Host a Pirate Party!

Invitations

A fun invitation will get all of the fellow Buckos in the spirit for a pirate adventure party! Your little pirate can have fun with arts and crafts to make customised invitations, making sure that all the important bits of information are included, such as where the party is taking place and when! This is a wonderful time for mums, dads and siblings to 'all hand hoay' (put all hands on deck!) and get creative with paints, felt-tips, crayons, stencils, sequins and anything else from the arty cupboard.

We've also made a pirate-themed invitation below that's sure to get your hearties on board, and you can print this as many times as you like! Simply click on the invitation to open a PDF file, and then print!

To make your own scroll or treasure map themed invitation, simply dip a tea bag in water, squeeze out and gently wipe across a piece of paper! This will give the paper an 'oldy' look, and once the tea stain is dry the piece of paper will feel crispy and ancient like an old treasured scroll or map. You can also carefully tear off the corners and bits of the edge to make it look even more mysterious!

Bucko's Costumes!

We love the type of dressing up costumes that are arty crafty and can be made using recycled daily items, and this cute telescope by Lisa Bullard does exactly that! Using just a toilet roll tube (everyone has lots of these laying around!), coloured paper, wool and stickers, you can make this fun pirate telescope in just a few minutes! Pop over to toddlerapproved.com for some more pirate themed crafts ideas.

Arrrrgh Mateys! With just a few hand-made accessories, or even a couple of accessories found in your local charity shop, the little one can instantly transform into a pirate without needing a full costume! An eye patch is really easy to make and you could even make enough for all of 'ye hearties' so that everyone can wear one at the party! This is a lovely party favour that gets everyone in the pirateyyy mood! You just need to cutout a piece of cardboard that will cover one eye, your mini pirate can now decorate it however they like, and then simply hole-punch both ends and tie a piece of stretchy string or elastic band through both holes to keep it secure.

We love Red Ted Art's addition of a Tutu to make this pretty pirate costume! You can find similar Tutu's in most costume or fancy dress shops for a few pence, and joined with a pair of stretchy leggings your little pirate can play happily and comfortably at the party! Alternatively a pair of leggings or stretchy trousers paired with a red or black top will suit the theme perfectly!



Pirates also love 'hornswaggling' jewellery and treasure, so a gold-looking neclace is a perfect addition! Rather than using costume chains that tend to be quite heavy, you can make a miniature paper chain that's made with gold paper or plain paper coloured in gold paint. - This is then perfectly safe to wear to the party.

Other accessories that are particularly piratey are polka dot bandanas, clip on earrings, swords and hooks! Swords and hooks can be made from cardboard cut-outs covered in baking foil, and bandanas can be made from any spare pieces of material. Small pieces of red or black fabric can usually be found in local craft shops or fabric shops, which is probably more ideal than letting them borrow mum's scarf or dad's favourite tie!

Decorations to inspire swashbuckling adventures!

Having themed decorations for your pirate party will enhance the fun and will make the occasion feel extra special for your mini' pirate. Combining lots of garlands and flags in a black and red theme will instantly spark adventures, and you could even combine these with hanging letters to spell out your child's name, making it wonderfully personal. Stripes and polka dots work perfectly to create an exciting piratey atmosphere for all of the fellow hearties.

Making your own flag garlands is really easy and just involves paper, colouring pens or paints, string and glue! Simply cut out large diamond shaped pieces of paper, and these can then be decorated creatively by your youngster. Once they're dry, run a thin line of glue around the back of each diamond and fold each diamond in half over the string to create a triangle flag shape, then stick in place. You now have a piratey garland that's ready to hang! Golden chains and paper chains also look brilliant hanging from the ceilings or tied between trees in the garden.

Yummy pirate grub and grog!

These pirate themed cakes and biscuits made by Rainy Day Mum are really cute, pop over to rainydaymum.co.uk/pirate-party to read about her little one's creative party!

Even traditional party food can become delicious pirate grub that's exciting and unique! Chicken drumsticks can become parrot's legs, soft drinks become grog, and chicken nuggets become nuggets of gold! You can even make name plaques to place above each plate of food, making lunch so much fun!

If you're feeling creative and you've got a bit of time on your hands, you can make delicious pirate ships; fill half of a small pepper with egg mayo, stick a twiglet inside to make the flagpole and wrap a cheese slice around the twiglet to make the sail.



You can even make a pirate treasure chest to a catalog foody treasures in! Decorate an old shoe box and lid with lots of pirate themed accessories and colours, such as red and black pipe cleaners, sequins and paints, and you can even stick little gems onto the lid to make it look even more like a real treasure chest. Gold paints and glitter glue will also make it look wonderfully grand and sparkly!

Once the decorations are dry, you can place a couple of sheets of grease-proof paper inside, making sure that the edges of the paper fold over the edges of the box to protect the food you're going to a catalog in there. Now you can fill the treasure chest with all sorts of food treasures; this could include any sweet or savoury munchables, but choosing foods that look particularly treasure-like will enhance the imaginative fun.

These sorts of treasures can include sweet foods such as party rings, gem sweets, edible neclaces and toffee apples or fruits such as grapes, berries, oranges, and strawberries. It can even be a treasure chest for savouries like pastry parcels, cocktail sausages, scotch eggs and crisps. Whichever food you decide to offer, the fun of eating it will be hugely enhanced for all of the hearties by creating a treasure chest to present it!

Pirate party games!

A treasure hunt will spark all sorts of imaginative adventures for the little pirates. To create a treasure hunt you can hide a prize in the home or garden (depending on the weather) and plot a series of clues in various different hiding places that will lead the children to the prize. Now you can make a map and mark out the spots where the clues are, without plotting out the winning prize on the map. Each clue can give a little bit more information about the whereabouts of the treasure by using piratey riddles!

A fun game that's ideal for very young pirates is 'Treasure Map - X Marks the Spot'. A secret spot is chosen by the organiser and marked on a map, this map is then put in an envelope so that the players can't see. Each player has a copy of the map, and they each have to guess where the secret spot is by marking it on the map. The secret spot is then revealed and the player closest to the secret spot wins.

Share your pirate party ideas with us!