A whole party built around the road to the treasure — a cardboard shark to feed, a treasure chest pinata, a dress up corner with eye patches, a telescope making station, and a sand box hiding the key.
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The first pirate party I threw was for my middle one, and I remember standing in the kitchen the night before, cutting shark teeth out of a diaper box at 11pm and wondering why I do this to myself.
Then the next morning eight small pirates in red bandanas were screaming with joy because a cardboard shark ate a ball, and I understood exactly why I do this to myself.
Everything here is made from things you already have: cardboard boxes, paper towel tubes, a tub of water, a bag of flour. The party is not about buying pirate things. It is about the road to the treasure.
Hang a brown paper treasure map on the wall, drawn together with your child the week before, and tea stain it with a used tea bag for the aged look. Tape a rope along the table edge, scatter chocolate gold coins down the middle, tie red and white striped fabric around the chairs, and hang black paper flags with a hand drawn skull.
A blue sheet or blue crepe paper streamers on the floor becomes the sea, and that one detail is what makes small children walk in and gasp.
This is the decoration you build with the children beforehand. Cut a big shark shape from a flattened box, paint it grey, cut a round hole where the mouth is, and glue white paper triangles around the hole as teeth. Prop it up against a chair or two.
It is a decoration in the morning and a game in the afternoon.
Fish shaped crackers in little buckets, watermelon triangles cut into shark fins, hot dogs or cucumber sticks wrapped in dough as cannon rolls, blue jelly cups with a gummy fish inside, banana boats with a paper sail on a toothpick, and a big bowl of popcorn labeled sea foam.
Chocolate gold coins go everywhere. They are the cheapest decoration in this whole party.
Line the children up a few steps back from the cardboard shark and let them throw soft balls or rolled up socks into the mouth hole. Younger children stand closer. Count the successful throws out loud together.
Cover a shoe box or small carton in brown paper with black paper straps, fill it with chocolate gold coins and small trinkets, and hang it from a doorway or a tree with string.
For little ones, skip the stick completely and tie pull ribbons underneath instead, so everyone gets a turn and nobody gets hit.
Fill a tub with water and float paper or plastic fish with a paper clip in the mouth. Give each child a stick with a string and a small magnet and let them fish.
Number the fish and hand out a small prize for each catch if you want more structure. Always stay beside the tub with little ones.
Bury one large old key in a shallow box of play sand or plain flour and let the pirates dig with their hands or a small scoop. The key opens the treasure chest at the end of the party, so it is worth the mess.
Put an old sheet underneath, or keep the whole thing outside.
This is the thing we use at every single party and it never stops being magic. It blows bubbles that are filled with fog, so when a child pops one it explodes into a little puff of smoke.
For a pirate party, hand out the plastic swords and let them slash the bubbles out of the air. It buys you ten minutes of pure screaming joy and it is the part they talk about afterwards.
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A basket at the entrance with black felt eye patches on elastic, red and white striped bandanas, and a marker so every pirate gets a name.
Children put their costume on the moment they arrive, which also solves the awkward first ten minutes.
Give each child a paper towel tube and put out washi tape, gold paper strips, stickers and markers. They wrap and decorate, and then they spend the rest of the party looking for land through it.
This is the calm station between the loud games, and the one you will be glad you set up.
The fished fish, the found key and the pinata coins all lead to the treasure chest hidden in the garden or behind the sofa. Open it together and hand out the favors from inside.
Instead of a bag, every child gets a small cardboard treasure chest box. Inside: chocolate gold coins, a compass keyring or a small magnifying glass, a little bucket and spade or a shell, a pirate temporary tattoo, and the eye patch and bandana they wore all party.
Build the shark and the treasure map with your child in the days before the party. It doubles as an activity basket afternoon and they arrive at their own party already proud of it. Keep the flour dig outside or on a sheet, and always supervise the water tub with little ones.
A bubble machine that fills every bubble with fog, so they burst into little clouds of smoke. We use it at every party, and give the kids swords to pop them with at the pirate party.
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