Kids Pirate Party Crafts
Crafts, Food, Decorating Ideas for Your Pirate Party
In the 2nd of a 3-part series, you'll learn about pirate-themed crafts, seaworthy tablescapes, and birthday goody bags for your kids pirate party.
Captain Jack Sparrow and The Pirates of the Caribbean have reintroduced the pirate themed party as the trendy kids birthday party of the summer. This is a fail-safe party that the kids will enjoy, is easy to accomplish, and will make you look like a party planner extraordinaire! Follow these simple instructions, and your "Shiver Me Timbers" Pirate Themed Kids Birthday Party will sail ------Arrrrgh!
Once you've read my first article, Kids Pirate Birthday Party, , read below for additional party planning ideas.
Crafts
Depending upon the age of the guests, the following crafts can be done: give temporary tattoos (henna, airbrush, or rub-on); teach guests how to tie different knots; make a sailot's knot/macrame bracelet. Spyglass telescopes can be made by covering one end of an paper towel tube with plastic wrap, secured with tape. Then wrap the entire paper towel tube with black construction paper. Add a narrow strip of yellow construction paper around the end with the plastic wrap "lens."
Food
Offer chicken drumsticks (warm or cold), dry tack (cook refrigerated biscuit dough the day before the party, and let the cooked biscuits sit out to harden into tack), and grog (spiced apple cider) or root beer. Add a couple of lime wedges to the guests' plates, to encourage discussion about a sailor's life on the seas. Plus the guests will like to challenge one another to taste the sour limes!
Tablescape
The party table should be covered with a black tablecoth (cloth, paper or plastic). Pewter or metallic (or simulated metallic) plates and mugs can be used. If these are difficult to find, you can always use black, white or red paper or plastic serviceware, that could be decorated with skull & crossbones stickers. Scatter costume jewelry & gold coins across the table. Position a parrot pinata in the center of the table with costume jewelry or a pirate hat draped over it. Conversely, replace the parrot with a fake skull (from your Halloween decorations) for the tablescape.
Cake
Employ your local bakery to create a ship decorated sheet cake.
Goody Bag
For an inexpensive but effective goody bag, use a black lunch bag with a skull and crossbones sticker on it. For a more involved goody bag, sew a small pouch out of black fabric, and weave a red ribbon through slits cut into the circumference of the bag, about an inch below the top edge. Gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins, costume jewelry, a play cutlass/knife and a pirate's eye patch and earring are all theme-appropriate for the goody bags.
My next article will focus on the party timeline and a special twist for your Pirate Birthday Party. Check back here on July 26th for the article.
© Text by Janice Benoit, photo by Comstock/AGE Fotostock. [July, 2006]. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
