Okay.  So I embarked on the ever so popular PIRATE PARTY". I created our own invitations on the computer by finding some clip art photos my son chose and worded the invitation as follows:  AHOY THERE MATEY! Ye be invited to a swash-bucking time at Pirate Michael's 4Th Buccaneer bash! On Sunday August 2ND Chart yer course for (address) because ye ship sails at (time). See ye there. . .if not you'll be forced to walk ye plank!! Just say aye captain (with phone #). I took the invitation to a local copy store and made colored copies. Food consisted of Pirate dogs (hot dogs) cannon ball salad (using a melon-baller we threw together watermelon cantaloupe honeydew and grapes)gold nuggets (cheese cubes) and sea chips (potato chips). Drinks were regular/sweet sea water (iced tea sweetened or unsweetened) one eye pucker juice (lemonade) ruby punch (fruit punch). I also placed shark bait/chum at each table (goldfish crackers) as a little snack while guests arrived. I decorate cakes so I was able to create a cool pirate skeleton sheet cake with gold coins as an added decor. The sheet cake was chocolate and I also did 12 cupcakes in white cake to give a little variety. The cupcakes were also decorated as skeletons with pirate picks I found at Michael's crafts and a chocolate gold coin. Decor: Colors were red black white and royal blue. We ordered 5 black and 5 red balloons from a local party supply store and tied them to our picket fence out front and around the backyard.  I set up a "pirate grave yard" in our front yard using tombstones from our Halloween decor and hung a large banner that stated "BEWARE OF PIRATES" above the grave yard.  I borrowed a large pirate flag to put on our flag pole in the front of our house (this definitely turned some heads in the neighborhood).  We had an inflatable pirate pool in the backyard for the kids to play in (definitely a big hit on a hot day). I made various signs on the computer that stated "ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTERS HERE" "DANGER PIRATES AT PLAY" and "PIRATES ONLY" and posted them around the yard and on my son's clubhouse/play-set. The best part was decorating my son's play-set to look like a pirate ship. To cover the "rainbow" tarp on the top of the play-set we used a black plastic table cloth. My step-father hooked up a pulley system and attached a large red bucket so the kids could hoist up toys and water balloons (a.k.a. cannon balls)while in the club house. We found a cool pirate flag on a stick while on a trip in Florida and anchored that to the very top of the clubhouse. Around the bottom of the club house I attached black fabric printed with white skeletons I found at Jo-Ann's and hung plastic skeletons as a garland. I had a CD playing (Swashbuckling Sea Songs) while the kids played in the pool and on the play-set. Games: I chose to have the kids earn their pirate gear by coordinating games with what pirate garment they would earn. After all the kids arrived I gathered them up and had them repeat a PIRATES OATH that read "I promise to obey the orders of the captain.  I will share all of the toys with my crew mates. I will not take anything from another crew mate.  I will not hit another crew mate. I promise to have fun!"  (I found a pirate oath online and modified it to fit a 4 year old party). The kids earned their pirate hats after stating the oath which we made from black crafting foam. I had various foam pirate stickers to decorate their hats as well. Next the kids earned their eye patch by participating in PIN THE EYE PATCH ON THE PIRATE GAME. To earn their hook hand the kids had to brave the shark infested waters and retrieve their treasure. I filled my son's water table and dropped in little plastic sharks sea shells gold/silver coins gem stones (red rubies and diamonds purchased at Jo-Ann's in the floral arranging isle) emeralds (glass stones purchased at the dollar store) and gold nuggets (I spray painted some of the green glass nuggets from the dollar store with a metallic gold spray paint).  The kids were blind folded and had 10 seconds to grab as many gold coins as they could.  This was a hit with this age group. To earn their telescope/periscope the kids went up into the club house (a.k.a. pirate ship) and hoisted up a pail of water-balloons (a.k.a. cannonballs) and threw them at the pesky alligator (my son's little tikes gator teeter-totter). After their turn was over the kids slid down the "plank" and waited for another turn. Along with the games I also had 2 crafts for the kids.  The first craft was making a parrot (what is a pirate without a parrot) out of a toilet paper roll feathers wiggly eyes crafting foam and glue. I painted the paper rolls the day before to cut down on time.  *I found the idea on the internet but took it to the next level by stapling elastic to the bottom of the paper roll so the kids could wear the parrots on their wrist. We did the craft early during the party so it could dry before they left. The other craft was an ocean in a bottle.  I had saved small plastic water bottles and removed the labels. We filled the bottles about 2/3 of the way full and then put in about 2T of cooking oil. The kids added sand blue glitter a penny small shark teeth (we always end up with tons of these from our vacation and the kids thought they were the coolest) small shells (again from our vacations) a tiny plastic alligator (you can get a bag from the dollar store) several gold nuggets and emeralds (glass stones) and finally one each of the small "rubies" and "diamonds" (from the gemstones purchased at Jo-Ann's).  We used glue to secure the lids onto the water bottles and the kids had fun shaking them up and watching everything settle. To end the party we sent the kids on a treasure hunt for their own treasure chest filled with goodies.  I created a treasure map that led the kids on an adventure starting at the pirate ship and walking around crocodile creek (prop was the little tikes alligator in a pit) passing by flamingo isle (I have a magnolia tree in our side yard with a flower bed around the base of the tree so I put all of my flamingo yard decor around the tree creating flamingo isle) locate the pirate graveyard (again it was the Halloween headstones set-up in our front yard) walking around another tree that I was calling a palm tree and then leading them to my corner flower bed where all of the treasure chests were hidden.  Again I used my computer and clip art pictures. After it printed out my husband and I created the path they should take by making dotted lines. Using brown large lunch bags I cut the bottoms of the bag off (at the fold) and cut up the side to open it up. I then glued the white paper treasure map onto the paper bag and when dried crumpled the map many times and applied some dirt to give it a worn and tattered look. The best part about cutting off the bottom of the paper bag it was perfect to use as little "bowls" to hold the shark bait/chum (goldfish crackers) for the tables. Overall the kids had a blast and the adults loved watching the kids play and participate in all of the activities!"