I had grand ideas, I had planned for weeks, I worked non-stop and overnight to pull it off and in the end, I think things turned out pretty darn good. When my 8 year old insisted on having a party at home and inviting his friends I inwardly cringed. The perfectionist in me knew that I would have to go overboard and that I would obsess over ever detail, and I did. Everyone had a blast though and that is all that matters.

The Decorations

 A lot of the decorations were handmade to save some money. I hand painted the sheet covering the entertainment center and topped it with the homemade pennant banner that I wrote about last week. I also purchased a printable party pack on Etsy for $12 and made the birthday banner for the food table, food picks, food labels, drink labels and game signs. The napkins were hand stamped with some pirate stamps I found on clearance and we used them for one of the party crafts as well.

I had seen the idea to turn the food table into a ship on another site and think it turned out okay, so that was handmade too. The plates, utensils and table clothes all came from the dollar store and were spruced up with some necklaces, rings and gold coin party favors as well. Each child's plate was topped with an eye patch and pirate ear ring as well. I made pirate flag masts to go on the dining and craft tables as well and used some cheap crepe paper and balloons to pull it all together.

The Pirate Party Activities




We had indoor crafts planned and an outdoor treasure hunt as well. For inside activities, the kids made canvas drawstring bags that were used to put their goodies in from the party. I purchased these at Michaels and we used fabric markers and pirate themed stamps to decorate them. The kids also decorated wooden treasure chests from Michaels as well to hold their necklaces, rings and gold in. Lastly, we made colored sand bottles. The bottles and sand were purchased from Michaels as well.


Our outdoor treasure hunt was complete with a hand drawn map and led the kids to different stations where there was a fun activity waiting for them. First up was "Walk the Plank" where they had to navigate their way across. Next up was "Egg Smuggling" where they had to carefully race across the finish line with their eggs on spoons. We then headed off to "Cannon Fire" where each child took aim with water balloons at a target. Then it was of to the "Pirate Pop" where the kids raced to see who could sit on their balloon and pop it the fastest. The treasure hunt ended with a treasure chest pinata that rained treasure on the small pirates.

The Food


When it came to food, I tried to make things that most children would eat. We had no food allergies so it was easier to do. The menu included peanut butter and jelly sandwich triangles, mini pirate ship bagel pizzas, chicken nuggets, cheese filled mini pretzels, cheesy whales, fish in water cups which were gummy fish in blue jello, pretzel rods, marshmallow pops and an assortment of candies. For drinks, we went with glass bottles and had root beer, strawberry and grape soda. There was also bottled water available. The food table was topped off with a homemade fondant pirate cake.