Pirates arrrr awesome! This theme works for so many ages and there is a lot available for decorations, games, party favors, costumes, everything you need. We were able to reuse a lot of decorations like the Jolly Roger flag, coins, gems, and treasure chests from our Board Game Party as well as palm trees and balance beams from our Survivor Party.
For my son’s third birthday, we celebrated with family by playing Walk the Plank, Pirate Coin Toss, and Treasure Hunt.
Pirate Names and Tattoos
To get everyone in the pirate mood, each guest got a new pirate name! In order to discover their pirate name, they used the first letter of their name and the month they were born. It was pretty amusing hearing Grandpa’s new name of “Squid Lips” or a cousin with the name of “Tuna Breath”!
We also had a set of pirate tattoos available. There were a lot of choices in the set of pirate tattoos that had more cartoon/kid images and classic pirate images.
Pirate Cake
I kept the cake simple! To make it look like an island, first I dyed the icing blue. Then I crumbled Nilla Wafers to make the sandy island. I added a set of pirate toys which made fun decorations and toys for later. The Walk the Plank game also used the pirate ship from this set.
Walk the Plank
One of my son’s favorite games is I Can Do That – this Marvel-themed game gives three random cards:
- A movement, like jumping or crawling
- An object, like Captain America’s shield or Spiderman’s web
- A placement, like between your elbows or on your head
For my pirate version, each kid rolled two dice that gave them a random pirate object and how to carry it. Then they walked the plank with it!
The objects: hat, sword, hook, small toy ship, spyglass, or free choice
The placements: on your head, between your knees, between your elbows, on your back, inside your clothes, or free choice
We made the plank/balance beam ourselves. It was first used for our Survivor Party and I love any excuse to reuse things we already have!
Pirate Coin Toss
Each kid got a wood treasure chest and 20 gold coins. The chest was balanced on the balance beam and the kids were spaced away from the beam. You could easily change the distance based on age to make it more challenging for older kids.
Everyone tossed the coins at the same time and then counted how many got in their treasure chest. Another variation on this would be to have the child take a step backward every time they make it in the chest and a step forward every time they miss.
Treasure Hunt
This game was intended to be outside, like an Easter Egg Hunt. Each child got a sheet of what treasure to find and had a specific color egg to find. The eggs had items hidden inside like coins, gems, toy alligators, skulls, etc. Using different egg colors allowed us to hide eggs in easier or harder locations based on age.
Since it was raining, we put all the eggs together and took turns picking an egg and opening it up. Some items were duplicated so it was harder to get all the items on the list.
