We had a pirate theme for our 5-yr-old son's birthday party. It turned out great, but took a lot of planning (about a month and a half).  We invited his entire preschool class, so I knew we would have a lot of kids. Plus, with it being November and cold outside here, I knew I needed to get a place cheap. My husband was able to rent a hall cheap on a Sunday afternoon, so that was great, as we had PLENTY of room for activities and the kids to run around.  Also, by saving money with the hall budget, I was able to hire a magician, who dressed up like a genie, which was going to be the real highlight of the afternoon.   The invitations: I took tan card stock and put some click art on the front of a pirate map and it said, "Ahoy, Mateys" and then inside was the invitation to attend Captain Andrew's party to search for hidden treasure, etc. I instructed the kids to wear pirate gear (jeans and t-shirt) so that the girls wouldn't come dressed in a skirt.  When the kids arrived, we had a costume table set up with pirate goodies. Since it was Halloween time, I went to the dollar store and got a set of an eyepatch, a clip-on earring, and a felt hat for only $1 for the set! And then I got pirate tattoos (deadmeantellnotales.com) and black face paint to sponge on beards.  I also got pirate bandanas (orientaltradingcompany.com) and took some red & white striped fabric and cut it into strips and was just going to tie it around their waists or foreheads. We played limbo using a broom handle while everyone was arriving and also did the chicken dance and hokey pokey several times. I got this from a party CD at Party City.  There was a small stage, so I brought along my karoake machine with a mic and set up the kids tables in a big U-shape around the stage.  We rented a helium tank (ESSENTIAL!!) and used ocean blue, red, white, and black as our colors.  We didn't want to go hardcore black and white skeletons because they're only 4 and 5 years old.  Also go to the dollar store and get the silver foil-wrapped balloon weights so you can make table centerpieces.  We made balloon bouquets with different color balloons, using the black Jolly Roger balloon as the tall center balloon (DMTNT website).  We made like 12 balloon bouquets and spread them around the hall to fill it in.  We purchased a big Jolly Roger flag and taped it to the wall behind the buffet table.  We had other skeletons laid out and a big treasure-looking basket filled with gold coins and beads on the table as well as people came in the door.  For goodie bags, we just went to Party City and got the stock pirate theme loot bags and they also had cardboard treasure chest goodie boxes! So I got some pirate candy (kisses, Hershey Treasures, gold coins) and also I bought a gross of bead necklaces (orientaltrading) and used the necklaces everywhere as decoration.  Also on the tables, we spread out foil confetti and gold coins and necklaces. Clean up was easy: Just carefully fold the tablecloths ($1 at the party store) and throw everything away in one swoop.  We had a separate adult table for the parents behind the kids.  But I had to keep everyone focused toward the stage for the magician, so we set up a row of tables with chairs only on one side.  We played Musical Chairs. We got the pirate CD from deadmantellnotales and played the "Bottle of Rum" song on it and used that for the game.  My husband worked the karoake machine to stop the music. Since we were in the hall, we had plenty of folding chairs to set up in a circle.  As each child lost their chair, we gave them a balloon.  When it got down to the last chair, I awarded the ultimate winner with a big Hershey bar and a 1st place ribbon. The 2nd place winner got a big Hershey bar also. (We ended up playing twice because the kids just loved it!) Then we did the pinata.  Since it was a suspended ceiling, I was concerned that the weight from the pinata would break the ceiling tile.  But it worked okay. I had decided to get a pull-string type, which I'm GLAD I did!  Then on the back of each child's chair, I taped a number.  I had all the kids sit in their seats and then read them a poem that I "supposedly" got from Captain Hook who had stolen our treasure.  I told them that I found the treasure (real excited!) and it was inside the pinata. I told them that they were to take the number over to the pinata area and we would call their number one by one -- so everyone had a fair chance. We actually went through all 19 kids and started round two before someone pulled the right string!  It was great, as the tension was mounting for so long.  The pinata was just a regular round one.  It was a design-your-own pinata and I just taped a pirate-theme balloon to it (it matched the plates and napkins and colors of the rest of the goodies; the treasure box one that I kept seeing didn't have a pull-string option). I made the cake. I took two sheet pans (one big; one small) and used the small one to cut a boat shape to it.  The big sheet cake I used as part ocean/part land.  The ocean was a combo of blue/white icing slightly mixed together to give it a swirl look and then iced it like waves. Then the sand was finally chopped graham crackers. I went to a cake store and got little plastic palm trees and pirate figures.  I used wood skewers as the masts and used cardboard stock to make the sails. I even was able to print out a Jolly Roger onto the masts. Then I put the pirate figures on top of the boats and also on the "land". I used a Hershey treasure candy as the treasure and got a candle that had the number "5" on the end of a long stick. I stuck that where the treasure was. The kids loved the cake and were all excited about getting a pirate figure.  Then the magician performed.  All the kids gathered around the stage and he was great, very interactive with the kids.  He even had an act with live doves, which the kids just thought was amazing!  It was a great party. All my hard work paid off. Even one month later, one of the mothers at preschool said her son still talks about this party and says that he thanks God every night that he was there.  That's what it's all about...memories!