Aargh! For my son's 5th birthday, we had a pirate party which was a favorite of all the guests.  For the invitations, we purchased ones decorated with treasure boxes. On the day of the party, we decorated the outside of the house with a "Jolly Roger" flag made from black material. I used iron-on fusing tape to adhere a skull and crossbones to it.  We hung draped torn strips of sheets in the trees to help make the home look like a hide-out. To further set the scene, sitting in a low chair by the front door was a plastic skeleton dressed in tattered clothes and glittering jewels welcoming the children.  We were careful not to make it too scary! As the children arrived, they were offered red and white striped pirate shirts to wear. The bottoms were cut in a jagged manner to enchance the pirate look.  (These were previously purchased from a ladies clearance rack for dress-up play.) The pirate crew then went to another room to make pirate crafts.  The stations included eyepatchs (circles of black felt with elastic cut to fit the child), spyglasses (wrapping paper tubes cut to 12', covered with gold foil, cellophane taped to the end and decorated with stickers), treasure chests (decorate small paper mache boxes with markers,jewels, pirate stickers and filled with a few jewels) and pirate hats(black unprinted bandannas folded into a triangle. A felt skull and crossbones was then glued on.) After everyone finished making their attire, admidst much laughter, they swaggered to the skeleton for a group photo. Then it was off to the basement for pirate games!  The kids walked the plank (balance beam) to an obstacle course made up from hula hoops, kiddie slides, cones, and such--after all, pirates must be nimble to fight and climb the rigging! After a few runs through the course, they pinned eyepatch on the pirate.  Next came swordfights with long balloons.  No rules were needed! Each child had two balloons in the same color and they battled away for about 10 minutes with great glee. Then came the cannonball war.  We had wadded up about 100 sheets of newspaper and wrapped them with a little masking tape. My husband divided the kids into 2 teams, them put a piece of tape in the middle of the floor. He dumped out the "cannonballs", explained that they couldn't cross over the line and instructed each team to keep their side free from cannonballs. They harmlessly hurled the cannonballs back and forth for another 10 minutes.  After picking up all the cannonballs, the kids broke the parrot pinata. (And for some reason, this always takes a long time!) Food came next--tiny hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, chips,carrots, and scurvy prevention--Fruit!  My son had decorated the table with his Playmobil pirates and rock scenery.  We hung fishing nets and a toy parrot in this room. After pirate cake (9 X 13 cake with a 6 inch white circle for the face, red frosting bandana-style hat and lips, blue frosting eye, small peppermint patty for the other eyepatch and chocolate sprinkle stubble) and gifts, the treasure hunt started. It was good to have something planned to take the focus off the gifts and end the party with fun! My 8 year old had torn a brown grocery sack into pieces. I had helped him singe the edges with a match. Then he wrote clues.  He helped to lead the kids from room to room (It's cold here! No outside parties in the winter!)When they found the treasure, it was in a gold foil-wrapped box.  Inside were the treat bags for each child. The treats included a few gold coins and a small pirate figurine. We helped the children gather their other loot--their craft items, pinata candy, and treats and the parents arrived. Total time: 2 hours; cost about $5 per child; fun--scads!