Pirate party for kids

This a Pirate party we had for our son who was turning 5. As always we get creative and make a great party out of what we have, keeping it simple but super fun for all.

The cake was made from Hostess Ho Ho's and designed to look like a Pirate ship. Candles were put in sideways to look like canons shooting out from the side of the ship.

The cupcakes were topped with gummi fish.

The treasure chest was filled with candy and pirate goodies, like jewels and coins.

In our back yard we built a temporary Pirate ship tree house for the kids to play on. Just a few boards between some trees and decorated with a sheet for a sail.

We had several game stations set up in the back yard. Each place the kids got more pirate stuff. One station was balloon sword fighting......

One they made telescopes......

One they made Captain Hook hands and had to use the hooks to get prizes from the basket....

One they played "pin the patch on the pirate".....

And in one they took pictures with the photo board.....

The final game was following a pirate treasure map......

Once the X was found, they dug up the treasure chest.

The treasure chest contained individual treasures for each child.

Super Mario Party

Super Mario Bros. makes for a super easy party that is sure to be a hit with all ages. I remember having a Super Mario Bros party for my oldest son who played Super Mario Bros on the original Nintendo system and now with my 5th child who plays it on the Wii.

Decorations were easy even though we didnt have printed Mario plates and decorations. We chose colors that complemented the game and hung balloons and stars around from the ceiling. Of course we had to have plenty of chocolate coins.

Fake mustaches for everyone! Dinner was pizza of course and for the cake we made cake pops to look like mushrooms. Red frosting with smarties candies for spots.

The entertainment was, of course, Super Mario Bros. on the Wii and everyone had a great time. First time around with this party we had other games as well. One that was a hit involved dividing into two teams and having a child on each team put on a large sweat suit over their clothes and then having the teams stuff blown up balloons into the sweat suit to make them look like muscle men or Mario after he powers up. The team that can stuff the most balloons in wins. Or you could make a relay race and have each child take a turn with the suit. There are many ways to expand on this theme. depending on how much you want to do and how much time you have. The most important thing is making the birthday child happy and this party wins in that category.

Medieval Times Party

The theme for our family get together this year was medieval. This party lasted for the whole weekend and we tied it together with our family reunion.

These are some of the family crest flags representing each family in attendance that we made before the event.

The first day we had the tournaments, each famliy had to come up with a game for everyone to compete in. First we had archery and each person tried their hand at shooting the bow and arrows.

The next event was the wild goose chase. Each team had to catch a chicken or rooster (which were worth more points.)

Then came the pool jousting competition.

The final event for the tournament was "Boberry Tales" around dinner....each family had to tell a story from their life and the most interesting, funniest, or most intriguing would win. We have a family trophy that the winning family from each family reunion gets to keep for the year.

The next day is when we had the real party. Everyone dressed up in Medieval attire and was assigned a character. We again used a murder mystery game and each person played their role. Each person was responsible to come up with their own costume and it could be as simple or elaborate as they wanted.

For the walls, I painted a canvas drop cloth that we could hang up with out damaging our current walls and decor. We also used material to hand as curtains and vinyl clings to add to the castle feel. For the table, we used gold chargers and aluminum pie tins for plates and baskets to hold breads.

Some costumes were bought.

Some were very creatively hand made.

For our food, we tried to keep things as close to period cooking as possible. We had suckling pig, roast chicken, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. It was all delicious!

Army Party

This party was for our son's 7th birthday. He loved all things army at the time. The cake was shaped like a tank with oreo cookies for wheels. Super easy! Add army men and flags for decorations.

For activities we did face painting in camouflage style.

For food we had hotdogs cooked over the firepit. Kid friendly and fun!

Games were a big hit! Nerf gun wars outside! If the guest were all older, you could do paint ball or airsoft guns.

Super fun and lots of ways to add to the party depending on what you need for your guest and time.

Pirate Party for Adults

The base for this party was a Murder Mystery game. You can buy murder mystery games online or in stores where games are sold. Each game comes with character lists and a script to act out the scenario and try to guess who the murderer is. We do these types of games when ever we have a large group of family coming in and have done them for family reunions too. This particular one was a pirate theme and so much fun. Each person made or came up with their own costume and we decorated with things we had around the house.

Scrap material was used to make the flags with white shoe polish.

Cardboard boxes were used to make the signs.

A little face paint and make up and we were all ready.

We even dressed up our dog.