Pirate Theme Birthday Party Games

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The ideas, tips and hints here are easy to adapt for children ages 4-8. All children will enjoy finding buried treasure, walking the plank and making pirate telescopes!

Two things little pirates of all ages like most is lots of swashbuckling and lots of loot so read on me intrepid pirate mate and partake in a swashbuckling pirate adventure that appeals to children of all ages both girls as well as boys.

Pirate Parties need not all be wild, rough, and children chasing each other with swords possibly to their injury. Evan the younger children can relate to Captain Hook, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

Your choice of pirate party will be dictated to a large extent by the ages of the children and you are in control!

 Setting the Scene

This starts with the party invitations. Use your computer and make the invitation like an old treasure map or old scroll. Tear and burn the edges of the parchment and antigue the paper with either cold tea or a little brown boot polish. 

Consider rolling up the invitations and placing inside an empty bottle that has been washed overboard.  Brown or green beer bottles look really good.  You can hand deliver the bottles or leave them outside guests doors.

 
Pirate Party Invitation

Ahoy Matey
Ye presence be requested.
Our treasure has been stolen and it must be found.

Be prepared to volunteer or
WALK THE GANGPLANK

Captain (BIRTHDAY CHILDS NAME) will be in harbour on (DATE AND TIME OF PARTY) in search of a fresh crew and will find his way to (PARTY VENUE) to meet suitable candidates. Bold buccaneers wishing to set sail for a swashbuckling adventure party should come suitably attired for an exciting journey.
No liver-belly cowards or landlubbers need attend.

Signed

Captain

 RSVP

  Setting the Pirate Theme

Transform your home or party venue into a pirate den that Jolly Rodger would have been proud of by decorating the room, hall or back garden with pirate bunting, flags and cardboard anchors and other nautical items.   Even inflatable palm trees look great!

White or off-white bed sheets can be suspended from the ceiling to simulate a ships sails.  Rough rope adds to the nautical feeling.

Decorate with balloons and pictures of pirate ships.  Get the whole family involved and build the excitement up each day till the party arrives.

Decorate your table with chocolate money as treasure.  Make treasure map place mats that send them looking for treasure that you have hidden previously. Protect your furniture and table and make them look special by draping with a pirate flag.   Hang toy sea gulls and parrots from trees and ceilings.  For inexpensive quality party supplies consider Party Box. Their range is comprehensive and colourful and well priced.

As Pirate Guests Arrive

Further enhance the atmosphere by playing pirate music. Yes and if Mum and Dad are dressed up as pirates that would be so cool.  

Make your guests feel that they are being conscripted.  Meet them at the door to the party and force them to "walk the gang plank" at the entrance to your home or venue beneath your make believe sails etc.

Encourage children to come dressed in costume as pirates or mermaids. Feel free to add this to your invitations. If you suggest that the children come in costume you will find that most will do so.

Both boys and girls can come as pirates and the girls have an added benefit in that they can come as “fairies” following the Tinkerbell idea. Pirate Pete has also seen many girls come as mermaids.

However just in case a child comes without a costume have a couple of spare pirate hats, eye patches and possibly face paints to add stubble and scars.  

Alternatively consider making the “dressing up” as an activity. Purchase inexpensive supplies from www.partybox.co.uk  As the children arrive, give each one a bandana, pirate hat, moustache and an eye patch and encourage them to WEAR IT.

Do this by asking them what colour of bandana they would like etc. Be aware however that not all children like dressing up so please be sensitive to each child’s individual wishes and needs.

For that added authenticity add face stubble, scars and moustaches with face paints.   Even eye patches can be put on with face paints and for younger children would be a safer alternative to a fixed eye patch.

You only need two colours black for stubble and eye patched etc and red for scars.

 Pirate Activities - Things to Make

Telescopes: At its simplest make telescopes with paper towel tubes, coloured cellophane and a rubber band. Decorate with stickers. For older children use brightly coloured tape instead of elastic bands and glue and sticky paper to individualise their telescopes.

Hook Hand: You'll need plastic cups, cardboard and tin foil. Cut the hooks from cardboard and cover with tin foil. Slit the bottom of the cup and insert the hook.   Always keep safety to the fore and the amount of assistance will be dependant on the age of the children.

Pirate Swords: Cut out pirate swords from old cardboard boxes using a template. Let the children decorate their swords blades with foil and colour the handles with paints or for older children consider winding string around the handles for that individual look.

NOTE: While very popular at parties Pirate Pete does not recommend swords for children. As well as being weapons some children when excited can be a little too boisterous and minor injuries can occur.

If you must have swords the best to make them yourself out of modeling balloons or ask Pirate Pete to make balloon swords for the children to take home after the party has ended.

Find the Hidden Treasure:  Each guest can be handed a personalised Treasure Map that leads to a small treasure (sweets, toy etc).  The treasure can be hidden outdoors or indoors depending on your preference and the weather, time of the year etc.. Different maps for each child or pairs of children will lead them to different treasure enables all guests to experience the thrill of the hunt and it disperses children in different directions.

 

Pirate Food and Drinks

Food:  Pirates were not known for their finesse so include chicken drum sticks, pizza slices and other food eaten with hands to create a rough and ready theme.

Just tell the children before they eat to wipe the gun powder and battle toil from their hands with the skin (hand wipes) of land lubbers defeated in battle.

Use treasure maps as place mats perhaps with clues as to where to find treasure you have hidden either in the house or in the garden when playing the Treasure Hunt mentioned above.

Red Ruby and Crystal Punch: Little pirates will love the tasty jewels in this drink. The night before the party fill ice trays with fruit punch coloured red with food colouring.   Use frozen lemonade for crystals. To add atmosphere why not introduce into your punch bowl a mutineer's floating hand. Make the hand by filling a latex glove with water or juice. Seal with a rubber band and freeze.

Serve the red ruby ice and lemonade crystals in clear plastic cups with lemonade. Additional jewels can be made with different colours of food colouring

Grog: All children love dark cola and even more when you call it Grog. Serve out of an interesting shaped bottle with a label saying "Grog" for maximum effect.

 

Pirate Games

Click Here
 for Pirate Pete's
 Favourite Pirate Game

Sleeping Pirate:   All the children (except one - The Pirate) sit Cross Legged on the floor in a circle.   The pirate sits blind-folded, cross-legged in the middle of the circle with a large bunch of keys on the floor in front of him.

A child is nominated to creep up and take the keys and then return to their place without the pirate hearing them.   The Pirate has three goes to point to where he thinks the raider is.

If he is successful, the raider becomes the Pirate and the game continues.

Walk the Plank:   Use a 2x4 board to make the plank or draw a chalk board on the floor. Children take turns walking across the board without falling off.

If they manage to get to the end they get a gold or silver chocolate coin as a small prize.

You can make the activity more difficult by lining up the other pirates to try and push the person taking part of course with balloons or pillow cases.  For older children consider doing it blind fold!

Repeat this activity as many times as you wish.

"X" Marks the Hidden Treasure:
Play like Pin the tail on the donkey. Draw a treasure map on a large sheet of brown wrapping paper to give the appearance of being old.

Be imaginative and include mountains, forests, grave yards, sunken ships, palm trees etc.  Colour with crayons and paints and don’t forget to allow your child to assist with the preparations. This way the party fun is extended well beyond the time allocated to the actual party.

Don’t forget to show an X marking the treasure. This can either be on the front or the back depending on how you wish to play. If you place it on the back you can have the map on display as part of the pirate decorations and this will save time during the party. It also looks great on the wall.

Players take turns with a small paper pirate flag and tape trying to mark the X while blindfolded (if on the front) but not necessary if on the back.

The player whose "X" lands closest to the treasure wins!

Having found where the treasure is buried start the…………

Treasure Hunt:
The perfect theme for a birthday party - every pirate party needs  hunting for buried treasure!

Present a rolled up old treasure map to the Party Captain (birthday child), and his dastardly crew (his guests) or use the place maps as suggested at the beginning under the heading “Setting the Scene”. This map contains the first clue. For example, if playing in the garden:

"To avoid Blackbeards revenge and accomplish this feat look under the garden seat".   Under the garden seat will be another clue setting the intrepid travellers on a new course where they'll find the next clue etc. Leading finally to the TREASURE!

Pirate Ghost Whispers: Sit everyone in a circle. Hand a child a card with a long message written on it. They must not let anyone see the message but have to whisper the phrase to the next person in line.

They, in turn, whisper what they heard to the next person.   One by one, each person repeats the whispered sentence as they hear it when it is whispered to them.

When the last person receives the message, he/she repeats it out loud and when it is compared with the. original message written down it is usually vastly different than the original statement.

Have a number of cards with different messages written and play again with a different person.

Pirate Wrap: Divide the children into pairs, one playing the part of the injured pirate and the other the doctor.

Give each doctor a roll of toilet paper (bandages). On the word "Go!" have the doctors race to see who can bandage up their pirate first. The game is not as easy as it sounds for as the doctors go faster the more they try to bandage, the more the tissue will tear, causing them to keep restarting!

The winners of course is the first finished who has also bandaged his pirate the best ie with least amount of pirate showing.

Cat o’ nine-Tails:  This is one time Pirates do not mind seeing the cat o’ nine tails.   Obtain long strips of cloth of approximately one yard long by two to three inches wide to make tails. Have the children insert their tail’s in the back of their pants so that they still just touch the ground. The children have to chase after each other trying to step on each other’s tail to remove them.

The children are not allowed any physical contact and any found cheating are disqualified.   Anyone losing their tail are out of the game and the winner is the last one still with a tail.

Although children are eliminated this is one time when it will be all right because this is a fast game and can be over quickly.  You might want to play it a couple of times.

Both boys and girls love the speed of this game and it helps them burn off excess energy but please supervise them carefully to ensure their safety.

Children's Pirate Birthday Party Entertainer

To add that special touch of realism, hire a professional Pirate Children’s Entertainer to organise the entertainment and add realism to the swashbuckling adventure.

As well as relieving parents of all the stress involved in entertaining young pirates it allow them to concentrate on enjoying the moment with their child and who better than Pirate Pete the Professional Children’s Entertainer with over ten years experience on the high seas.

Inviting Pirate Pete gives you the following benefits:

You don’t get stressed
Pirate Pete takes all the strain in his stride
You enjoy the party more knowing that your guests are enjoying themselves
Pirate Pete knows children’s humour and what’s in and what’s out!
His colourful costume sets the tone of the party.
Children know that they are in for an extraordinary treat as he makes every single child feel special no matter how many children there are at the party.
At school all your child’s friends will be talking about the great time they had.
Your child will thank you and….. 
You get all the praise from children and parents alike and most importantly of all you get the opportunity to......
RELAX AND ENJOY YOUR CHILD’S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

SHARING THAT MAGIC MOMENT WITH YOUR CHILD IS WHAT BIRTHDAY PARTIES ARE ALL ABOUT 

Click here to read why
 Pirate Pete
(Gordon Dickson)
is known as the
"Birthday Party Professional"

You avoid pitfalls and increase the fun by engaging
"Pirate Pete"
The professional children's party entertainer
Approved and Certified by "Disclosure Scotland"

Phone now for your unique stress free unforgettable
 Pirate Birthday Party.
0141 886 2905
Mobile 07875 668 846

Pirate Pete is based in Glasgow, Scotland
Remember
You can't beat live pirate entertainment.

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