Fun Pirate Birthday Party Ideas

Ahoy there Matey Moms! Planning your next pirate birthday party can be easy and affordable when you use the following pirate party ideas. Enjoy!

Everything You Need for a Fun Kids Party:

Keep it Simple Party Ideas and Tips
Games and Activities
Party Food Ideas
Easy Cake Ideas
Kids Fun Party Invitation and Wording Ideas
Decorations and Party Favors

Keep it Simple Pirate Birthday Party Ideas

A pirate birthday party can get expensive. Think simple and fun when planning.

Always remember that girls love this type of party just as much as boys do. When my little pirate had his party, 2 of the girls showed up dressed like pirates-so much fun!

Remember, it’s all about treasure hunting! A treasure hunt is an easy and fun main event at this party.

Pirate Birthday Party Ideas for Games and Activities

The pirate birthday party fun is all in the games and activities that you plan. Like mentioned above int the "Keep it Simple" section, a treasure hunt is expected at this party and is usually the highlight of the pirate birthday party. This is an area that you can get as creative and elaborate as you want or you can keep it simple as it usually turns out wonderful. The following are some games and activities that I did at my son's pirate party.

Treasure Hunt- Before the party, spray paint 3 little treasure chests gold. (I found mine at Hobby Lobby in their unfinished wood section. This is great, because Hobby Lobby runs a 40% off coupon often as well as 50% off unfinished wood items coupon frequently.). On the day of the party, place a gold box filled with treasure at each clue destination. The following ideas will give you some fun destination ideas, but you might have to change them to fit your house or party place. In our treasure chests, I filled them with gold coin candy, play jewelry, sparkly rocks and play jewels, real coins, etc.

For this activity, you need to gather everyone in the living room or another large open room. This can be done outside as well. First, I gave everyone an eye patch to wear. Instead of buying these, I made them by cutting out the patch from black craft foam. I then hole punched two tiny holes in each side. Then I attached a piece of elastic. This was an inexpensive alternative to buying a toy eye patch for every child. Before getting started, you must lay down some ground rules or this fun activity could turn into chaos really fast. Some the rules I lay out are no running, the birthday boy/girl is always the one to read the clues, and specify teams if you desire. Give everyone a treat bag and remind them to share the treasure found at each place. When everyone is clear on the rules, I then proceed with the following:

"Ahoy there, Mateys!

We’re glad you came!

It’s now time for

A treasure hunt game!

If you are dressed like a pirate

Or even if you’re not,

The following clue

Will lead you to the first spot!"

Clue #1: You will find the next clue pinned to me. Sometimes I am called an old oak ________. (When the kids get to the oak tree in your yard, have the birthday girls or boys pass out the treasure there and read the clue that is pinned to the tree.)

Clue #2: Pirates are used to sailing in the sun. Your next clue can be found under a #1.

(When the kids get to the house number located by the front door, the birthday girl/boy again passes out the treasure found there and reads the next clue.)

Clue #3: Pirates aren’t nice. In fact, they can be down right mean. Your next clue can be found in the pocket of the scarecrow’s __________.

(When the kids get to the scarecrow sitting on the bench in your yard, the birthday girl/boy again passes out the treasure and reads the last clue.)

Clue #4:

You are almost done. Only small treasure you’ve found. The biggest treasure of all Is waiting on the the play_______.

(When the kids get to the playground in your backyard, they find a piñata hanging from a tree near the playground.)

Pinata- For this activity, you can either make your own piñata or you can purchase one with a pirate theme. Pinatas can be found in a lot of places like your favorite grocery store or discount superstore. These can be found online as well. Make sure to set down very strict rules before beginning this activity as well as make sure to have extra adult supervision. I have been at many parties where little attention was given to the distance of where kids were standing and where the blindfolded child was swinging. This is so dangerous and an accident waiting to happen if the proper precautions are not taken for safety. At my son’s party, we purchased one of the pull string piñatas. This type goes quicker, but it is very safe and the kids have fun when the candy falls out no matter how the piñata opens.

Captain Hook Wants a Chip- This is a wonderful cheap pirate birthday party activity that is so much fun. Fill a big plastic bowl with pretzels (not pretzel sticks). Have each wear a plastic hook when it is their turn. Give them 30 seconds to hook as many pretzels as they can. Place these pretzels in a cup for an instant snack. Write the number of pretzels they hooked and got into the cup on the bottom of the cup with a permanent marker. When everyone has had a turn, look at the bottom of everyone’s cup and see who hooked the most pretzels. This is helpful, because you will have more than 1 child who eats their pretzels before the last child has gone.

Talking Parrot- This activity was a fluke, but a great one. My son had gotten a talking toy parrot for Christmas. I just set this parrot out as decoration, but it turned out to be wonderful entertainment for those waiting to play a game. This parrot repeats what you say to it. We got ours at Cracker Barrel restaurant but I am sure these could be found online as well.

Pin the Parrot on the Pirate- Draw a big pirate and a little parrot for each child attending- just something simple. Have all of these items laminated or use contact paper. Attach ticky tack on the back of each parrot. Blindfold each child or have them close their eyes. Guide them to the pirate poster and watch as they pin the parrot on the pirate. The goal is to place the parrot on the pirate’s shoulder, but the kids will be laughing so hard when the parrot ends up on the pirate’s nose, head, mouth, etc.

Pirate Birthday Party Ideas for Food

The possibilities are endless when you are deciding on what food to serve at a pirate birthday party. At this party, it is really not what you serve, but what you call it! Why not try some of the following?

Pirate Pete's Punch- This can be any type of punch. Just use your favorite punch recipe and call it this name. However, the darker the punch, the more the boys will believe that they are drinking pirate punch. Pastel green punch isn't very convincing.

Barrel of Pretzels- Sometimes you can find big huge pretzels in plastic barrel containers mostly at stores like Sam's and Costco. These aren't particularly for a pirate birthday party, but they just fit the party theme so well.

Walk the Plank Finger Sandwiches- These are so simple to make. Just make your favorite type of sandwiches. Then cut them into fourths so that you end up with 4 skinny rectangles.

Pot of Gold- This is wonderfully simple, and it is the perfect pirate birthday party snack that kids just absolutely love. Just set out a huge bowl of Captain Crunch cereal and label it "Gold." Is that fun or what?

Pirate Party Cake Ideas

There are so many cute pirate birthday party cakes that you can find on the internet. However the easiest one that I have ever done is just a very simple one that I thought up on my own.

The pirate face cake- Just make your favorite flavored round double-layered cake. Ice with white icing. Take black icing and draw a face on the top of the cake. Take a toy eye patch or a homemade eye patch mentioned above and put it over one of the eyes that you drew on the cake. You will need to cut the elastic in half so that you can just lay the elastic on the cake and push it underneath it after you have frosted and decorated it. If you want to get a little bit more elaborate, then put a bandanna on top of the head and tuck the three sides back behind the cake so it looks like the head is wearing a bandanna. You can use yellow, brown, black, or red icing to draw little bits of hair coming out of the bottom of the bandanna. For a fun added touch and depending on how many candles your child will be blowing out, you can also stick the candles deeply into the bottom of the cake so that it looks like the pirate head has whiskers. In order for this to look right though, you must stick the candles in so that just the tips are showing (no more than 1 inch should be sticking out for lighting and blowing out.

Pirate Party Mementos

One fun memento you can create for your special pirate is a pirate wall hanging for his/her room. When each guest arrives, have them draw themselves as a pirate. They can draw just their pirate face or their entire pirate body. After the party, put each picture in a plastic page protector. Attach each protector to another one with anything you would like such as raffia, paperclips, fun-printed ribbon, etc. Tie each sheet together with another one in order to create a quilt of pirate friends. Make sure that everyone signs their self-portrait. When completed hang on your child's wall as a fun remembrance of this special day. Another variation of this would be to add pictures of your child with each one of guests to the self-portraits so that the drawing is paired with a pirate birthday party picture.

Pirate Party Invitation Wording and Ideas

Pirate Birthday Party invitations are so much fun and simple to create. Use the following wording on your pirate birthday party invitation:

"Ahoy there, Matey!

The time has come

To hunt for treasure

And have some birthday fun!

You're invited!

______________is turning 8.

The pirate party ship's gonna sail

So don't be late."

For: ______________________

Where: ____________________

Date: _____________________

Time: _____________________

Print the above invitation on brown paper along with a map to your house. Place an "X" on your house or party location. After printing the invitations, very carefully (not in front of your children) burn the edges of the paper slightly. After this, wad up the paper and flatten it back out. You now have your very own treasure map pirate birthday party invitations. If you want, roll them up and tie them with tiny black ribbon. If you roll them up, you must hand deliver them. If not, you might want to mail them in large envelopes so you don't have to fold them. Any way you send them out will be great, because the invitation is so much fun to get!

Pirate Party Traditions

Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! Tradition is what kids thrive on. You don't have to leave tradition out of this party. If you don't have a family tradition that you can incorporate into this party, why not just start your own? After all, every tradition had to start somewhere, right? Here are some great ones you can start.

Family Birthday Hat - The best thing about this tradition besides my kids' excitement for it each year, is looking back at the pictures of this same hat on each of them year after year. It is so cute to see it looking so big on each of them when they were younger and then seeing how it came to fit them over the years. There isn't any better reason to take pictures than this.

Family Birthday Present Spot - Click on this link to read about this tradition on the toddler birthday party page.
Family Birthday Breakfast Treat - The sweet birthday breakfast treat for this day could be a little different than explained in the kid birthday party ideas section. For this theme, bake a small square single-layer cake. When the cake is cooled off, cut it in the shape of an "X." When done, decorate as you wish. When you present the breakfast treat to your little pirate, tell him/her that "X" marks the spot in your heart. You love him/her and he/she has a special spot in your heart. Tell him/her how proud you are of your little pirate.

Pirate Party Favors:

Pirate birthday party favors are so easy for this party, because the kids get the treats that go in the loot bags all throughout the party. All of the treasures that they found during the party activities like the treasure hunt and all of the candy that they collected when the pinata broke can all be collected in the treat bag and sent home at the end of the party. Just make sure to write each child's name on their individual bags so that the bags don't get mixed up or lost.