Pirate Birthday Party Ideas, Crafts, and Games

Here are some fun ideas for a kids pirate themed party. 

My son recently turned five and had his first birthday party. With a little bit of planning we were able to pull off this fun birthday part on a very small budget.

1. Here is a free pirate invitation printable for you to print off as many time as you want. It starts out with: Aye... ye be invited to a buccaneer bash! and has blank spaces for you to fill in the party information. Print the printable here.
2. Making a pirates captain hat cake is easy for anyone with this simple tutorial filled with step by step pictures. 
3. Cardboard signs and door decorations are a great way to add more nostalgia to your pirate themed party. This skull and crossbones sign can be made with a few things at home. Check out this Tutorial to make your own for no cost!
4. Decoration ideas for the main room can include old lanterns, mini ships, mard gras necklaces, sea shells, nets, ect. Another great idea is to grab some white curtains or sheets and hang them so they look like sails. 
5. Some snack ideas: Tropical fruit kabobs, tropical fruit punch, deviled eggs, gold fish crackers. Also have fun with the serving dishes as well. I used a skeleton skull from Halloween to put pretzels in. 
6. Pirate Party Activity 1: Make newspaper captain hats for each of the kids. Set up a booth area to either teach them how to make their own or customize make them for each kid. .
7. Pirate Party Activity 2: Face Painting! The kids loved this one. Before hand (with craft paint) paint a bunch of easy pirate images on a paper and tape it up for your little swashbucklers to chose from and call it a pirate tattoo parlor. Some easy pirate tattoo's to paint: mustache, skull and cross bones, parrot, sword, treasure chest, blood, palm tree, treasure map, and a  captains hook.
8. Pirate Craft: I ordered these cute pirate necklaces for the kids to put together when they first got to the party and we were waiting for the rest of our guest arrive. Having a small craft is an excellent idea for any kids party. These necklaces cost $7.99 for 12!
9. Pirate game idea for kids: X Marks The Spot: Its kind of like pin the tail on the donkey except the kids have to to guess where the x is on the map blindfoled with a crayon to mark where they think the x is on the map. I just used  poster board for the map and decorated it. We let each kid have two turns and some of the prizes we used where pirate eye patches and mini telescopes. You could also use candy necklaces and chocolate gold coins. 

Hope you found some useful ideas here for you next pirate adventure!