My son Tyler choose a pirate theme for his 5th birthday. INVITATIONS: I found the cutest invitations at Dollar Tree. The bottom 1/2 looked like a flag with red and white stripes along the sides and in the center it read -PIRATE PARTY- in gold letters on a blue background. It had a parrot sitting on a stand dressed in a sword, eyepatch and pirate hat and holding a spyglass. On the top half of the invitation the background was a light blue map with a pirate ship in the front.  Inside it read - You are invited to Tyler's 5th Birthday Party! Date 1-30-10 Time 1:00 Place Pier (our house #)at (our street name) Lagoon RSVP to (our email address) for swashbuckling fun! DECORATIONS: I hung a full size pirate flag from the front columns of our house where everyone would have to walk under it. It was black with white skull and crossbones (s&c) with an eyepatch. On a table in our foyer we placed a 2 ft pirate pinata, with all the perfect pirate details. On one side we had a very nice model pirate ship that my 15 yr old son had built. On the other side was a beautiful treasure chest. (My son has 2 of these chests; we used the larger one later.) The chest is wooden with an ornately stamped curved black and gold metal top and a hook latch. It was open with aluminum foil stuffed in the bottom to fill up space. I filled it with gold and silver beaded necklaces and plastic pirate coins. Some of the treasure was pouring out onto the table. On top was a life size red parrot with a blue head. In the dining room we hung black crepe paper streamers from the chandelier to the walls. The dining room table had a black table cloth on it with a good size toy pirate ship with 5 pirates. On each side was a book: Pirateology and Pirateology: Guide to Life on Board a Pirate Ship. They were full of fascinating facts, information and drawings about everything pirate. On one wall hung a banner that read -HAPPY BIRTHDAY- between the words was a pirate hat. It also had a couple of treasure chests and pirate ships on it. On one door was a large poster of a pirate map that included Lost Lagoon, Pirate's Rock, Shark Cove and Pistol Point. In the center was a big red X for Buried Treasure. This was part of our 1st game. On the door to the head I hung a life size skeleton with an eyepatch. On the gift table, I placed a black balloon weight with a mylar balloon and 6 red and black latex balloons.  The mylar balloon had a pirate on a ship shooting cannon balls at another ship and read Happy Birthday in red letters. Above the snack bar in our kitchen hung a pirate themed flag banner that spanned from one side of the room to the other. On the snack bar was the food, plates, napkins and plastic ware. COSTUMES: Tyler wore a red turtleneck with a beige t-shirt over it. The t-shirt had a black pirate ship flying a Jolly Roger with -Arrrrrgh!- written in red letters. Over that he wore a dark brown vest with gold trim and white s&c on the lapel. He wore a black captain's hat trimmed in gold with s&c.  His eyepatch had little slits in it where the skull's teeth were so that he could see pretty well. He also had a hook and sword. My 2 yr old daughter wore a red, black and white striped shirt, a black vest and red jagged pants. My 9 yr old daughter wore brown and gold striped capris, a white blouse with ruffled sleeves, a gold sash tied around her waist with a sword stuck in it, brown boots, an eyepatch and a large hoop earring. My 12 yr old son wore a brown t-shirt with a black s&c with a gold tooth, a sash with a sword in it, an eyepatch and a hook. I wore black capris, a white ruffled blouse, a sash made of net looking material, black boots, gold hoop earrings and black bandana hat with s&c. My husband wore a white ruffled shirt, a fake black beard, a red and black bandana that we attached 2 curtain rings to look like earrings, and an eyepatch. (My 2 yr old did NOT like her Dad's costume or her uncle's, who showed up in a pirate mask!) PARTY FOOD: We served a plethora of Pirate Pizzas, Billy Bones' Biscuits with Blood Sauce (bread sticks with marinara sauce) and Tortuga chips and Sea Weed Slop (blue tortilla chips and guacamole). The tortilla chips were served in a large blue bowl that had ships and sea serpents around the side and a pirate skull on the bottom. The rest of the food was served on black trays or bowls. I also had a tray of pineapple, cantaloupe, green and red grapes (didn't want anyone getting scurvy!) with the top of the pineapple in the center. We used little multi-colored sword shaped picks for the fruit. (A party favorite!) The dinner plates were one of my favorite finds. They were shaped like a captain's jacket with all the details. We used napkins that matched the mylar balloon and we had black plastic ware. The cups were black plastic tumblers with white s&c on them. I used a silver pen and wrote each of the kid's names on them. We served soft drinks and I also put out a jug of Captain Morgan's Rum for the adults to make Captain's and Coke. I sat a stuffed dog that had a black patch of fur around his eye with a captain's hat and a plastic pirate hat in this area. (At one time or another every kid at the party had this hat on!) ACTIVITIES AND GAMES: After lunch I explained to the kids that Tyler was concerned that they were not pirate enough to join his crew and that they were going to have to do some pirate activities to prove their salt. They would also earn booty for being successful. (We tried to only speak using pirate terms-it really helped everyone get and stay in the mood of the party.) ACTIVITY #1-Pirate Names for Loot Bags. I gave each of them a brown bag and they were to pick a pirate name, write it on the bag and decorate it with foam pirate stickers and colored pencils. These became their loot bags. Tyler chose Captain Black Star for his pirate name. All of the kids were really creative with their names. GAME #1-Pin the Treasure Chest on the X. For this game we used the poster of the map. The game also included 12 treasure chest stickers with a space to write their pirate name and a blindfold. I told them that pirates needed to be able to remember where they hid their loot because sometimes things happen to treasure maps. After they completed this game I gave them a compass. GAME #2-Don't Get Caught with the Salty Dog. I told them that pirates often get themselves into trouble (it's an occupational hazard when you're a pirate!) and they need to think and move fast not to get caught. Tyler was adamant about 2 things, he wanted to have blowouts and he wanted to play a hot potato game. We used the pirate stuffed dog and Drew's Famous pirate puzzle and cd pack that I bought at Dollar Tree. When we stopped the music whoever got caught with the Salty Dog was out and received an eyepatch. GAME #3-Blow the Man Down. I told them another important skill a pirate needed was to be able to shoot cannon balls accurately. For this game we used a catapult that my 12 yr old son built. He took a piece of wood that was about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide. About 2 1/2 inches from the end he nailed a popsicle stick to each side of the wood. Then about 1 1/2 inches from the popsicle he nailed in 2 more popsicles 1 on each side. These popsicles met at the top were he drilled and then slid a 3 inch nail through all 6 popsicle sticks and added a piece of cork so that the nail couldn't slip out. He glued 2 popsicle sticks together and hot glued and duct taped the bowl part of a plastic spoon perpendicular to the top of the popsicle sticks and added a small (about 1 inch) piece of popsicle stick, just below where he had added the spoon, sticking off the back. He made a nail hole in this stick about 3/4 of an inch from the bottom. He drilled 2 more holes into the popsicle sticks nailed to the wood, but this time just the middle ones, about an inch above the wood. He slid the nail through the outside popsicle sticks with the spoon placed in the center and another piece of cork on the end. It is important to make sure the top of the spoon is behind the top nail. He added rubber bands around the top of the spoon and then wrapped the other end of the rubber band at the bottom of the spoon/popsicle stick. When the spoon is pulled backwards the rubber band creates tension along the top nail. He measured back to where the little piece of popsicle stick touched the block of wood and placed a clothes pin there. He put a screw through the spring part of the clothes pin. We would pull the spoon back, open the clothes pin and place the little piece of popsicle inside of it. Once you open the clothes pin it released the spoon -Voila!- a catapult! We used the toy pirate ship and placed the pirates on different decks. I encouraged the kids to hit the ship, knock down pirates and especially to try to get the cannon balls into the crows nest. We used 5 toy cannon balls we had that worked perfectly with the catapult. This game was a big hit and my 9 yr old actually did get a cannon ball in the crows nest!! When they completed this task they were given a blowout that had a parrot on it and read -PIRATE PARTY. GAME #4-A Word Scramble for Little (and Big) Scoundrels. I told them I was concerned they sounded like Landlubbers! I found a pirate word scramble on line at FamilyFun.com. The scrambled words included: Treasure Chest, Jolly Roger, Pieces of Eight, Scoundrel, Blackbeard, Swashbuckler, Ahoy, Buccaneer, Shiver Me Timbers, Sail Ho, Black Jack, Deadlights, Me Hearties, Yo Ho Ho, and Weigh Anchor.  The kids at this party ranged in age from 2 to 15 so I paired up the young kids with an adult which was a great way to get the aunts, uncles and grandparents involved. They were given 3 mins to unscramble as many words as they could. For successfully completing this task they got one of the grossest prizes -Pirate Choppers- gummy pirate teeth! GAME #5-Sword Fighting Pirate Pinata. I told the kids they were on their way to being part of the crew but they needed to prove their sword fighting skills. We hung the pirate pinata and used a toy sword to fight him! Each kid got to take a stab until one of them defeated him and they filled their loot bags with his booty. GAME #6-Treasure Hunt. My husband came up with the clues; he found most of his pirate phrases at PirateTreasure.org. He used a brown shopping bag and drew a treasure map that he tore into 5 pieces and wrote the clues on the back. He was extremely secretive about the map and treasure and wouldn't even tell me where he hid it! When it was time he pulled out the 1st piece of the map and in his best pirate voice read the clue: Avast ye scallywags, Ye've proven yer salt and now ye are part of Captain Black Star's crew. Any crew of the Star gets an equal share of the booty. Aye! Blimey the scurvy dogs who've torn and taken Captain Black Star's treasure map. Calico Jack and Redbeard each have a scrap. Black Bart and Captain William Kid stole the rest of the map. Aaarrgghh! Grab yer cutlass, pack yer lead, it's time to track down those dogs, alive or dead! Start ye with Calico Jack, he can't be far. Find his scrap with the namesake pet you'll find in the bunk of Captain Black Star. Savvy? (This led them to Tyler's stuffed calico cat.) The next piece read: This is a start, but if ye don't find more it ain't worth a fart. Redbeard's next he's hidden his share behind a hanging sail. It's of his favorite color. Off with ye now, don't want to fail. Savvy? (This led them to red drapes in our dining room.) The next piece read: Doubloons are await'n and pieces of eight, don't blow it now, earn your fate! Black Bart was a bum, hardly got out of bed. 'Cept when he drank to much rum and spent his time in the head. Savvy? (They had to figure out which of our 4 bathrooms had the clue, which took a while because they missed it the 1st time.) Next piece: Yo Ho Ho! Just 1 piece to go! Captain William Kidd, a name sounds so proper. But a dog like the rest, hid his little scrap in Davey Jones' locker. Savvy? (This led them to the kids' lockers in our mudroom, Tyler's was labeled Davey Jones.) This last piece read: Now ye found all the pieces, it's time to beware. Ye'll all walk the plank if ye don't remember to share. The booty's await'n, inside of a chest. Could be near anywhere, north, south, east or west! Savvy? The kids had to piece the map together and find the larger treasure chest. My husband drew the map so that our house was an island. (Ex. fireplace, chairs and couch became firepit, stumps and log. Beds were hammocks.) The kids were excited and raced through the house in search of the treasure. It was hidden in the cabinet of my son's captain's bed under his clothes, but they missed it the 1st time, so they kept second guessing themselves. Finally after the 3rd look they found the treasure chest. It was filled with different colored key chains in the shape of skulls with cross swords; paddle ball sets with either pirate ships on plank boards or skulls with cross swords on the back; 50 skull rings and 1/2 dollar size chocolate gold coins. By now their loot bags were overflowing and we decided it was time for cake and ice cream. CAKE: The cake was half beach and half sea. On the beach it had a spyglass and pirate map; in each corner was a pirate ring. On the sea was written in red-Happy Birthday Tyler. We served the cake and ice cream on pirate plates that matched the mylar balloon and napkins. After this Tyler opened gifts. It was cute how some of his gifts were in pirate themed gift bags and he received some pirate birthday cards. Afterwards I brought out pirate word search puzzles. The 2 best ones were from www.printables4kids.com which had pirate graphics on it and www.abcteach.com which was in the shape of a parrot. I also put out the puzzle that came with the pirate cd and a game my kids already had, Pirates of the Caribbean-Pirates Dice. FAVORS: The kids went home with their s&c tumblers and the loot bags they created with their pirate names filled with: compasses, eyepatches, parrot blowouts, skull key chains, skull rings, paddle balls, chocolate coins, pinata candy and pirate choppers.  Tyler really enjoyed playing Captain Black Star and being captain of a real pirate crew!