My son had a pirate pool party for his 5th birthday right before he started a new school. The outside of the invitations set the tone stating "Swim the ocean blue with (name)'s pirate
crew!"
I wrote a poem for the invitation inside that read: Ahoy Matey! Your presence is my pleasure. Come hunt for pirate treasure! Set sail for Buccaneer Bay, To celebrate my big day! Before the party, we created pirate names for each guest that used their own first name. My son Lewis's name was Left Eye Lewie! This was a great way for the guests to meet each other as they were eager to share their new pirate names! For table decorations, we sprinkled a blue paper tablecloth with pirate treasure (gold coins, plastic gem stones, plastic rings and necklaces). After the boys swam a while, we passed out pirate hats and served pirate's ale (lemonade) with cake and ice cream. The cake was shaped like a treasure chest (two large sheet cakes layered together to look like an open treasure chest) with candy treasure coming out of the open lid. The candy included ring pops, candy necklaces, skull pops, chocolate and gum foil coins. Everyone got a slice of cake with some treasure to eat! After refreshments, we had a treasure hunt. To hold their interest we had a progressive hunt in which the boys had to first guess what they were hunting for as well as the location. We hid the items in various locations around the pool. As they hunted, they "earned" their complete pirate garb! We hunted for eye patches (what do all pirates wear on they eyes?); then spy glasses (what do pirates need to look out for other evil pirates?); then plastic cutlasses (what do pirates need to defend themselves?). The last two steps of the treasure hunt lead up to the real loot: a treasure chest piņata. We first hunted for a piņata stick and small cardboard "treasure" boxes for each child to stash their loot once we found and broke the piņata. Finally, we hunted for the piņata itself shaped like a treasure chest. The piņata was stuffed with more pirate candy and plastic pirate treasure. One tip: always keep extra candy in a bag to scatter on the ground when the piņata bursts. Throw it on the outer edge of the cluster of children to help everyone find candy without stepping on each other! Their piņata loot and pirate costumes were their party favors. This party was such a hit that when my son started school a few weeks later, the boys were still using their pirate names and were excited to see Left Eye Lewie again!
