Pirate Party 6yr - Treasure Hunt

I purchased pirate invitations from a local store and sent them to all the guests a few weeks before the party.    The cake I made myself.  I made 2 9 round chocolate cakes and a batch of vanilla cupcakes.  I iced the round cakes with vanilla icing treasure chest and raft) from the dollar store and put that on top of the 'sand'.  I then iced the cupcakes with white and chocolate icing I stuck a chocolate gold coin in each cup cake and sprinkled with yellow sprinkles and I arranged them around the 9" cake every other flavor I did this so kids would have a choice as to what flavor cake/icing they wanted.    When the party guests arrived I sat them at our kitchen table.  I had a wooden treasure chest for each child ($1 at Michael's).  I bought a large bottle of brown and a bottle of gold paint at walmart.  I cut up egg cartons and filled each cup with paint so each child had their own container of paint and paint brush.  As they sat and painted I went around the table and dressed each child as a pirate.  I wrapped their heads in a pirate bandana I put a pirate tatoo on their arm I gave them a pirate patch a red sash around their waste and I drew on a beard or mustache if they chose.  They each got a pirate name as well that we wrote on their treat bag. 

Once everyone was dressed we went over pirate lingo and I asked if everyone was ready to play some pirate games and everyone yelled "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"  The first game we played was called sink the ship.  I bought two large pieces of poster board I drew 2 pirate ships and glued them to the front of each box.  I put 12 rubber stringy balls beside each box and told the boys that the balls were cannons and they had to get as many cannons into the ship as possible. The ships were about 6-8 feet away from eachother. Whichever ship had the most balls at the end of the game sunk and the other team one.  I had the boys play 2 against 2 so they all took turns.  Everyone won plastic compases.  We then played crow's nest.  I have a split level house so I have a balcony overlooking my living room.  I split the group into 2 teams.  I had a bowl of pretzels in the living room 2 boys wore plastic hooks on one hand 2 more boys were at the top of the balcony with small pails attached to a long length of yarn 2 more boys were sitting with a bowl in the 'crow's nest'.  The object was to scoop a pretzel with the hook put it in the pail pull the pail up over the balcony and put the pretzels in the bowl which ever team got the most pretzels in their bowl won.  They had a lot of fun with this game they kept wanting to play over and over.  Everyone won pirate stickers. 

We then had a treasure hunt.  I wrote the clues on parchment paper and burned the edges to make it look weathered and I printed the clues on my computer using the chiller font.  I handed the first clue to my son in an envelope.  The first clue read:  Ahoy me hearties the treasure hunt has begun Just follow yer clues and the treasure chest ye will have won. Jack me monkey may have a clue He's just hangin' round waitin' fer you.  (I wrapped a clue around my son's monkey's arm and hung him from the ceiling fan in his room)  To figure out your next headin' There's somthin' ye have to assume What should ye use to swab the poop deck - is it a vacuum a mop or a broom? (I attached next clue to our mop in the garage)  Shiver me timbers me ship can be freezin' if we had one of these it'd be mighty pleasin' ( hung the next clue from our fire place)  Arrrr I be hungry me stomach's a growlin' better catch me some grub or there'll be some howlin' . I taped many strips of blue streamers in the corner of my living room behind my couch my older daughter hid underneath the streamers.  The boys stood on the balcony with the fishing poles (dowl rod yarn clothes pin) my daughter would first attach an old sock or a piece of toliet paper and I would have them throw the fish line back the second time around they would get a bag of gold fish to put in their treat bags.  The next clue was taped to one of the gold fish bags.  A true seadog lives on the sea so grab your spy glass to find the key go down to the lowest level to look at the stars find yer mark and you'll go far. (I made letter constellations out of glow in the dark paint and they used decorated paper towel rolls as telescopes there was one letter for each party guest a W for Will C for Conner and so on everyone had to find their letter in the dark the next clue was on my son's letter.  Yo ho ho yer getting' closer Hurry before ye end in Davey's Locker Go down below to find the cannon balls Don't forget to pop them all.  Our guest room was full of black balloons that they had to pop one balloon held the next clue it was fun watching all the kids try to pop the balloons.  All pirates abide by the code Avast we're sometimes too bold We stole some gold it'd be cursed find every last piece or things'll get worse.  We had a bunch of plastic gold thrown around and hidden in our basment the boys had to run around and scoop it all up ( they loved having 'pirate gold' to put in their treasure boxes).  The next clue was taped to one of the pieces of gold.   

Blimey yer almost at the end to find the treasure ye must go to land Find something that's green and tall It's covered in lights and it's the grandest of all! (My son's birthday is in december so I placed a gold tube inside the tree and labeled it 'me map')  Inside was a map leading to the treasure box.  I put pictures I printed off of word document clip art on parchment paper… one room had bunkbeds with a dresser like me son's room and I put a picture of a treasure chest under the dresser.  Once my son figured it was his room his dresser… he found the chest right away… it was filled with chocolate gold coins pirate fruit chews pirate pads and pencils that I bought from the $ store and skull key chains that I got from the party store.  We devided the loot and everyone filled their bags with their treats and treasure chest.    We sung happy birthday and ate cake and drank chocolate milk.  My son opened his gifts.  Everyone received a plastic pirate sword as they walked out the door (less than a 1.00 at US toys … I waited till the end… I didn't want anyone to really lose an eye).  "