Pirate Party Pt.4 - Activities

Before I mention anything else about this party I have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to Black Bird Studios! I never really understood why people have professional photographers take pictures of birthday parties and smaller occasions, but now I do. My husband's sweet cousin is trying to start her own photography biz and she said she would love to come take pics at the party for practice and experience. I was like HECK YA! It was so nice having someone there to do all the pictures while I could host and be with the guests and not have to worry about trying to get a picture here or there. Not only was it a big stress-reliever, but she did an amazing job! She got so many cute pictures of the kids and all the little details! AND there were SO MANY (that is why there blog posts are so long, there was just too many to choose from)! Anyway, thanks so much Jocelyn! You can check out her work here for your own event or family photos.

I had a lot of fun with this party and the games were one of the best parts. I mentioned before that when the kids arrived they got all dressed up with pirate accessories like bandannas, sashes and swords, tattoos, hooks, eye patches, mustaches, and were given a pirate name. I was really excited about the pirate names! I came up with some lists using previous pirate names, nouns, adjectives, and other various pirate words. Then I separated the words into three lists for the first, middle, and last name. I cut up each word and put all the first names in one box, second names in another, and last names (boy & girl names were separated) in another. They each drew one name from each box and then I put them together and wrote them down on little name tags I made from clipart I found online. Here are some of them... Other names that also came up with were Black Plank Dooley, Bilge Beard Helga, Peg Strap Roberta, and Shark Teeth Patty, but my personal favorites were Shifty Breath Harvey, Dead Dog Bertha, and Sea Legs Gertrude. Everyone had a good laugh at their names! I saved the lists so if you ever want to try this for your party, just let me know.
Anyway, after all the kids got dressed up they all started to sword fight. It was so cute watching them play! The next activity was Walk The Plank. The kids played this while poeple were eating and Jack was getting the pirate ship setup. I found some red buckets and a swimming pool at WalMart and had David drill some holes in the bottom of the buckets. Then got some rope and a board from the hardware store. Then tied each end of the board to the bottoms of the buckets with rope.
I painted "walk the plank" on the middle of the board. For the game it was placed over the swimming pool and the kids had to walk over it as fast as they could without falling in. They all had a blast, and by the end they were jumping in! I found this amazing Jack Sparrow character online here, and he was local! So I asked Mason if he wanted Jack to come, he was beside himself! Jack is his favorite, and with his excitement I couldn't refuse (insert wink).
BONUS: He also has a giant pirate ship that he can bring with him that the kids can play on. The ship had a ladder to climb up and a slide off. The ship also had little cannons that had smoke coming out. Here Jack is showing the kids how to properly steer a ship. What can I say, Mason loved it! This guy was great! Never broke character, his language and his mannerisms were spot on! He posed for pictures with all the kids with all those facial expressions. After the kids were all done with the ship, we played the last game called Cannonballs Away. I got some large refrigerator boxes from the hardware store. I turned them inside out and painted them to look like ships. I even let Mason name them, of course he went with Pirate of the Caribbean. I also found black water balloons at a party store. Poor David spent like an hour and a half filling up about 150 of them! The teams were divided boys against girls, and Jack explained the rules. They had to throw cannonballs to try on sink the other team's ship. The first team to sink the other ship won. And away we go! Ship going down... (Oh and do you see Captain Jack hiding behind the tree) And it's sunk! Victory to the girls! The whole game lasted about 5 minutes, but was so worth it.
We had a kids from ages 1 to 11 at the party, but there was a little something there for all of them to enjoy. And what can I say about Jack... he was truly fabulous! Everyone loved him, even all the adults! They all just raved about how great of a job he did! And he was all about the kids, he even sat right next to Mason when he was opening his presents and talked with him about each gift. Again, you can find him online here.
This is him giving his farewell speech about "how this is the day we will always remember as the day...."