For my son's 5th birthday, he wanted a pirate party.
I sent out invitations to 8 of his friends using a black construction paper with a foil skull and crossbones on the outside and a yellow piece of paper as a liner to write on. When each child arrived they were given a black captain's pirate hat made out of two poster board pieces stapled together with the silver foil skull and crossbones glued to the front. All the kids were given a pirate tattoo to put on, and then they all had blue paper loot bags to decorate with cut out shark fins, and loads of pirate stickers. The loot bags were put aside for various prizes throughout the party. We played several games including a treasure hunt for multicolored craft jewels, where the kids went into the livingroom and "found" pirate treasure left behind from some visiting pirates. We also pin the knife in the pirate's mouth (each kid had a tin foiled cardboard knife with there name on it to pin on)and a "steal treasure from the shark" game. I got a game from REGAL GREETINGS AND GIFTS (but you could use the travel version crocodile dentist game as well). Basically you open the shark's mouth and have to push his bottom teeth down one at a time - one tooth is the trigger and the shark bites down gently. I put some small craft jewels in his mouth and told all of the pirates that any pirate worth his salt could steal a jewel from a sleeping shark no problem. Each kid had to push down a tooth before he could take a jewel. When someone hit the trick tooth we would open his mouth again and I would ask everyone if the person could try again (this way no one missed a turn for a jewel and there was no hurt feelings). We also read a pirate story and at the end I "accidentally" let a piece of paper fall out of the book that had a big "?" on it. This was the first rhyming clue for a treasure hunt. Each kid got to solve a riddle, easy enough for them to solve without help. I.E.: "In this house there is a room - Where Jarod sleeps dreaming of doubloons, Look high and low and you will find - Your next step to the treasure is a pirate sign." And so on. The clues lead to the garage where there is a piņata shaped like a chest. In it are bags of gold chocolate coins for each child. The kids all got to open a prize for being such good pirates (a pirate theme coloring book). The cake was a pirate ship shape and a small island that had a treasure chest , pirate and palm tree from our fisher price set. I took lots of pictures to give out to everyone at a later date. Everyone had a blast and parents informed me later that "Pirate" was played in there house all week long after the party.
