My son turned 3 in June and asked for a pirate party. This was the first time he had asked for a specific theme so we decided to go all out for him.
We set the tone for the party with a customized pirate invitation that read: Ahoy matey! Ye are hereby invited to walk the plank. The Captain and his Mates of the Pirate Ship Bon Bon (his nickname) will be in Montalvo Bay on Sunday, June 26th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in search of a fresh crew of bold buccaneers wishing to set sail for a treasure hunting, swashbuckling adventure. No liver-belly cowards or landlubbers need attend this three year old's birthday celebration! Signed, Captain Jared. At the bottom I put, Yo, ho, ho let us know - call deck hand Susan by June 5th and listed the address of Montalvo Bay. I put some pirate appropriate clip art - skull & cross bones, pirate ship, treasure chest and pirate captain around the text which was in Blackadder font. I printed them in color on tan parchment paper from Target and burned the edges. I rolled them up and sealed them with vintage stamp stickers and then tied a black cord around it - each pirate's name was written in calligraphy on the outside - Enchanting Evelyn, Dirty Dan Daniel, etc. I decorated three distinct areas for the party. Area one was the play structure on the grass. I tied white sheets to the posts to look like sails and painted a 3rd sheet ib black with Pirate Ship Bon Bon. I attached Jolly Roger flags over the opening of the slide and all around the yard. Area two was on the driveway. At the entrance to the party I put a skeleton dressed like a pirate draped over a Playmobil treasure chest with a sign that said, Pirates Only. I put all kinds of plastic rings, necklaces and gold coins around him and hung a parrot in the tree behind him. The first stop for the kids was a Crew Member sign in table. Each pirate hopeful was asked to guess how many gold coins were in a jar (a priate telescope prize to be awarded later) and was given a small gold bag with 5 gold coins for payment of pirate services. The kids were then directed to The 3 Js (my sons) Tattoo Parlour and Garb Shop. They had a choice of a black or red pirate sash (torn silky fabric), necklaces, rings, eye patch, cardboard pirate hat, tattoos and face paint of beards and moustaches - all of this was a huge hit. Kids were encouraged to take a few extra things and put them in their gold bag. Next the kids could go to a kid sized table to make ocean treasures in a bottle. I had plastic water bottles filled with 1 tsp mineral oil, water and a few drops of blue/green food coloring to create the ocean. They could put in a variety of shells, glitter, plastic confetti, etc. to make their treasure. Area 3 was on our patio and was for adult conversation, food and beverages. This was decorated in more of a luau theme with beach towels for table cloths and lots of bright colors. I had the food on a table decorated with sea shells, sharks and fishing nets. I put different sized cardboard boxes under the ocean theme and blue table cloths to create a 3 dimensional table. We served chicken legs, macaroni and cheese, pin wheels, croissant sandwiches, fruit and potato salad. I also had chips and salsa in small bowls on each table. We had Snapple, water and juice boxes to quench the pirate's thirst. Our first game was the most fun and everyone was laughing and having a great time. I put small slips of paper with prizes listed on them inside 75 black balloons that we blew up the night before. We put them in garbage bags and then released them all at once for the kids to pop any way they could. They sat on them, stepped on them and squeezed them. The prizes were pirate yo-yos, pirate bounce balls, lollipops, ring pops and necklaces. We had about 25 kids so everyone got 2 or 3 prizes. Our next game was the Cannonball throw and it didn't work that well but they had fun. I had cut out two pirate ships from cardboard, the Black Pearl and the Good Fortune. Then I balled up newspaper and put black/blue electrical tape on 20 balls each. We had buckets for each team and the object was to get your balls into the other bucket. No one really won and each child received a pirate flag prize. Then we had cake. I made a really fabulous (but simple) treasure chest cake. I baked a 9x13 yellow cake and frosted it with chocolate icing - the new whipped kind works especially well. Then my sons helped me put on sprinkes, Nerd ropes and ring pops to look like treasure. I then frosted a piece of cardboard. I folded over the top 2 inches to create the flap and attached the cardboard to the cake with two wooden skewers that I also frosted. I outlined the chest with yellow frosting from a squirt can and drew a lock on the top. I presented it on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil. The cake table was guarded by an inflatable pirate from Oriental Trading (where I got most of the stuff my son picked out) that came with it's own pump. I also found a really cool set of candles at my local party store that included a pirate, treasure chest and skull. The cake was also the beginning of the treasure hunt. I created a set of 4 8x10 photos of places in our yard where I hid the clues so my 3 yr old could easily find them. After cake he opened the 1st one that had been rolled up on top of the cake and all the kids went chasing after him when he knew where to look. It ended where I had hid small cardboard treasure chests with tattoos, lollipops, a tiny telescope, rings, shells, etc. and a thank you note that read, The Captain and his mates of the Pirate Ship Bon Bon thank you for joining in our pirate fun. Thanks! Captain Jared. The kids continued to play and ride on our various bikes and scooters until dark. My 3 and 4 year old sons were involved and helped with every step of planning and decoraying. We spent about $400 but it was worth every penny. Everyone raved about the party and my little man was extremely happy.
