Notes)

Pirate Party Decorations

Jolly Roger – hang the essential pirate flag outside of your home to welcome the mateys!
Balloons – these Mylar Balloons shaped like pirate ships and Latex Balloons featuring a white treasure map imprinted on a black latex balloon will easily add a lot of impact!
Banner – pick up one of these adorable handcrafted pirate birthday banners from Scrap Your Story!

Felt Pirate Hats – dressing your guests to match the theme will add a lot of pizzazz to the party!
Felt Pirate Hats with Gold Trim and red bandanas or pirate patterned bandanas are instant scene setters!
Assign Pirate Names – you can make these as funny or as scary as you’d like! To get some ideas, Pirate Names allows you to enter a first name, indicate whether it’s for a boy or girl and then will generate an authentic pirate title! My own pirate name was Captain Morning Morey! You may have to do a little bit of editing – you know those pirates can have a rough side!
Name Tags – Write each child’s pirate name onto a name tag, like these clever ones from Oriental Trading! (Name Tags)
Pirate Ship Centerpiece - three dimensional and reusable, this cute ship includes four pirates, a treasure chest, parrot, canon and gold foil anchor. (Plum Party, Pirate Ship Centerpiece, pictured)

Pirate Party Paper Goods

From Plum Party – Red and white striped paper plates featuring a “not too scary” skull and crossbones, along with coordinating map themed napkins, are available from Plum Party. (Pirate Plates, pictured right, Paper Napkins)

From Birthday in a Box – This deluxe party set from Birthday in a Box contains just about anything you could possibly need for a pirate party that’s swashbuckling without being serious! (Pirate Party Deluxe Party Set, pictured)
From Birthday Express – For a slightly more “menacing” pirate setting, Birthday Express offers a full line of paper products to suit perhaps an older child’s wishes! (Pirates Deluxe Party Pack & 8 Favor Boxes)
Treasure Map Placemats – these treasure maps are made of a soft Tyvek material that’s stronger than paper and can withstand some serious play! (Treasure Map Placemats, $1.68 each)

Not Paper Goods!

If you’d like to skip paper products, here are two fun suggestions:

Skull and Crossbones Dinnerware – from Target, these plates and serving pieces are really stylish and will be useful at Halloween too! There are small plates, a bone collector serving platter and a chainlink skull melamine platter.
Double Duty Dishes – one of my favorite serving ideas is to use a Frisbee as a plate and then, after a quick cleaning, send them home as party favors! At only $8.99 for twelve, Oriental Trading has a great option: a black Frisbee with white skull and crossbones!

Pirate Party Menu

Just what to serve to a hungry crowd of pint sized pirates? Here are some ideas, but keep in mind that any of your child’s favorite food can be transformed into pirate fare by just adding a fun detail! A few fun ways are:

Paper Sails - attach a sail cut from paper to a hot dog using a bamboo skewer

Cupcake Picks – add small pirate cupcake picks or personalized cupcake picks to decorate just about any menu item from pizza to sandwiches!

Black and White Pirate Flag Picks
Personalized Toppers – these are adorable cupcake picks are hand crafted with the younger birthday child’s name!

Other Pirate Party Worthy Snacks

Pirate’s Booty - individual snack sized bags of Pirate’s Booty (at your local grocery store or through Amazon)
Gummy Candies – Small bowls filled with Swedish fish, Goldfish and gummy “bait” worms
Root Beer – Root beer makes fun “grog!”
Pirate Themed Ice Cubes – Add some skull and crossbones ice cubes!

Pirate Themed Desserts

Cupcakes - use Roundabouts Cupcake Sleeves to turn ordinary cupcakes into signature creations! Simply secure the self adhesive sleeves around the cupcake and decorate to match! Pirate themed wrappers include a treasure chest, grinning pirate and spooky skull! (Treasure Chest pictured)
Birthday Cake – for some inspiration take a look at these three cakes from Family Fun Magazine:

Pirate Cookies – see Cool Party Favors for some fun pirate themed cookies.

Pirate Party Activities

Pirate Activity Pads – set these pads out on a table, along with crayons or markers, so that early arrivals will have something to keep them busy until the party is in full swing! (Pirate Activity Pads)

Stack-the-Bones Game – this is another great activity to entertain kids either before the fun starts or during a lull in the action! Kids build a tower of “bone” blocks and take turns removing “bones” while trying to avoid toppling the skull at the top! (Stack-the-Bones Game, pictured)

Pirate Party Crafts

Skull Shaped Beads – for stringing into jewelry
Foam Treasure Chest Photo Frame
Pirate Sword Craft

Pirate Party Games and Activities

Treasure Hunt

There are lots of different ways to organize a hunt for treasure, mostly dependent upon the age of the “pirates” and whether you’re indoors or out!

Outdoors - you can craft one large treasure map that all of the kids decipher to find a treasure that’s large enough to share, like a chest filled with gold coins or ring pops. Also outside, you can hide lots of small treasures like plastic gold coins or small rocks that have been spray painted gold, then give each child a small bag and let them hunt away!
Indoors – a treasure hunt can work inside too, but perhaps on a smaller scale! Another fun idea for young treasure hunters is to sift for gold coins and rocks in a blow up pool, lined with burlap and filled with sand.
For Both Indoors and Out – get some assistance in planning your treasure hunt with this great kit! The kit includes 2 dozen blank clue cards with sleeve covers and instructions. (Pirate Treasure Hunt Kit, pictured)

Pirate Candy Buffet

Candy buffets are not all that unusual, but the fun pirate themed candy that I found will make this buffet exceptional and is a delicious party favor!

Pirate Skull Head Lollipops” target=”_blank”>
Gummy Pirate Teeth” target=”_blank”>
Golden Nugget Gum
Gold Chocolate Coins” target=”_blank”>
Hard Candy – Skull and Crossbones
Skull and Crossbones Lollipops
Chocolate Pirate Ships

Pirate Party Favors

A number of the suggestions in this party plan incorporate something that’s taken home, like the pirate hat, Frisbee, loot from the treasure hunt, treasure map placemat and selections from the candy buffet.

To turn the party plunder into party favors, provide small handled shopping bags or cellophane bags for easy transport. Add a personalized thank you sticker on the bags for the perfect finishing touch!