Pirate Party Ideas

A pirate party is one of my favorite DIY parties and one which works with a range of ages.

There are so many options when it comes to party invitations, decorations and party food that it is easy to get overwhelmed. I suggest keeping it simple and sticking with a color theme. Red, black, white and metallic colors work best and look great together.

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Invitations

There are many printable invitations you can buy, personalize and download or you can get creative with this easy DIY options and make your own.

Pirate Party Invitations envelopes included Pirate Birthday Party Invitation Cards with Envelopes Kids Pirate Birthday Party Invitations for Boys Pirate Treasure Map Birthday Party Invitations

Print or write your invitation onto white paper. Make a cup of strong tea and with a paintbrush paint the tea over your invitation. Allow to dry overnight or in the sunshine. When completely dry you could roll up into a scroll and tie with brown string.

To add to the fun to the party, encourage your guests to dress up.

Some Easy Pirate Dress Up Ideas are

Bandannas
Eye Patch
White top with black shorts or skirt
Red and white striped clothing
Pirate hat

How Do You Decorate For a Pirate Party?

Setting the scene for your party is as simple as sticking with a color theme. We suggest Red,Black, White and metallic colors for all of your decorations.

Make your guests feel welcome as soon as they arrive by marking the entrance to your front door. You can use painters tape or chalk to make a dotted line leading up your path to your front door. Put an ‘X marks the spot’ at your front door.

Tie black and white balloons together and hang with pirate flags. String up some fishing net and put some rubber fish, oysters, crabs. You can also reuse some Halloween decorations such as spiders, cobwebs and skeletons, just give them a pirate feel by adding something like an eye patch or pirate hat.

It wouldn’t be a pirate party without a treasure chest. You could use mini treasure chests as party favors and fill them with chocolate gold coins. Or get a larger one to use as a table centrepiece.

Scatter gold coins, jewels, seashells and some sand over the table. Use red party plates and cups and black napkins.

Pirate pinatas are a great addition. They look great hanging up as a decoration which can be used later as a game.

Pirate Flag Pinata for Kid’s Birthday Party Parrot Pinata for Pirate Birthday Party Pirate Treasure Chest Pinata for Kids Birthday Party

To really feel like a pirate, each guest needs a pirate name. You could make these up ahead of time. Print and cut out and have each guest pick our one of the pirate names from a bowl. Another options is to use these fun printable Pirate Name Cards.

Pirate Party Games

Of course there needs to be a treasure hunt at a Pirate party. You can make your own treasure hunt or here are some cute ones ready to download.
Pin the eyepatch on the pirate or X marks the spot. Played just like a pirate version of Pin the tail on the donkey.
Walk the plank. For this DIY game, you can make it harder or easier depending on your guests age. Get a solid plank of wood and raise it a few inches from the ground. Your party guests must now make it from one end to the other. Increase the difficulty for older children by having them blindfolded or use a narrower plank of wood. Add some blue material and toy sharks underneath to add to the theme or put a small paddling pool under the wooden plank. If you do not have a plank of wood you can lay down a rope and guest must walk on the rope.
Set up a Pirate Photo Booth. This is a perfect way to capture photos of the day. Choose a corner of your party and set it up with pirate props such as Pirate Hat, Cutlass, Eye Patches, costumes.
Captain Blackbeard says. This is a fun ‘Simon Says’ game.
Pirate Freeze – Played like musical statues. Get everyone to move around like a pirate, pretend fighting and hopping on one leg. When the music stops everyone must freeze.

What do you serve at a Pirate Party?

After all that fun your little pirates will have worked up an appetite. Here are some easy party food ideas.

🏴‍☠️Fish and Chips – Bowls of chips and goldfish crackers

🏴‍☠️Cannon Balls – Mini Meatballs

🏴‍☠️Cupcakes – Pirate Themed cupcakes are easy to make and look fantastic. Top your cupcakes with mini pirate flags or red and black cupcake toppers

🏴‍☠️Pirate Ships – Serve jelly in small cups topped with a slice of orange with a pirate flag

🏴‍☠️Pirate Coins – Decorate cookies with skull and crossbones

🏴‍☠️Parrot Legs – Chicken drumsticks

🏴‍☠️Golden Nuggets – Chicken nuggets

🏴‍☠️Swords – Breadsticks

🏴‍☠️Pirate Pizza – Pizza, keep the toppings simple to suit most guests

🏴‍☠️Add some water bottle labels

Pirate Birthday Cake

Having a birthday cake is a must and it is really easy to decorate a cake to make it fit in with the Pirate Party Theme. White with red and blue or black stripes of icing and an treasure chest are a perfect combination for a cake. You could also use cupcakes and put skull flags in them, or just have a plain cake with pirate cake toppers.

Pirate Ship Theme Cake Topper Pirate Jolly Roger Flag Toothpicks Pirate Skull Flags Pirate Themed Birthday Decorations