pirate party.

For my son's third birthday party we decided on a pirate theme. (This was mostly because I had some ideas for this type of party...) Instead of just photos, you get the entire party rundown.

For the invitations, I googled "pirate clipart," "treasure chest clipart," and "x marks the spot clipart" and looked until I found some I liked. I chose the x marks the spot, treasure chest, and compass and used a parchment background I imported to photoshop to put together the invite. They are 4.25"x5.5" each, so four fit on one piece of 8.5"x11" cardstock. I bought invitation envelopes at Target which fit this size invitation perfectly.
I used a black marker to "mark the spot" on the envelopes as well.
Decorations:
I kept it relatively simple: a banner, a large black "X" made of construction paper for the front door, a red plastic tablecloths for the snack and craft tables, pirate themed paper plates from Target, and red & yellow balloons (enough for kids to take home).

Food & Cake:
Snacks: "eyepatch" pb&j (sandwiches cut into circles), goldfish crackers, Unburied Treasure from Trader Joe's, and "peglegs" (carrot sticks).

Cake: we did mini-treasure chest cakes using a pan purchased at Michael's for the kids plus one larger treasure chest cake. All were frosted with tinted vanilla frosting and accents done with chocolate frosting by my talented mother-in-law and embellished with candy.

Crafts:
I did two: treasure chest decorating and making an ocean-in-a-bottle.
For the first, I purchased wooden treasure chests from Michael's when they were on sale (surprisingly only 50 cents apiece!). I also bought foam stickers at Michael's for the kids to use to decorate their boxes. Glitter glue, sparkly stones, and other fun embellishments could also be used, but since my son is only three I kept it simple.

The second craft appealed to my science teaching background. I found this online and thought it sounded like fun. It requires one plastic water bottle with the label removed for each child {hint - soak the bottles in hot water and the labels come right off. The remaining adhesive is trickier, I recommend "goo gone" - and it's useful for other household stickiness}. Label the caps with the names of the kids. The other materials are: clear vegetable or mineral oil {I bought Target brand baby oil - 4 bottles were enough for 12 kids}, water, blue food coloring, glitter, small plastic sea creatures/small shells/small pirate items, glue. Pre-fill each bottle about 1/3 full with oil (this can be messy, so I highly recommend the pre-filling!). Have the children add glitter, sea creatures, shells, etc with the help of an adult. I found glitter, beads and small sea animals at Target in the craft section and small shells at Micheal's. Have water and blue food coloring (about 5 drops in a full pitcher is plenty) mixed in a pitcher, and have the adult helper put it into the bottle. Because the oil and water don't mix, the result is very interesting! Dry the rim and cap, close it, and add a layer of hot glue around the outer edge of the cap for added protection from leakage. Voila, an ocean in a bottle.

For older kids, there are some fun pirate games I found here.

Goody bags
I used plain brown lunch bags with the kids' names printed on paper and glued to the front. Inside I put their decorated treasure chests, ocean-in-a-bottle, as well as some pirate stickers purchased at Michael's and gold coin chocolate candy purchased at World Market. I folded over the top, punched two holes in the bag about 1" apart and tied the bag closed with ribbon. They were placed by the door so the kids could take them on their way out.

And we dressed in the theme...

(Benjamin's shirt came from cafe press, Noah's onesie from JC Penney, and my shirt from Target)