Pirate Party 4yr - Pirate's Life for Her

My daughter loved the Pirate's of Carribean ride at Disney World and decided she wanted to have a pirate themed party for her 4th birthday.  There are so many ideas for this theme so it wasn't too hard to put together but I also tried to think of some new ideas since I didn't want it to be too predictable.

Invitations:  I purchased the pirate party invitations in a bottle from Oriental Trading.  They had an invitation, an eye patch, a pirate ring and a little bag of sand.  They were very cute and the guests loved them but I don't think I'll do it again.  They were expensive to ship and some guests didn't get them until after the party even though I sent them two weeks prior.

Decorations: First, I purchsed a bunch of helium filled ballons, in the colors red, black and purple(my daughter's favorite color) and scattered them loose all around the ceiling in the main party room.  Not only does this look nice but it also is something fun the kids can play with between games.  I also had a large mylar balloon decorated with a skull and crossbones with the words, Pirate Party!, on it.  Oriental Trading has so much pirate party supplies.  I bought a pirate flag pennants that we strung all around the party room and hung on the mantel. 

Also, I made some signs for the party using posterboard and markers.  The sign for the frontdoor I drew a skull and crossbones(it looked more happy than scary since this was for younger children) and wrote the words, Enter...if you dare!  Another sign I drew a pirate ship and said, Yo ho ho, A pirate's life for me!  The third sign was a treasure chest with the caption, A Pirate's Pleasure is his Treasure!  Finally, I drew a funny pirate and his parrot and hung it on the bathroom door saying, The little pirate's room."  From oriental trading I purchsed a craft project of little treasure chests.  Before hand paper plates and napkins that looked like a treasure map.  The guests just loved them.  From Oriental Trading I purchased some plastic pirate cups. 

Also from Oriental Trading I got a five foot inflateable pirate that we tied to the mailbox and had the guests take pictures with. Finally I had my daughter dressed in a pink and black tee-shirt that said Pirate Princess on it.   Craft Project: As I stated earlier we had a treasure chest craft.  The kids picked what color box they wanted gold or silver and decorated them with gold coins jewels ribbons and beads.  We did this first so the glue would have time to dry in the sun.  Games:  First the kids all were given a pirate hat and declared offical pirates.  Then  we had a guess jar filled with Hersheys chocolate nuggets.  This was the one game that the adults participated in as well.  The one who guessed the closest amount of candy in the jar wom the jar.  Do you believe the person who won guessed the exact amount in the jar? 

Next  we played pin the flag on the ship.   (Game purchased at the party store.)  Then we played walk the plank.  We used a board that was 21/2 feet wide and five feet long.  I drew footprints on white paper using a black marker and then covered the paper with clear contact paper so it wouldn't tear.  The prints were placed along the board.  One child would take a turn while the other children drew pieces of paper with the numbers 12 or 3 on them.  All the children took a turn and afterwards if the child was still on the plank he or she would take a bow.  If the child made it to the end they would hold their nose and jump into the "crocodile infested" waters.  I had the crocodile from the game crocodile dentist and a mother croc and her babies bath toy in the grass at the end of the plank.  We kept playing until all the childrem but one had eneded up in the "water" and he won a prize. 

Another game was hunt for gold in the pirate's cave.  My husband took some sawhorses and boards and covered them with heavy black plastic(the kind you would use in landscaping).  On one side we cut slits in the plastic to make the cave's entrance.  By the emtramce I placed a Halloween skeleton wearing a pirate's hat.  He was guardian of the cave.  Inside the cave I scattered several gold coins.  Wearing a blindfold each child had a chance to search for treasure.  The younger children were given more time than the older children.  The kids kept the gold coins they found in the cave and what we had hidden all around the backyard in pirate drawstring bags they were given at the beginning of the party.  At the end the child with the most coins received a prize of chocolate gold coins. 

Then we had a water cannon fight.  My daughter has a steering wheel on her swing set so we decided to turn the set into a pirate ship.  My husband put a flag pole on top and hung a pirate flag we had found on the internet.  Then we used some black creepy cloth (from Oriental Trading) to make the sail.  The kids took turns playing captain and trying to dodge the water cannons.  Afterwards  the kids had an oldfashioned water balloon fight with the leftovers.  I was welcomed since it was such a hot August day.  Next we had a treasure chest pinata. 

Last we had a treasure hunt.  The first clue was in the pinata.  (I wrote the clues on paper that looked like treasure maps.)  The clues led the kids to the mailbox the sandbox my rose grarden until they were told to "go where the birds may find a treat."  Under the birdfeeder they found a treasure box filled with prizes which was split evenly amongst the kids.  Some of the prizes the kids put in their craft project but we gave them some plastic pirate loot bags to put their extras in.  Prizes for the games included pirate stickers pencils notepads and pirate playsets I had picked up a local discount stores.  Additionally we set up a sand and water for the littlest guests to play in while the older children played games.  I found pirate rubber duckies(Oriental Trading) that I put in the water side.  Even the adults thought they looked adorable. 

Food: since we had children and adults we decided to have a BBQ.  Hot dogs and chips for the kids and brats and potato salad etc for the adults.  One thing I did do was make a large pitcher of pink lemonaade and called it crocodile blood.  The kids got a kick out of that. 

Cake: I made a yellow sheet cake and a chocolate round cake.  I trimmed the round cake and put it in the corner of the sheet cake to make an "island."  I put blue frosting on the sheet cake for the water and green frosting on the island for grass.  Then half the island I covered with grahman cracker crumbs to make the beach.  I decorated the island with plastic palm trees pirate figures a little treasure chest and plastic campfire.  In the water I put a row boat and a toy crocodile.  Everyone remarked on how cute it looked.  While the guests were eating we played the soundtrack from the movie Pirates of the Carribean.  The party turned out very well and my daughter loved it.  Now what to do next year?  "