This was a challenging party to plan as children invited included a dozen children ages 6 months to 6 years, both boys and girls.  Adding to the confusion, the Pirate Themed party was in January! Here's what I did: _____<<<<INVITATIONS>>>>:_____ After setting the date, time, and location, I did a Google search for pirate words (like ahoy, swabbbing, booty, boot-strapping). I used these words to give the invitation an authentic sound. I also used Google's image search (images.google.com) to find a cute pirate, parchment paper, compass, and treasure chest images. I used the font Blackadder ITC--the perfect pirate-looking font. Front Cover: I worked some magic in my paint program and put a compass and treasure box on the parchmant paper image and I used the following wording on the new "treasure map": 'Join us for a PIRATE PARTY honoring Cap'n Child Name'.  Inside Front Cover Left Side: I created a map with directions to our home and used the same parchment paper image as the background. Marked our home with a red 'x', of course, and marked North, South, East, and West on the map also. Inside Front Cover Right Side: Used the following wording: "AHOY MATEYS! Follow the treasure map to a Pirate Party setting sail from Cap'n Child Name home port, date, time." As the party was in January, soon after Christmas, I also included a disclaimer: "A note to Pirate Parents: The Smiths are suffering from an overabundance of Santa booty, so please leave your plunder and gifts at at home and come as you are for a boot-strapping good time!" Back Cover:  I put the cute little saluting pirate image on the back about an inch tall when printed with the words "Hope to see you there!"_____  I also included a little card for family and friends traveling some distance inviting them to stay for a birthday lunch after the party with the birthday boy. _____<<<<DECORATIONS>>>>:_____ I bought the following from OrientalTrading.com: a pirate hat making kit, 3 inflatable palm trees (2 large 1 small for variation), a fish net, a dozen fake fish (to hang on the wall and in the net), a fishy table cloth, and the put the monkey on the palm tree game kit.  I hung the fish and net on the walls of our basement, and decorated with the palm trees strategically placed for a group photo later._____<<<<PARTY FAVORS>>>>:_____  From OrientalTrading.com I bought a sword and pirate patch for each child (comes in a set of 12 patches and 12 swords for 9.95), and a bag of gold bubble gum coins as booty. They also took their jeweled pirate hats home after the party.       _____<<<<FOOD>>>>:_____ I bought some sword-shaped plastic toothpicks from Oriental Trading, and some Creatures of the Sea crackers from the dollar store, along with grapes, beef jerky, and sprite (I didn't want any red stains in the carpet)._____<<<<GAMES AND ACTIVITES>>>>:_____  I used the Put the Monkey on the Palm tree game from Oriental Trading, we made the pirate hats, and make a treasure map/puzzle out of a piece of poster board.    Beforehand we drew a map of a room in the house on a piece of posterboard, wrote directions to find each successive piece of the poster board puzzle, cut them apart, and hid them throughout the house (remember it's January, matey).  After the children found the puzzle pieces they put them together and followed the map (drawn on the back) to the treasure. The "treasure" at the end was the swords and eye patches.  The hints were written with the "Upper deck" representing the upstairs of the house and "Lower Deck" the downstairs.   _____<<<<DAY OF THE PARTY>>>>:_____  I put some signs out on our road with a picture of the same pirate on the invitations and a large arrow leading to our home saying "This Way, Mateys" in the same BlackAdder font. Since the party was in the basement and we have a separate entrace to it, I put large signs on the front steps directing party-goers to the basement.  I started the kids making pirate hats as soon as they arrived. I put some white glue in a plastic dish along with some cheap plastic paintbrushes from the dollar store to keep the mess down and prevent me having to hot glue each person's jewels and skeleton to his hat. (A note, the OrientalTrading pirate hats require some pre-assembly if you're dealing with smaller children, like I was. I hot glued the round top to the brim, head bands, velcro, and gold ric-rack trim on before the children got there.  I also glued the tiny ruby jewels in the skulls' eyes before hand)  After our craft, we played pin the monkey on the palm tree.  Next we did our treasure hunt and found our pirate swords. I made it clear that the rule for pirates who wanted swords was that they could only sword fight OUTSIDE GENTLY!  We took pictures and _then_ ate our "pirate" food.  The little ones loved eating like "real" pirates!  After eating and while we waited for the mommies to come, we took our pirate booty (gold foil wrapped bubble gum) outside in the snow for a treasure hunt! We'd throw the gold gum out in the snow, and the children had a great time hunting for their treasure in the snow.