PIRATE PARTY GAMES

Yer buckaroos love to folly so entertain them with fun pirate party games.

CAPTURE THE FLAG

by Kim

My mom and dad made flags for the pirate party. Our park had a hill. I put the flags on top of the hill. One team was "it" and had to be the taggers.

The other pirates had to get to the top of the hill without getting tagged, trying to get their flag and get back down.

Then would put the flags back and each team got a turn being "it". If they were tagged they were frozen until a teammate unfroze them.

TREASURE HUNT

We of course carried our swords on the treasure hunt.

Treasure Hunt By Kim

Well this was by far the hit of the pirate party, next to candy on the cake. I went to a local park where there are woods. There was also a pipe that could be used for a plank.

We had all the children come to our house. Then I had enough drivers to drive to a close park. We went back for cake and ice-cream. Remember to bring water to the park, as I forgot!

I put the children into 3 groups of 5-6 boys and one adult leader. I then had the children do some games to earn their map. This was probably too much for first graders, as they were tired at the end of the hunt. Next time I'd go straight to the hunt.

Once they had their map they went for their first clue, which was the next piece to the map. The first directions were go 50 paces on the East side of the creek. I had N,E,S,W drawn on the map. Then it read, Go 30 paces straight. At this point they had to look at their map then dig for the clue. It was just under some leaves.

The first clue was another piece to the map with new directions and their compass (I got these at the dollar store with 12 in a package).

The following clue had them finding a pirate party necklace I told them they had to find two necklaces in order to open the treasure. Then they went on finding the clues.

I had the clues in a Ziploc baggie and each bag had an X with that teams' color. Some I hid in trees, but most I buried lightly.

The final clue took them over a bridge where some enemies (relatives with swords) fought them. Once they crossed the bridge, they dug and found their treasure under the bridge. The treasure chest had fake coins and cash, tatooes, pixie sticks, glow sticks, fake candy eye balls, gum and stickers. They were going to be getting candy later, so there was not much candy. I had the goodie bags in there with their name on them.

I highly recommend putting their name on them, as they all put them down at some point. They later used these goodie bags for their candy at the pinata.

I made the hunt a little long for a 7 year old pirate party. It was over a mile long. I recommend about a half-mile hunt. It was a blast. The kids had to carry their swords, compass and we had eye patches.

PIN THE PIRATE TREASURE ON THE MAP

“X” marks the spot! Yer buckos will have a swashbucklin’ time tryin’ to pin the treasure on the pirate map. Game comes complete with poster, blindfold and 20 treasure chest attachments.

PIN THE PATCH ON THE PIRATE

Let the mateys try the’r hand (or hook) at this one! Pin the patch on the pirate game includes poster, blindfold and eye patch attachments.

PEG LEG RACE

Avast! The race is on! Use a scarf or large hankerchief to tie legs together. Two children race as a three-legged pirate down the plank to the finish line.

SPIN THE BOTTLE

Using a pirate bottle or an old bottle from around the house, have the children sit in a circle and let the birthday boy or girl spin first. Whichever child the spinning bottle lands pointing to draws a “message in the bottle”.

The messages are made up before the pirate party and can be put inside the bottle or in a pirate party hat, basket or jar. The message will give the child something to act out, without talking. One message might say “lost at sea” while another might say “I see land”.

The rest of the children get one turn each to guess. If a child gets it right, they get one point and get to spin the bottle. Set a time limit for the game. The child with the most points wins.

PIRATE ICEBREAKERS

This icebreaker is a twist off the “Going to Jamaica” game. It is a great way for children to warm up to each other.

With everyone in a circle, the game begins. An adult or older child who knows the “catch” should go first. We will call the first person Kristy. Kristy would say, “My name is Christy and I am going to the Caribbean and I am going to take a cat.”

Then she adds, “And I can go.” If Christy spelled her name Kristy, it would go like this. “My name is Kristy and I am going to the Caribbean and I am going to take my karate uniform.” “And I can go.”

The children take turns saying their name in place of Kristy’s and saying what they will take. The object is that the item they are taking start with the first letter of their first name. The children who do so will “get to go”.

The others are allowed to continue playing in hopes they catch on but “cannot go”. Once a person “can go”, on the next turn they add another item which is also supposed to start with the same letter. Sometimes a child just lucked out and really had not caught on and in that case they are told, “You can’t go.”

If it takes too long to figure out, the leader can go down a long list of things they can take and accentuate the sound of the first letter. Batten down the hatches for a voyage to the Caribbean!

TREASURE CHEST

Put items that relate to a pirate in a homemade or purchased treasure chest. Have the children sit in a circle and pass the chest around, allowing each child a few minutes to look at the items. When the chest has been passed all the way around, put it away and have the children, one by one, name the items they remember.

PIRATE BOMB BLAST GAME

Arrrrgh, mateys…this game is definitely “the bomb”!

The buckos pass the bomb around and if it goes “kaboom” while one of them is holding it, they must run around the circle 5 times before they can get back in the group or if you have a plank they must walk the plank first.

This game is from Birthday Express and has realistic lighted burning fuse and even explosion sound effects.

Requires 3 “AAA” batteries, which are not included and is for ages 4 and up.

One thing is as sure as the wind blows and the deep sea flows, the young ‘uns will certainly have a blast playin’ this fine game.