There's Pirate Booty To Plunder So Party-Going Landlubbers Best Beware! Planning An Unforgettable Pirate Party!
Jun 17 '06 (Updated Oct 01 '09)
The Bottom Line Landlubbers beware ...
Planning birthday parties for kids should be fun but these days people are going to extravagant lengths to try and out do everyone else. There are party planners that work exclusively with people who have children under the age of ten and if you think that there aren't waiting lists ... think again. Party planners might take the pressure off the parents but that doesn't come cheap; most want at least a $250.00 deposit and two to three times that for their services and that doesn't include supplies, the cake, party favors and everything else involved with the event. To me that is just a waste of money, parties should be fun ... not something that is on some strict schedule. When the boys were younger they loved the idea of having their mom plan a party for them; they knew that everyone would have fun, there would be a huge cake and everyone would have a sugar high. When Simon wanted a pirate themed birthday party my mind was racing with ideas. If you thought making a Mystery Machine van for the Scooby Doo birthday party was a big deal, then you better hold on to your socks ... pirate costumes, swords, hidden treasure, a dungeon, pirate food and more await you if your brave enough to read on ...
Planning A Pirate Party!
Invitations
Instead of going and buying invitations, make them on your computer in the form of a treasure map. Put the time, date and address on the map and add some clip art of houses, streets and other related things then add some tracking lines, a huge "X" and some treasure chests here and there and you are done. To make it complete don't mail them to people who live nearby, pop them into their mailboxes or on their newspaper racks. Take it a step further and glue or tape some gold coins [chocolate filled ones] on the map or tie it shut with a piece of jute and add the coins to that. Be sure to specify if kids should bring a costume or some old clothes that they can make into a pirate outfit, this way no one feels left out.
Party Favors
Swing by your local Michael's when they are having a sale on their wood products and stock up on the little hinged boxes that they have. They come in a lot of shapes and sizes so grab different ones. You can paint them or if you are really adventurous, let the kids decorate them with plastic jewels, paints and glitter. You can have a huge fish bowl filled with pirate booty that they can grab a few handfuls of to put in their very own treasure box. These boxes cost about .97 cents a piece so if you are having a ton of kids you will really want to wait for them to go on sale. I have seen them at Wal-Mart but you never know when they are going to have them in stock.
The pirate booty should be a good mix of candy and toys; places like Party World and Party City have 'cent sections' were you can pick out small items that are generally used in pinatas. Remember to be age aware when you are picking out stuff for the pirate booty; if there are going to be younger kids avoid things that they might try to eat. Some of the stuff we used were colored erasers, plastic coins, mini pens, bouncy balls, spinners, plastic dinosaur figures and key chains. The candy assortment can be the cheap stuff, as long as there is a trace of sugar in it, kids will love it.
If you have small candy stores look for the 'boxed' candies like Mike & Ike, Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans and Red Hots. These can all be tossed into a glass bowl for kids to dig into or they can be used as rare gems and jewels. Imagination is key here. Don't look at something and say, "There is no way that is going to work with the pirate theme" ... look at something and think like a kid. Candy necklaces and bracelets are always a hit with little girls so grab a few of those too. With the new "Pirates of The Caribbean" movie coming out [if it hasn't already been released], there are a lot of treats out there that carry the theme of the film. So far I've seen the "Pirates of The Caribbean" M&M's, breakfast cereal, fruit chews and candy bars but I am sure that there will be more pirate themed things to come. There's also a nifty Pirates of The Caribbean Ultimate Sticker Book that you can get at most larger bookstores.
Oriental Trading Company has a lot of really cool pirate themed things that you can use for decorations, party favors, to fill a pinata or whatever you might want to do in the way of games and prizes. Party City is a great place to look if you have stores in your area but if not, OTC is an awesome place for all your pirate needs. They do have some very cool costumes and swords so if you happen to need them, they have them in kids and adult sizes. Century Novelty is another cool website that sells a lot of pirate themed items.
When you are out and about look for things like glass fish bowls to put treats in, plastic swords and rolls of electrical tape. Electrical tape? Yes. If you are going to do a treasure hunt this stuff is the best to use to mark hints or step marks on floors. Other things to look out for include Mardi Gras beads that you can use for jewels and gems, glow in the dark items, small toys, Pirate Ale [a soda] and anything that you might be able to use or work into the pirate theme. Plastic rats were tough to find but a necessity to have; you can't have a pirate party without rats! When in a pinch consider the Fatty Ratty Gummy Rat as an alternative. Check used clothing stores for striped shirts or clothes that you can rip up a little and use for costumes and hey, you can never have too many eye patches. If you are going to turn all the kids into pirates then you are going to need to invest in some black face paint for beards. Be sure to ask if any of the kids have any allergies before you start turning them into little Jack Sparrow's. Moreover, make sure that you know about any food allergies, the last thing you want is someone to have to leave early because they ate something accidentally.
Swashbuckling Sweets
When you think of treasure what comes to mind? Jewels? Gold coins? Strings of pearls? Well get ready for this ... you can make all of them for under ten dollars. The strings of pearls will be a huge hit with girls and do you want to know my secret? Mini marshmallows. To make them completely edible string them on licorice whips or red laces, that way you don't have to worry about someone yanking on one of them and a child getting choked on string. For gold coins, hit your local bulk candy store or look in the phone book for a candy supply house. You can buy a three pound bag for five dollars; sure it isn't going to be the best tasting chocolate but the coins can be used for a lot of different things when you are planning the party. Jewels can be anything as simple as individually sealed Lifesaver candies put in a huge fish bowl or as elaborate as decorated stained glass cookies. To make these find some jewel shaped cookie cutters [I used a dreidel] and cut out the centers and fill them in with crushed candies. This is a little time consuming but the effort is more than worth it.
Shipwreck Cake
This sounds like it takes a lot of talent but it is really easy. Make a large sheet cake in what ever flavor you like and when it comes time to frost it, break up the frosting into three bowls and add varying amounts of blue tint to it. This will be used to make waves on the cake so you will want to have a couple of different shades to work with. After you have frosted it you can go one of two ways; make it into a deserted island [or would that be a desserted island?] or buy a plastic boat kit and shove pieces of it into the cake. To simulate sand, hit the dollar store and look for sugar free hot chocolate mix. This is lighter than regular hot chocolate mix so it looks more like sand and even though you might not think it ... it tastes a little better than sand. Add clear candies around the edges or bottom for some jewels, a pirate flag or two on the corners, some edible gold coins here and there and you are done.
Now, for the adventurous folks out there, you can make your own doubloons. No, it doesn't involve melting down gold bars or smelting. Just make some cupcakes and let them cool off completely. Slice them vertically so you end up with three or four round pieces. Then whip up some royal icing; you can make these in gold or silver so don't feel that you have to stick with one color. After you remove the crumbs from the sliced cupcake sections put them on a wire cookie rack with some aluminum foil under it. Pour the royal icing over the sections and let them harden. You can also purchase edible gold and silver flakes that you can sprinkle on the icing before it hardens to give it a little extra sparkle.
Pirate Games
You might not think that there are a lot of pirate themed games to play but there are ... if you use your imagination. Sure the whole treasure hunt thing is cool but what about Pin The Tail on The Pirate? Never heard of that one? Don't worry, it's not something that pirates like to talk about. If you have a sandbox or one of those cool sandbox turtles you can have a mini treasure hunt in that for younger kids. This is a nice option if you are going to have mixed ages at the party. Hide things inside the box and let them dig them out or have plastic Easter eggs [try to get the metallic silver and gold ones] with numbers in them. Have small prizes in paper bags then let them match up the number to the bag. Pirate Bingo wasn't that big of a hit but you might have better luck with it. Print up random bingo cards from various online sites and use see through bingo chips for the kids to mark off the numbers. Sword fights were popular and since we had a lot of plastic swords from Halloween and medieval parties, I didn't have to go searching for them. Cruise by any appliance store and ask them to save you refrigerator boxes; you can use these to make dungeons for holding prisoners if you want to play Pirate Tag. Of course if they have too much sugar you can toss them in the clink for a short time out.
Pirate Food
Try looking online for pirate food and the results aren't exactly appealing. Go with really gross foods like stew or pot pies, if it looks disgusting it will be a hit with the little deck swabbers. I made a huge punch bowl full of blood red Kool-Aid; I picked up some plastic skulls and put them inside the ice cube trays then froze them. They looked really cool and I was proud of myself for thinking up the idea but no one else seemed to notice. Of course if you have specialty ice cube trays like the Silicone Zone "Down By The Sea" Ice Cube Tray you can use those to make cool shapes for punch or soda.
Want to make up some pirate themed cookies? Then check out the Foose Pirate Themed Cookie Cutter Set that features some cool cutters like a pirate ship, pirate flag, parrot, treasure chest, dagger, palm tree and more. These might require a little extra work when decorating but if you are going all out for a pirate party, these will make a great addition to the snack table or as treats for kids and adults to take home with them.
Where To Shop
Candy Warehouse is a great place to shop if you are looking for specific things that aren't available locally. If you live on the west coast then shipping won't kill you; check your yellow pages for candy stores or wholesale places that carry candy and look there first. For art supplies check places like Jo-Anne Fabrics and Michael's first but don't overlook places like Big Lots and Wal-Mart for poster paint, coloring books and crayons. Check your local video store to see if they have any pirate related movies; I suggest "Pirates of The Caribbean" because it isn't all that scary and kids love it. You can also look for titles from Scooby-Doo and other cartoon series that have pirate themes. These are nice to have in case someone gets burned out from running around or just wants to chill out a little in the house. Dollar stores are always filled with weird things that you can use for your party; coloring books, plastic plates and some cute stuff for the female pirates can all be found at Big Lots and Family Dollar [Dollar Tree, Dollar General etc].
The Bottom Line
The days of me doing parties like this is long gone. I might be able to squeak out three or four more of them for Annabelle but if I tied to do one of these for the boys they would kill me, bring me back to life and kill me again. Even though parties like this are a lot of work, they are something that kids are going to always remember. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on extravagant things, just use your imagination and remember to keep it fun .. and that this is the kids party .. not yours. Be sure to brush up on your pirate language too. You'll need to know things like 'landlubber', 'deck swabber', 'walk the plank', 'scurvy dog' and more. If you want to brush up on your pirate facts, check out the Dorling Kindersley "Activity File: Pirate" [ISBN 0-7894-4276-0]. It's full of fun stuff that you can use for your party and not only is it a blast to go through all the stuff it in it, it's educational too!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2008 Freak369
Other birthday party themes ...
Medieval Madness, The Castle Cake & A Knight In Shining Armor! Yeah, I Am Insane!
A Scooby Doo-rific Birthday Party!
3 - 2 - 1 BLASTOFF ! A Totally Spacey Birthday Party!
Pulling Off A Sparkling Hello Kitty Princess Party!
Pirate Playmobil sets...
Three Pirates, First Mate & Hungry Shark, Female Pirate Figure, Viking Leader, Sea Robber, Pirate & Skull, Pirate Crew, Angry Pirate, One Eyed Pirate, Captain Peg Leg, Skull Island, Pirate Raft
Pirate Lego sets...
Town Diver & Shark, Studio Pirate Scene, Pirate Treasure Surprise, Skeleton Crew
Pirates of The Caribbean Ultimate Sticker Book
Learning Curve Play Town Pirate Ship
Pirate Devil Duck
Pink Devil Duck
Pirate Blumaroo Plushie
Dead Ringers Pirate Treasure Candy Rings
Pirate Candy Treasure Chest
M&M Pirates of The Caribbean Collection
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