Pirate Party - 4th Birthday

For Nathan's 4th birthday we had a pirate party. It was a lot of fun to plan.
INVITATIONS: The invitations were printed at home using a pirate map template from coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com. The edges of the invitations were torn & inked to look aged. The invitations were rolled and tied with twine. Labels were removed from empty plastic water bottles and the bottles were filled with some sand, gold glitter, palm tree confetti (I punched out using a scrapbook punch and green cardstock) and shells (purchased at craft store). The rolled invitations were placed in the bottles with some of the twine sticking out of the bottle so that the invitations could be easily removed. The lids twisted securely even with the twine tail. I purchased pirate name tags from Oriental Trading Company and used those as name labels on the bottles. We then hand delivered the invitations.
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Decorations:
Skeleton made from milk jugs.

Front door

Costume table
Hall Table

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Costumes:
Each guest was given a bead necklace, striped head wrap, sash & bag to collect plunder.




They each had their face marked with a scar and beard and then received a pirate tattoo.
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Craft:

Each guest was given a small wooden treasure chest that I had previously painted with gold spray paint. They were able to glue shells, sequins & fake jewels to the box.
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Games:

Ring Toss - My husband made ring toss game from plywood & plastic hook hands from the dollar store. The kids received a gold coin for playing and a coin for each ring that was hooked.

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Walk the Plank - Kids were broken into two teams and had to carry ping pong balls in a shovel across 2x4 elevated boards and place the balls in a bucket. Winning team won more beads.



Musical Island - Played like Musical Chairs to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack.
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Sink the Ship - I made 2 ships from appliance boxes and 100 cannons from balled up newspaper and electrical tape. The two teams of boys each took command of their ships and threw the balls at each other. This game was a huge hit!

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Food:
Snacks consisted of gold fish crackers, Whoppers candy (look like cannon balls) and gummy fish served in a cardboard treasure box. The kids drank "Shark's Blood" Punch made from Sprite and Hawaiian Punch ice cubes. As the ice cubes melt, it looks like blood - they loved it!


After we had cake and ice cream.

Cake Table.
Cake table with gifts.
I made the cake to look like a pirate ship and an island with treasure.
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Treasure Hunt - After the kids ate, they read the message in a bottle that had been sitting on their table. The bottle held the first clue on the treasure hunt. Along the way the kids received swords I made from cardboard, spray paint & electrical tape.

At the end of the hunt the kids found a treasure box filled with their goody bags. I made the treasure box by painting a large Styrofoam cooler brown and decorating to look like an old box.

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While Nathan opened his gifts, the kids looked through their goody bags. I made the goody bags out of brown lunch sacks, black electrical tape and gold cardstock for the lock - they looked just like little treasure boxes. The goody bags contained plastic telescopes, compasses, skulls filled with starbursts, root beer barrels and tootsie rolls, candy sticks, Pirates of the Caribbean M&Ms, gold plastic pirate coins, pirate stickers, skull bead bracelets (made from beads purchased at Oriental Trading) and colored bead necklaces.
After the party, the kids played in the back yard until their parents picked them up. The party was a huge success and still one of my favorites to do.