I am looking for some different ideas for a Pirate Theme Birthday Party for my DS who will be 5 in a couple of weeks. I have some ideas, but find that others have a different spin on things so I wanted to see what you have for ideas to offer. TIA

I'm not trying to hijack your post, but I would love to see also since we are doing the same thing for our 4 year old ds! I just bought a treasure chest pinata and am going to put chocolate gold coins in it! I also am making eye patches out of foam and elastic! I also thought of getting red bandanas, but my dh agreed to rent a bouncer for the day (because it was super cheap - $125 for the entire day, I pick it up Sat and take it back Mon., also this will be his gift and my mom also agreed to pitch in as part of his gift), so I think I am going to go real easy on the rest of the stuff! I also found some great cakes on cakecentral.com! I love making my own cakes! I have pictures of past cakes if anyone ever wants to see them!

__________________

I did a pirate theme party for my son when he was younger. We did the traditional eye patches, etc for all the boys, and we had a pirate pinata they hit. But the most fun was a scavenger hunt where they found a chest of chocolate gold coins at the end. There were written clues, and each child got to read one (or if they're too young you could read them for them) that would lead to the next spot. They would be little rhyming things like "this is where we get our mail, run and find it, do not fail". Then they'd all run to the mailbox for the next clue. I just made the clues up. The kids had a great time running and shrieking to the next spot. Have a good time!!

__________________

Instead of mailing an invitation, send a message in a bottle! Roll the invitation up, and tie it with a small piece of green curling ribbon (seaweed). Add the invitation to an empty water bottle (label removed). Add a little sand to each bottle, and a few small seashells and hand deliver. At the party, greet guest at the door with a pirate hat, eye patch and telescope.

Invitation Wording
"Aye.....ye be invited fer some birthday spirits at Captn Tyler's Buccaneer Bash
Chart yer course fer the "location" ? day of month
We be a meetin at "time" fer some swashbuckling fun, grub and kiddie spirits.
Wave yer flag if ye be attendin or hav yer mum send message by yer phone to "number"
Sees ye there.....aarrgghh!


Activity and Game Ideas
1. Treasure Chest Pinata - A must for every party! Kids will love "finding the treasure"! You could hide the "treasure chest" and have a map that leads to it. Make the map easy or hard depending on ages. Be sure to have an "X" to mark the spot!
2. Swab the Deck - Play as a relay game with the group divided into two teams. Have each "pirate" use a mop to "swab" an inflated balloon.
3. Peg Legged Race - Hold a three legged race (peg leg) race! Winner gets a prize!
4. Cannon Ball Fight - Hold a water balloon fight with black water balloons to represent cannon balls. (only for an outside party!)
5. Digging for Treasure - Bury some "treasure" (small toys or gold coins) in a sand box and have kids dig for the treasures. (only for an outside party!)
6. Treasure Map - Furnish paper and pencils or crayons and have children draw their own Treasure Map.
7. Pin the X on the treasure: *Make a large map with an outline of an "X". Give each child a crayon and blindfold them. Have them make one x on the map.
OR
Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate

Goodie Bags:
These will look like mini treasure chests. Need one paper lunch sack per child. Cut off top 2 inches. Use black marker to give bag a wood design. Outline edges of bag. Make one line 2 inches from top (side to side) and key hole. Fill with goodies and fold and tape.

Another idea: *Use recycled diaper wipes boxes. *Rough up the sides with sandpaper and spray paint gold. *Let the kids decorate them with stick on "jewels" (use stick on earrings). *Fill with plastic gold coins and Mardi Gras jewelry. *These can be used for the buried treasure game.
*
Spray paint paper bags gold. *Have the kids decorate them with markers, sequins and stickers.

__________________
~ Jessica

Food:
Serve hotdog with pirate sails attached. Popcorn, goldfish, Swedish fish and gummy worms make good "fish bait." Cake and ice cream. Red punch for "crocodile blood punch."
Scary fish made out of a watermelon. Cut small v's at one end of the watermelon to resemble a mouth with teeth and scoop out the insides into little melon balls. Then fill the fishes mouth back up with the melon balls, grapes, etc.

Blue jello with gummy octopuses suspended in the middle to look like the ocean.

Ice cream cone cupcakes decorated like pirates- including a wedding band earring.

__________________
~ Jessica

Those were some of my ideas! *We must have surfed the same websites! *

Tick-Tock Find the Croc
Use a kitchen timer and see if the kids can find the croc before the the timer goes off!

Walk the Plank
Put a piece of wood over the top of a small swimming pool to make a plank for guest to walk across if they dare!

This is going to be the cake that I will have made for Jake's Party. (NOTE: Notice I say have made!)

Here are the invites that I finished last night!

Not sure if you can really see it,but the treasure chest has "dazzling diamonds" around it to make it extra sparkly!

CUTE INVITATIONS...I like that. No treasure hunt for kids!? Oh wait...they must be young...it mean more work for adults.

Would your guest be dressing up for the theme!? BEST COSTUME, maybe?

__________________
My JSEVENS: JJ, Jaren, Jocelyn, Jamie, Jasmine, Jordan
"Mom of Seven...Darn Proud"

We are going to do a treasure hunt and I bought eye patches for the kids too. DS will wear a "special" patch that is different. I needed 13 and the package came with 12 so I just bought a different one. He also INSISTED on a flashing skull pin for himself which was only $1 and too cute! I am going to have them make their own hats.