Pirate Birthday Ideas

by Sara
(Wisconsin)

Pirate Birthday Ideas: We had a pirate party for my son's 4th birthday. This theme would work well for most 3-7 year olds. We started the party off with games.

Pirate Birthday Ideas for Games

We played several games outside. First was "island hopping", a variation on musical chairs.

We used a blue plastic tablecloth for the water and made islands out of green and brown construction paper.

Each child stood on an island, then we started the music and removed one island each round.

The winner got pirate coins!

Then we played "walk the plank". This was SO easy - just a board wide enough to walk on with one end in the "water" (blue tablecloth). The kids had a blast balancing on the board and jumping in!

As a group, we went on a treasure hunt, following a few clues to get us to the pinata! (which of course, the kids had a blast with. It was shaped like a pirate ship and had candy and toys inside).

Pirate Birthday Ideas for Crafts

We came inside to make treasure chests out of shoe boxes covered in brown paper. This is a great use for all of those assorted craft supplies, and serves as a goody "bag" for the kids to take home.

Pirate Birthday Ideas for Food and Snacks

By then, we were all hungry, so we made pirate ships out of fruit. This was one of the coolest pirate birthday party ideas, because the kids had so much fun making them, and they were healthy to eat!

How you make them: Use a banana for the base, attach several grapes on each side with toothpicks for oars, make a pineapple sail, and add a few strawberry pirates!

Goldfish crackers on the plate around the boat are also a nice touch. We also made a pirate hat cake, but a pirate ship is also a good option.

Shiver Me Timbers Decorations

Party stores have great options for invitations, decorations, and favors. This is one area where your budget has a lot of impact. We spent very little by making our own invitations, making decorations from scratch, and getting only a few small favors.

We bought gold coins and plastic jewels to put into the treasure chests and then printed some pirate themed coloring sheets as well.

We also made skull and crossbones sailor hats for each guest and hung plastic beads on the walls.

We pre-colored some of the coloring sheets and hung them on the walls along with the beads. The pirate theme birthday party was fun for kids and adults!