Tips for a great Pirate Party!

Unfortunately summer is over and if like me you one of your children are about to have a birthday party, and things being as they are you may be thinking that having a party at home is definitely a more cost effective option.

But as it is winter you need a lot of great ideas to keep a pack of sugar crazed children occupied for a minimum of 2 hours (or in my house usually 4-5 hours!)

I believe a theme is a great option – it focuses the mind and gives you something to aim at! Depending on the age of your children – some themes suit any age – and gender you can make it as wide a theme as you like such as just a good old fancy dress (this way all the mums will appreciate that they can use existing costumes).

Or another option which is always a favourite is pirate party! Girls and boys alike can get involved and costumes are easily made from what you have at home! I used an existing bandana and sewed in 2 gold bracelets to the sides so it looked like she was wearing big gold hoops – the effect was perfect without any of the danger!

For the invites do a homemade treasure map - made with white paper stained with tea bags and burnt around the edges, and it means you can add a map to your house too! Just like the real thing.

For the cake you can make a pirate ship or a simple pirate face using ready rolled icing for the eyes, beard, bandana etc. Dye the icing in red and black batches leaving the rest white. If this is all too hard try an even more cost effective but totally striking way – get a cake topper! Make your cake as normal and just pop one of these cake toppers on top. You can get whatever picture rest white. If this is all too hard try an even more cost effective but totally striking way – get a cake topper! Make your cake as normal and just pop one of these cake toppers on top. You can get whatever picture you like – a pirate, a pirate ship, skull and crossbones whatever. You can also order matching cupcakes! Check out www.theicingonthecakespain.com for ideas.

Pirate party games are great fun! You can try some of these or make up your own...

Walking the plank

 ...is a classic. Place a plank on the floor (for older children) or just make a paper plank for younger children and tape it to the floor. Blind fold each child and get them to take a turn to walk the plank if they make it to the end without falling or wandering off they get a prize. Obviously make sure they are safe and have someone to catch them if they fall)  You can change the game to suit depending on the age of your pirates - walking forwards, backwards, hopping, shuffling sideways and being pelted by soft balls to put them off!

Treasure Hunt.

Make a treasure chest from card board and paint it to have a wood effect, fill with sweets and chocolate coins and sweetie bracelets and necklaces. Hide somewhere in the house before your guests arrive. Mark the way to the treasure with painted stones and at intervals add some clues which they have to unravel. The clues can be written on homemade treasure maps made with white paper stained with tea bags and burnt around the edges to give them an authentic feel.  Explain to the pirates what they are hunting for and set them off on their treasure hunt! They will need to follow coloured stones to find the clues and eventually the treasure. If you have a large number of guests you can divide the treasure in 2 and set 2 teams against each other to find the loot. Obviously you will need to do this before they arrive as you will need 2 sets of clues and different coloured stones! Both teams get their treasure but the quickest gets an extra prize too!

Pin the Patch on the Pirate
Make a large pirate face using colouring pens and coloured paper.

Hang the pirate on a wall never a door as these are just too dangerous and kids should not be encouraged to play near them.  Each pirate has an eye patch with their name on it and are blindfolded then spun around a few times and then have to try to place the eye patch on the pirate as close to his eye as they can (without peeping). Prizes can be given to the two who get the closest.

Pin the Flag on the Pirate Ship
Make a pirate ship using coloured paper or print out a picture from the net – just make sure it is big enough to hold all the flags and for it be quite difficult to get the flags in the correct place.

Loading mentions Retweet