2years ago my eldest son had a pirate and princess party, it went well considering it was at very short notice. I got some banners printed on plastic of both pirate images and princess,
as well as a "pin the patch on the pirate game" and a "pin the crown on
the princess game". I made a pirate ship in about 2hours from
cardboard boxes, brown paper, tape, glue and lego.
A friend printed out edible cake toppers for the main cake and small fairy cakes.
And as we already had disco lights we had a disco, and did normal party games.
WELL......My 4year old came home from school last week and
told me that he had invited his teacher and TA and some of his friends round to our house for his pirate birthday party! Luckily I still have all the plastic banners I had printed, I still have the template for the invite and the cake toppers, sadly the ship got broken when we moved house, but I can make a new one.
However, as I have until August for lil mans birthday I plan to do things better this time round. I wont be hiring a hall but having it at home, I have gazebos and plan to get another 1 (or 2) before his birthday. I started hunting the net for pirate things and ideas and made a board on
pinterest so that I could keep them all in one place. I found a lovely banner but it was £15 for a 3ft length which will work out very expensive, so I decided to buy some long dresses and skirts off ebay in red/white/black stripes/spots/stars/patterns/skulls and plan to make my own once they all arrive by cutting strips of material and tying or stitching to rope.
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| some of the materials I have bought |
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My son then asked IF I could turn his wooden army fort into a pirate ship!!! I know i'm good at crafts etc BUT this could prove hard. But after a few hours thought I came up with a plan. 1.We pull the army netting back over the roof. 2.We use the spare wooden bits from where it was raised to make a triangle and place it against the side of the fort to look like the front of the ship. 3.We make an anchor and chain (see below) and lean against the front of the point. 4.We add a wheel to the inside (somehow) and 5.Maybe add a sheet as a flag, (again somehow).
The anchor and chain, now i'm really pleased with this as I wasnt sure HOW to do it, or even if it could be done as I don't want anything heavy that could hurt children or pets. So I drew an anchor shape on cardboard, I cut it out and then scrunched up paper and masking taped it to the anchor on one side only so that it had a 3D image. From here I added paper marche to it over 3 layers, letting each layer dry for 24hrs before doing the next one. I then painted it with a mix of silver, orange and black acrylic paint (it still needs another coat of paint in pic).
For the chain I used small paper plates. I cut the ribbed outer edge off the plate, leaving a solid circle, I then cut the middle from this which is what I made the larger links from, and again cut a smaller ring from the solid center small circle, this made the small links. They were linked together by cutting a slit in 1 ring and then masking tape it closed once the other rings were linked. I then did the same on the chains as I did for the anchor by screwing up balls of paper and masking tape them onto one side and then paper marching it. I will be painting the chains and adding to the anchor (will add photo at a later date.
I have also sat and trawled the net for food and games.
GAMES/IDEAS TO DO -
Buried treasure - each child can dig in the
sand pit for: 2x necklaces, 1x ring, 2x gems, 10x coins,, 5 gold rocks (plastic jewellery & gems bought, rocks from beach painted gold and varnished)
Walk the plank - raised piece
of wood over either a small paddling pool with water in or blue sheet on grass,
toy crocodiles in it.
Pin the patch on the pirate
game - picture of pirate and some sort of patch to stick on it, closet to where his eye is wins.
Hoop toss over a sword or
hook - who can throw the most hoops onto a sword or hook wins. Alternatively you could have a few fixed onto a board and points for each one and whoever gets the highest points wins
Decorate your own sword -
pre cut out cardboard swords and have glue, gems, pens etc for the children to decorate their own swords (do this at the beginning of the party and they will be dry to take home.) Make sure you write childrens names on back.
Pirate tattoos (and face paint) - do these at the beginning as all pirates have tattoos, check that children are ok with face paint before parents leave.
Pirate photo booth - Draw a picture of a pirate on cardboard and paint it, cut out the face, cut a slit in the middle at the bottom. Take a small piece of cardboard and place a slit in the middle of top edge, this will be fixed into the slit on the pirate so it can stand up. Child stands behind it and puts their face through the hole to have a photo taken as pirate.
Knock the pirates over - skittles
with pirate pictures stuck on and bean bags/balls to knock them over, peson who gets most wins.
Pass the parcel with pirate
forfits - Wrap the parcel and add a forfit to each layer, do 1 per person plus a couple of extra layers. Forfits - *stand up and shout "ahoy me mateys", *squark like a parrot,
*talk like a parrot and say "polly wants a cracker", *hop round the
circle like peg leg jake, *dance a pirate jig, *name a pirate film, *sing a song
like a drunken sailor, *go walk the plank, *stand up and say "yo ho ho and
away we go", *Talk like a parrot and say "pieces of eight, pieces of
eight", *stand up and say "shiver me timbers", *Stand up and say
"this is me ship mateys", *stand up and say "where be me
treasure", *pretend to swab the deck (sweep), *tell the joke - "what do
you call a pirate who went to school?"......"smaaaaart",* tell
the joke - "where do pirates go shopping?"......"at the
maaaaaarket", *tell the joke - "what does a pirate put on his
toast?"......."maaaaarmalade"
Pirate pinata - Make or buy a pinat and add sweets, home
made badges, catcha-bubbles, confetti, etc
Pirate colouring pages and
pens - leave some of these on a table incase they want to colour
Cannon ball bop - give each
child a black balloon and on go they have to keep it in the air, any that hit
the floor are out, winner is one who lasts longest.
Cannon ball fire - loads of
black balloons, put sweets in some, confetti in others, and leave some empty on go the kids have to
"fire" (burst) all the cannon balls by bouncing on them with their
bums.
Flap the fish - 2 fish shapes
cut from tissue paper, 2 paper plates, split into 2 teams, place the fish on
the floor infront of first person, using only the plate they need flap the fish
down the room to set place and then back again, hand to next person who does
the same, 1st team to have all players do it wins.
Musical pirates - like
musical statues EXCEPT when the music stops they need dance like a pirate, last
one to do it is out.
Feed the shark - draw a
sharks head and open mouth onto cardboard, cut out the mouth. using ping pong balls (12 pack for £1 in
£1shop) they can each throw the balls through the mouth - most through wins
(make older children stand further back than younger children.)
Treasure hunt - clues to find
the hidden treasure or coins hidden around the place,
Musical islands - paper islands
- each child has an island to start with placed on floor, when music stops they
must stand on 1. remove 1 island and go
again, child without island is out. last
1 wins.
Wheres the treasure hidden -
piece of paper with treasure island/map in squares on it, get each child to put
their name in 1 square when they arrive.
(pre-choose the treasure square and make a note of it) at the end of the
party award a prize to whoever guessed correct or was the nearest. (try and make the map the exact amount of squares
for guests).
FOOD -
canon balls - malteasers or blueberries or black olives
planks- twix bars or pretzel sticks or bread sticks
pollys crackers - mini cheddars
pirate ships - hot dogs with cocktail stick flag
pirate gems - chunks of fruit on kebab sticks
golden nuggets - chicken nuggets
swords - bread sticks and half grape near end
golden rings - hula hoop crisps
ocotopus legs - gummy worms
fresh fish bread - tuna sandwiches
pirate punch - water, blue food colouring and raspberry
flavour
sharks blood - red drink
pirate teeth - popcorn
pirates peg leg - sausage rolls
sea scrolls - "coffee" wafer biscuits (tubes) tied
with a liquorice lace
veggie island - platter of sliced vegetables
golden rocks - cheese & pineapple
dead mans fingers - cocktail sausages
hawain islands - ham & pineapple pizzas
pirate islands - biscuits iced with treasure map lines and a
x
I WILL ADD MORE ONCE I GET SORTED AND DEFINATELY ADD MORE AFTER THE PARTY.
I have now bought the rings, necklaces, plastic gems and plastic coins for the dig for treasure, and I have collected loads of small rough rocks which I painted gold to resemble good nuggets and I also collected beach/sea glass and sanded any sharp edges, these were also varnished to make them look shinier. I bought small gold net bags to add the kids treasure to once they have found it.
I managed to get a small (3ft round) blue paddling pool which is going to have blue ballons (with rice in so dont float away) as water, and the crocodile I made from the boys old "dragon onesie", to walk the plank, just need buy a scaffolding plank from B&Q.
Whilst we were on holiday alot of the 2p machines had big "crystals/diamonds" in them in a variety of colours (similar to picture below) and we managed to win quite alot of them. We also managed to pick up a treasure chest when we went to sea life centre.
