My youngest daughter has been obsessed with pirates since she was about six months old so I knew it was inevitable that we’d one day throw her a Pirate Party.
Since we live in the Tampa Bay area, we are very familiar with living the life of a pirate. Growing up with Gasparilla means learning to speak Pirate at a very early age, mateys. Fortunately, this makes it much easier to throw a Pirate Birthday Party without a ton of effort. We tend to have random pirate themed decor on hand from years of build up.
This kid was serious from the start
Aside from one insane project that I insisted on (because it just wouldn’t be a party if I didn’t have one harebrained scheme up my sleeve to prove my insanity), this was actually an inexpensive and easy shindig to throw together. In fact, I went way outside of my comfort zone and did just about everything the week of the party. I did order some random stuff about a month in advance but shoved it all in a closet and forgot about it until the week of. Say what?!?!?!
I fell in love with these invitations from Etsy.
A very generous friend loaned me a ton of her own pirate garb. Her husband happens to be a Pirate in one of the Gasparilla Krewes and they’ve hosted enough gatherings to have amassed a good bit of swag over the years.
I painted and tied scrap pieces of wood together with twine I had on hand to make an “X marks the spot” for the mailbox. This was free. Me thinks it was brilliant.
We had to hang a pirate flag on the house. Luckily, this falls into the category of things we already own. (Please ignore the goop around the base of that flagpole due to an in progress repair.)
This was a gorgeous Gasparilla wreath borrowed from my friend…
This cute banner was another borrowed item. Yay for not having to make it myself! Except I like it enough to replicate it. Loud sigh.
I reused our own Gasparilla wreath to hang over the dessert and adult drink station. We served Bobby Flay’s Rum Punch renamed Me Hearty Punch for the adults. Warning: It was H.E.A.R.T.Y.
And don’t judge my rum sign at a toddler party. They. Can’t. Read.
Blah blah blah…check out this CAKE!!!!!!!!
My niece made it with the help of her team of family members. She is amazing. Seriously. Look at this thing. And this bad boy doesn’t just blow your mind visually; its taste will shiver your timbers as if Captain Jack Sparrow were standing right before your landlubber eyes.
Someone loved her cake.
I made this (yes, again in WORD!) and originally printed it on white cardstock. It made me crazy when I attempted to frame it since everything else in the room was brown or aged so I went a little pyro. I burned the edges to give it a more authentic look but the stark white was making me batty. I glanced at a half empty pot of coffee and decided to brew a cup of tea (I still needed that coffee)…to soak the paper and make it less white. And then I used leftover burlap as the “mat.” UPDATE: After receiving so many requests for this Pirate Name Printable, I’ve listed an already aged version in my Etsy shop. Click here to purchase the instant download.
I found this on Pinterest, printed it out and painstakingly cut it out (it took all of 1.75 minutes, FYI). I hung it on a door that was in the party space for people to enjoy if they felt bored or awkward. It happens.
As for the pirate themed tablescape, I used my brand new Cricut (Shout out to my hubs for my birthday present!!!) to make the Pirate Birthday Banner. I was a total nerd for this project and enjoyed every second of it.
I used a giant piece of burlap I have used many times before as the tablecover but realized at the last minute that I’d recently cut it for another project and it was no longer big enough to cover the entire table. Enter the aha! moment…I pulled out the turquoise tablecloth from the mermaid birthday party and draped it across the back of the table to mimic water and cover the naked table portion. This also worked out since I needed to cover the bases of those paper palm trees…
I made the paper palm trees by wrapping a few tubes of wrapping paper (mine still had paper on them which didn’t matter) in burlap rolls I already had. I cut palm fronds from green posterboard and attached them to the top with duct tape (on the burlap, not the unused wrapping paper). We grounded the trees by putting them in unused clay pots we had and filled them with broken pieces of leftover pavers. This was quite a last minute project so I didn’t have time to perfect it but I am completely happy with the overall effect….and minimal cost!
I made the food tents in Word. {insert laugh here}
I incorporated my possibly overused method of wrapping glass vases with something stringy to hold the plasticware…I can’t help it. I love the way it looks.
I’m a bit of nut about the right kind of food for a particular crowd. I like to offer party food but with some healthy options (which is super funny since I’m the queen of cheeseburgers).
And I clearly like to incorporate the theme…
Our menu for this party was as follows:
Cheese & Crackers {Pirate’s Gold & Polly’s Crackers}
Spinach Dip {Seaweed Dip}
Shrimp Salad {Sea Farin’ Salad}
Hot Dogs {Octodogs} Note: While these are crazy easy and crazy cute, cold hot dogs SUCK! Be warned.
Chicken Kebobs with Creamy Pesto {Sword Kebobs}
Peanut Butter & Jelly {Peanut Butter & Jellyfish}
Cuban Sandwiches {Shipwreck Sandwiches}
Fruit Salad {In my unartistic version of a Pirate Ship}
I was exhausted. We had been doing party stuff for three long days. The night before, we had a family emergency and my husband had to leave unexpectedly before all of the critical things were done. Like cleaning the pool everyone would be swimming in…putting up the tent, tables and chairs for people to sit at…
So the fact that I managed to get all the food prepared and carve this pathetic excuse for a pirate ship as I panicked I’d have to do all that other stuff at 4am the next morning is a flipping miracle.
Thank goodness for my mom who tended to my kids as I frantically chopped and diced and sweated. Thankfully, she was already at the house when he had to leave because she was helping me do this…Batten down the hatches…
This was my harebrained idea. I had to make my pool look like a pirate ship.
I went cheap and opted not to pay to laminate my portholes. I regret that since you can see the bags we put them in but whatever. It was free.
We hung a giant stuffed shark that’s been in our home since our first trip to Ikea years ago. I hate sharks. H.A.T.E.
And the sails…
Oh, the sails…
I found a cute photo on Pinterest using pvc pipes and sheets. We just happened to have ripped our current set of white sheets so I decided this was a must do project. I could stick the pvc pipes into our pool fence holes and voila! Right?
It took 3 of us to figure it out and I can tell you with certainty that I offered about 2% of that brainpower. I came up with the concept. I figured out that 3/4″ pvc pipes would fit into my pool fence holes. I bought the pipes and some cross fittings.
That was it.
My mom had to draft the plans with measurements, etc. My brain was not working. She would explain it to me and I would go blank.
I finally started to come around once she told me what sizes the pipes needed to be. I cut them and then went blank again once she explained how to attach the sails.
I was coming around again as my husband had to high tail outta here the night before. We did manage to get the sails attached but then had no clue how to finalize this project.
Enter my step-dad. A sailor. Not a boater, a SAILOR. He sailed here from South Africa. With one other guy. He’s the one that can build a house with one hand tied behind his back (if you’ve read my About page). He got the sails up, tied together and finished. All hail the sailor.
I should also mention my husband made it back that night and after working his tail off for days, hauling booty to a hospital over an hour away, tending to the family emergency, still got busy and did everything that I was afraid wouldn’t get done. With nary a complaint. Captain Bite the Bullet deserves an award.
I ordered beach balls and inflatable swords for the kids to play with in the pool.
And I couldn’t resist the Pirate’s Booty as an outdoor snack…
I found these fun pirate’s legs on clearance at Chasing Fireflies and couldn’t resist…
We set up the side of the yard to accommodate tot sized dining and playing. This ginormous flag was another borrowed item from my pirate mates.
This was truly the best shot I could get of her. She refused to hold still. Shocker. (And I’m giggling as I’m typing this as I realize her bow is upside down. Damn Rum Punch.)
Her adorable pirate dress was from Etsy and can be found here.
We offered all guests 100 water cannons…
Note: When offering water balloons to little kids, warn adults against wearing white shorts…True story.
We borrowed this floating ship but they are available online here.
This party didn’t cost a fortune and my lil’ pirate wench had a blast! Once I return the borrowed items, we’ll still have a good bit of fun stuff for future Gasparilla celebrations making everything reusable. Yay for that!
Yo ho ho, mateys!
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Kara is a self-proclaimed Martha Stewart wannabe with the taste of an aristocrat and (thankfully) a penchant for bargains. She hopes to inspire you to live life beautifully and affordably while laughing at her expense along the way.
I loved your Pirate Name poster and tried to recreate it in Word, but I couldn’t get the skull and swords to go alongside the Title. How’d you do that? Any chance you could link your file to an email and send it to me? I teach 6th grade and am gearing up for the new year which will be a pirate theme school wide. I’d love to use it for the first day! Thanks! Liz
Hi there! I put the words and the graphics in text boxes and unwrapped them so that I could put them exactly where I wanted. I will send you the file to the email address you have listed. Please let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂
Kara,
Could you please send the pirate poster to me…son’s bday on Saturday and would be a great addition. smpeterson86@me.com
Thank you!
Kara,
Also the pirate speak one! Please and Thank you!
Hi Shelly! I will send the pirate name poster shortly but the pirate speak one wasn’t my original to share. Here is a link to the site I found it on: http://www.ramascreen.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-on-stranger-tides-talk-like-a-pirate-day-lexicon-and-new-clip/
Meeee toooooo……………please email both to meeee as well ! ! elcaldwell@sbcglobal.net
Your party looks amazing! Can you send me the file to make the food tents? Thanks!!!!
I’m so sorry for the delayed response! I will send to you right now.
HI Kara – super cool ideas. Do you have PDFs of the Pirate Names and the food labels?
Hi Rachel!
I have a pdf of the Pirate Names but the food labels were done in Word so that I could easily change the food names, which sometimes required changing the font size (I didn’t have Photoshop at the time). I will email you both but you’ll need to download the font I used as well.
Would you mind sending me the pirate name poster. This is just precious!
beckienieman@bellsouth.net
Sure! Just don’t forget to burn and age it! 🙂
In would also really appreciate the pirate name poster as well as the pirate speak one. They are both great, especially for older boys!
Loved that you shared your hubby hanging in there for you even with the family emergency.
Arggghhhh!
Sorry for the delayed response. We had yet another little family emergency with my little pirate! I will email the pirate name poster shortly but the pirate speak one was not mine. Here is a link to where I found that particular image if you’d like to print it from the original site. http://www.ramascreen.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-on-stranger-tides-talk-like-a-pirate-day-lexicon-and-new-clip/
I would like the pirate name and the pirate speak one as well! thank you!!!
rklasnick@comcast.net
Hi Nicole! I can send the pirate name poster but the pirate speak wasn’t mine to distribute. Here is a link to the site I found and printed it from, though. http://www.ramascreen.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-on-stranger-tides-talk-like-a-pirate-day-lexicon-and-new-clip/
Dear Kara,
Could you please send me the Pirate Names and food labels in email?
enid.vargha@gmail.com
Thank you
Your party was really cool 🙂
Thanks, Enid! I will send them over now. Thanks for stopping by!
Hey,
Can you please email me the pirate name poster?… ksgoler@gmail.com. Thank you
Thanks for stopping by! Sending the poster over now. 🙂
Could you please send me the pirate name poster to catherinechiarino@gmail.com? Thank you so much!
Just sent it! 🙂
Hi there!
I too would love to get the Pirate Name poster if possible.
Thank you
alterationsladyaloha@gmail.com
Hi there! So sorry for the delay in sending this but we had a death in the family followed by my husband having an unexpected stay in the hospital. Thanks for stopping by and I’m emailing the poster now.
Hey Kara,
I loved your pirate party ideas! Could you please email me the pirate name printable? I’m hosting a pirate themed Halloween party and I think it will be a nice touch. Thank you!
Hi there! So sorry for the delay in sending this but we had a death in the family followed by my husband having an unexpected stay in the hospital. Thanks for stopping by and I’m emailing the poster now.
Love this! I’m planning a pirate theme party for my son’s 3rd bday. Would you mind sending me the Pirate name document?
Sending it over now!
We are getting ready for a pirate book fair. Can you send me the file to make the food tents? Thanks!!!!
Sending it over now!
Kara….your party looked so fun. I’d love the Pirate Name poster for our party next weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Sarah! Thanks for stopping by. Sending the file over now…
Hi there, can you email me the pirate name poster? My email is PastorSarah@HFCOG.org. thanks!
Sure! Sending it over now. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi! I would love to have the file for the pirate names! You did a great job!
Thanks! Sending it over now. 🙂
Hi! I would love to get your Pirate Name poster? Would you mind emailing it to me? Thanks so much!
Sending it now!
Hi Kara! What a fab party! Love all of your ideas and such great inspiration for the pirate party I’m doing for my son next weekend 🙂 Could you also email me the pirates name file and the food tents (I don’t mind changing fonts, etc.)?? Thank you so much!!
I’m totally in love with those food tents! Would you mind sending me the template as well? It’s GREATLY appreciated! They’re too cute! You totally killed it on this party!
Hi there! Thanks so much! Sending over the food tents now…
Seems your pirate name chart was a big hit! Would you share with me as well?
Hi Lynne! Thanks for stopping by! I can send you the plain white version, which needs to be doctored up by aging and burning, or you can purchase the aged version on etsy at https://www.etsy.com/listing/488737882/whats-your-pirate-name-printable.
Don’t want to be a bother but I really love the pirate name poster. We’re doing a pirate party for our cub scout pack and they would get a huge kick out of making their own silly pirate name! I’d like the food label file too if possible. Very creative party! laura.lea.green@gmail.com
Thanks, Laura! It was a fun party, for sure! You can purchase the aged version of the pirate printable on Etsy at
https://www.etsy.com/listing/488737882/whats-your-pirate-name-printable
I will send you the plain version that requires manual aging and burning and the food tents now!
Hi Kara. Any chance you would send me that plain pirate name poster too? My son’s party is coming up this weekend and I’d love to have it if you don’t mind. Thanks so much and AWESOME party. juliewiens@yahoo.com
Sure! Sending it over now!
Thanks so very much!
Hi Kara , Love
Your party Decor , any chance you could email me the pirate names poster and the food cards for my grandsons 3rd bday on Jan 29, 2017?? Babettecompton@yahoo.com thank you in advance ????
Hi Lynn! You can purchase the already aged version of the pirate name printable here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/488737882/whats-your-pirate-name-printable?ref=shop_home_active_3 but I will email you the plain version and the food tents. Thanks for stopping by!