Arrgghh! It's A Pirate Party!

My son Tripp and my niece Emilee were born exactly one year and 4 days apart. This year, they turned 5 and 6. My sister-in-law, Casey, and I decided this was a great year to do a joint party, and the theme was PIRATES! We planned a treasure hunt with different activities and games, and the kids had a blast!

We chose to do cupcakes for this party, and divided them on each side of the table for the two birthday kiddos. My sister Lisa made us some awesome boat cupcakes at the kids request. We also did mini candy bars, hot dogs, cheese cubes, black olive cannons and Root Beer.

After we opened presents and ate our cupcakes, the treasure hunt fun began! We started with a challenge to give their best, "Arrgghh! I am a pirate beware!" The prizes were eye patches and pirate bandanas. Next, we had the kids decorate foam pirate hats with foam stickers. The kids had a blast with this!

Birthday girl Emilee putting together her foam hat

Next, on to a game of Barrel Bowling! Instead of buying the game, we made our own :) We used a regular bouncy ball for the ball. We used large soup cans for the barrels, and I designed and printed labels for them.

After the game, the Captains received the first piece of the map. Next, we sent the kids outside to Walk the Plank! The kids all got so excited, they really ran the plank, rather than walked it. After walking the plank, they received another piece of the map.

Birthday boy Tripp walking the plank

After they walked the plank, we had them run a race. After this, they received the final piece of the map. They all sat down together to piece it together so they could follow it to the buried treasure! We also gave them each their own pirate telescopes. I created the telescopes from paper towel rolls, brown scrapbook paper, hot glue and gold duct tape. I didn't get a good picture of the telescopes, but you can see them in the picture below.

We made our own treasure chest for our little Buccaneers to find. We used a large cardboard box, sliced off the top, leaving one side for a hinge. We covered the whole thing with brown paper sacks, so it would all be the same color, and went over the edges with gold duct tape. It turned out so great! Thank you to Casey for doing all of the work! I forgot to get a picture with the treasure in it, but here is one before.  We put pirate swords, pirate tattoos and coin bags in the chest.

We all had such a great time designing, putting together and celebrating this birthday party!

This party package and invitation will be available in our Etsy shop soon!