Edit 26/8 - Lego & Pirate now complete - Next Theme Princess
Do you dread those immortal words "Mummy, I want a real live pony parade at my Birthday Party this year"? I know I do!! That was one of the least weird & wonderful ideas my youngest has come up, last year I kid you not, she had a frog themed party complete with frog spawn (passion fruit) & pond water to drink (lemonade), still at least it gave me the chance to do my world famous Kermit the Frog impression. Anyway, I digress, I thought it might be a nice idea to do a Kid's Party thread, where we could all share tips, any offers we find, party themes, food ideas & anything else that could help make a party easier (I know I age about 10 yrs after each one we have & my poor husband usually ends up giving handfuls of money out to get the kids off his back, quite literally the last 2 years as he spent hours giving kids piggy back rides around the hall).
This is a work in progress, so PLEASE bear with me, keep checking back as I'll add things in as we go along inc Pirate / Princess themes PLEASE feel free to SHARE too!
The kids in my family (big & small) love Lego, I don't so much, I swear standing barefoot on lego is worse than childbirth! Anyway, thought I'd kick off with a Lego theme, feel free to post any of your own ideas / pics!
Love This Lego Construction Theme for the Party Table
Don't think it would cost the earth to do a version of it - found a few of the items needed at quite decent prices, will pop links under the pic, hope they help
Such a clever idea to make the cake plate out of lego, think it would make a fab centre piece for a table, would really brighten it up.
Another simple idea for the table, buy some yellow plastic/paper cups & draw on features in marker pen to create lego heads.
I'm sure most will have enough Lego Bricks to make the Plate Stand & the Cutlery Holder below, but just in case, Amazon have a couple of sets on offer at the moment HERE & HERE
What better to keep your cutlery in than a Lego cutlery holder - could be kept in use after the party to hold pens / pencils
Pick up some yellow balloons like these HERE & a black marker pen to make your own lego head balloons - use as decor during the party & send each kid home with one
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 161#5
Lego Crayons - was thinking what you could pop in a lego themed party bag, so had a browse & came across these Lego Mini figure & Brick Crayons (if you don't fancy making your own, I've found some ready made ones & other lego themed party bag fillers, I will pop links to them at the bottom of this post)
Remove paper wrappers from crayons, break into small pieces & pop individual colours into the tin foil trays.
Boil some water & pour into saucepan, place 1 tin foil tray in pan & simmer gently until crayons are melted. Take foil tray out of pan, put to one side to allow to cool slightly & repeat with another colour.
When crayon mix is cooler but still runny, pour into moulds, allow to set, when set remove from moulds.
You could buy some cellophane bags Like These to pop them in & jazz up with some ribbon around the top.
You could make chocolate ones too for the party table / party bag (do the choc ones first before the crayons) by following the same method as above.
When you've finished making those, how about making Lego party bags? Thought these looked really fab, you can pick up the bags in different primary colours quite cheaply from Amazon & ebay . Then just using something like card, cut out circles & stick on.
You could do something similar to create hanging decorations, using different sizes of coloured card, adding circles & then hang from the ceiling as below
Love the idea of using something like plastic/paper tablecloths pinned to a wall with paper plates stuck to them to create a brick like backdrop. If you had some leftover wallpaper, you could paint the back of that & stick on plates to create the same effect. Poundland sell tablecloths with plates, napkins & cutlery to match HERE
Visit Lego.com for FREE Printable Posters to decorate the Party Room, you need to go on each product range's page, then click the activities tab to see what's available in each theme
Use the Lego Minifigure Head Template HERE to create individual wall art or a hanging banner, you could even use them on a Lego themed activity table & get the kids to decorate them.
Other ideas for an activity table could include, colouring pages (lots on lego.com link), create your own minifigure using the printable template HERE.
Maybe have a make your own mask section & use the following printable Lego Movie ones
Pile a bundle of blocks in the middle or a table or on the floor & use Lego Challenge cards to get the kids to create something, give them a time & brick limit to make things more interesting. I'll pop a link to the ones in the pic that are FREE to print, but they are quite basic, so you'll probably want to create your own
Buy some Play-doh or soft dough & some of these fab lego themed cookie cutters for an activity table or use the cutters to make some lego themed cookies & get the kids to decorate them with icing / frosting & other food decorations
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 16#7
I try to avoid the camera at all times (the truth hurts!) but if your kids are like mine, they're not exactly camera shy, so thought the idea of a photo booth or photo opportunity at a party would be a fab idea. You could even email the results to parents for them to print off at home, or if you were very organised you could print them off at the party & pop a photo in each kids party bag.
Places like The Cartridge Shop often have offers like this one 240g 10x15cm Glossy Photo Paper x 50 BUY 1 GET 1 FREE for £3.99 & if you use voucher code GOOGLE10, you'll get an exta 10% off making it £3.59 delivered. If that voucher expires, check HERE for more. The Cartridge People often have similar offers on & their current voucher codes can be found HERE.
I'm not very good at drawing, but I think most people could attempt to make the photo cut out below with reasonable success & who cares if it's a bit wonky, the kids will be having too much fun to care!
You could use the free printable minifigure head HERE, draw on some expressions, add a stick & use them as photo booth props like the ones below
This photo opportunity using a poster looks a great idea, there a few on this link that may help, though I think you'd have to enlarge them somehow Free Printable Posters
I searched all over for a Lego Cardboard Cut Out or Scene Setter & couldn't find one, but did come across this fab Construction Photo Prop at Tesco Direct for £7.49 HERE, thought it could be adapted for a lego theme.
Tesco Direct have quite a large selection in different themes, link to ALL HERE
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 16#8
Party Food
Have been wondering how people make the lego brick type cakes, so did a quick search & came across a couple of ideas, the first makes the studs on top out of cupcakes cut in half & the other popular method uses round double tier biscuits like oreos.
Other cakes I've seen include bricks made out of fondant icing & I came across this tutorial that I thought may help
These look scrummy & I think even with my terrible kitchen skills I could make them!!
Just basic brownies with frosting / icing & smarties used for the Lego Studs
Lego brick sandwiches, would have to use something to make the small round bits with & stick on with either the filling or sauce.
Lego pizza, great idea using pepperoni to create the brick effect
Really simple fruit kebabs, but topped by a lego head, think they look really effective! You can find printable Lego Heads to top these HERE - you could even use them as straw toppers too.
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 161#10
How awesome are these Lego Head Marshmallow Pops? They are quite easy to make too, love the idea of using lego to help display them up or you could use smarties as an alternative - recipe under pic
Bag of large marshmallows
Bag of yellow candy melts (like these HERE & HERE
1 tube of black icing Like this or edible ink pen like this HERE (or homemade black icing made from food colouring, water and icing sugar)
Cake pop or popscicle sticks.
Yellow Smarties
Saucepan & bowl + something to stand them up in like a sponge or some styrofoam whilst drying
Melt the bag of candy melts in the bowl resting over a pan of boiling water. Stir until mixture is smooth.
Remove melted candy coating mixture from heat, but keep over hot water
Use a dab of melted candy coating to attach a smartie to the top of each marshmallow forming a Lego head shape
Place marshmallow onto cake pop stick then dip each marshmallow head in the candy coating. Makie sure you coat the entire head then tap gently on the side of the pan to remove excess. Rotate the sticks while tapping for even coverage.
Place in sponge, styrofoam or cereal box with holes punched in it to dry.
Use the black icing to draw faces on your Lego heads.
Allow faces to dry
These cupcakes look stunning too & again really easy to do, just bake some using your favourite cupcake recipe & then decorate with frosting, icing or buttercream & use edible icing pens (see links in marshmallow head pops) for the facial details.
Above cupcakes not sweet enough for you? Need a sugar boost? Look no further than these fab lego desserts, sure to be a hit with most kids!
Let's balance all that sugar out with some savoury ideas!
Simple crackers & cheese, just slices of cheese with circles of more cheese on top to recreate lego studs, really simple, but very effective.
Slightly harder to do, but worth the effort I think, some fab lego head cheese slices on top of crackers, use an edible writing pen Like This for the details
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 16#11
Spell out "LEGO" in Fruit for a healthy & fun party snack
These Lego Frozen Yoghurt Treats in the shapes of Bricks & Minifigures look & sound delicious & with a blender won't take long or break the bank to make.
You'll need some of the lego molds that are HERE & HERE
You will also need;
1 500g plain yogurt
150g Strawberries washed, stems removed
150g Blueberries, Raspberries or other berry of choice
1 Tbsp. Honey
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth then pour mixture into molds to fill.
Pop in freezer until frozen then remove gently from mold & place in an airtight container back in freezer until required
Keeping to the Lego Primary Colour theme, these Rainbow Jellies look fun & though each layer will take a time to set, they will take very little actual time to make.
You can even make the blue layer by a blue coloured drink, something like Barr's Bubblegum drink HERE or Powerade just use a pack of gelatine mix HERE, follow instructions carefully & make sure you add the blue drink to the gelatine mix rather than the other way round!
Mix a jelly up, pop into serving dishes, into fridge until set, then do the next layer & repeat until you have enough layers
Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go!
Liven up boring juice cartons & water bottles with these fab free printables for carton covers HERE & HERE & water bottles HERE
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 16#12
No Party is complete without GAMES - I still look fondly back on all the bruises I had from musical chairs.
Love this idea of a Lego Memory Game. Label about 25 LEGO pieces on a board. Give everyone a few minutes to memorise as many pieces as they can. Take the board away, and whoever can write down the most items wins.
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 16#13
Could be played indoors with a soft ball or use beanbags to play a toss game, could even change into a bowling version very easily.
A really simple idea is a target game, just create circles out of coloured paper like the ones below & the kids throw lego pieces to see who can score the most.
Get the kids to run off all that cake (and the mums & dads too) with a lego Relay Race. Split the kids into teams, place some coloured containers at the end of a course (could make it an obstacle one if you wanted too), get each child to tuck a piece of Lego or Duplo under their chin & they have to run up the course, drop the brick into the container & run back to tag the next team member.
Another version you could play is the Lego & Spoon Race, either as a relay as above or give everyone that makes it to the end a prize.
I've never managed to get the hang of chopsticks, but this game looks so much fun & certainly less messy than the front of my top after trying to eat chop suey with a pair!!
Simply fill a tub with lego then place an empty tub a foot or so away & the aim is for the kids to transfer as many pieces as possible in a say a minute, you could have 3 or 4 kids doing this at a time using paper party bowls.
Last of the Lego theme posts for now - these are a few last minute ideas I thought were worth sharing!
Such a fab & clever idea, you could use this painted bubble wrap for lots of things, table decoration as in the first pic, table runners & place mats or even hang on the walls to use as general decor. You can pick up huge rolls inc green really cheaply (will pop some under pics).
This pic shows how the bubble wrap could be used on the table, I think I'd be tempted to use it as a complete tablecloth, love the square plates with the decoration, these are homemade using permanent marker - similar plates HERE
The FREE Printable for these fab Ninja Balloons can be found HERE
Another fab party idea game that I came across was this great Ninja Balloon one, though it says use nerf guns, I think it could be easily adapted in various ways, ie use small soft balls / beanbags to throw at them or maybe use water pistols outside & of course it could be adapted to any theme by changing the colour of the balloons & the decoration on them.
Thought this pic showed just how something as simple as jelly (or smarties sorted into individual colours in clear bowls) could really brighten up a food table.
wishihadadonkey
29 Jul 16#15
I know I said the last post was the last one, but I just couldn't help sharing some of the amazing Lego cakes I've come across in my quest!
I did a Thomas theme recently. Blue table cover, black tape to make train tracks then foil takeaway tins to make carriages which held the food. Good as the lids make the food transportable and then you throw them away with no washing up!
shabbird
29 Jul 161#20
or mummy. wish i had a donkey :wink:
Chalico
29 Jul 16#21
I wish you wrote it back in June.. ☺️
wishihadadonkey
30 Jul 161#22
Added some Lego ideas in posts 4-6, will pop some more in over the weekend, hope they help!!
wishihadadonkey
30 Jul 16#23
More Lego ideas in posts #7 - 9, will be adding more in over the weekend
ohdearohdear
30 Jul 16#24
Really good. My older one is going to be 5 in December and he doesnt like anything particularly but I love the Lego theme. Thanks! Heat for the effort :wink:
bebebelle
30 Jul 16#25
Love this post , thank you OP .
Boardingbabe
30 Jul 16#26
I need bus theme ideas! My wee boy will be 2 in October and is bus mad!
wishihadadonkey to Boardingbabe
31 Jul 161#28
Hiya, found a few for you, will have a proper look when I have a bit more time
Thought this looked a good idea, you could adapt the cutout to your local bus, it's just a table with the bus cut out in card & decorated, would be good for the food / drinks tables
You could make up invites as a ticket & get your little one to clip them when they arrive or buy something like THESE HERE
Pin the wheels on the bus, the one in the example is a school bus, but just adapt to whatever one you want
Make a cardboard box bus to use as a photo prop
or if you don't fancy doing that, how about this fab The wheels on the bus toy tent looks amazing & you could use it after too
wishihadadonkey
31 Jul 16#27
Added more lego party themes in posts 10 & 11, still a couple more to be added, keep checking back
wishihadadonkey
2 Aug 162#29
Phew, lego theme now complete in posts 4-15, please feel free to share any pics of your own cakes etc, we'd love to see them & you would be helping others too!
Next Theme is Pirates, if you want to suggest any themes, please do & I will try to help, they do take quite a while to research / post, so please bear that in mind if you have a party coming up.
Hope some of the ideas have helped!
etrack
2 Aug 16#30
Wow...excellent post. heat added. Do you have any suggestions / pointers for the one-year old boy b'day party themes ?
wishihadadonkey to etrack
2 Aug 16#31
Aww happy birthday for when the time comes, how about a jungle or farm theme, when my eldest daughter was 1 we did an animal theme for her in bright primary colours, she understood that sort of thing much better then than the princess ones she wants now & we did a very similar them 22 yrs ago for my adult son when he was 1 or 2. Was thinking of doing a jungle / animal theme at some point, so will get some ideas together soon
daydreamer44
2 Aug 16#32
You are super organised, aren't you? :wink: Thanks for the effort, may use some ideas :smiley:
wishihadadonkey
2 Aug 161#33
Crumbs, not really, I'm an insomniac that's all & I love jelly & cake :smile:
TetuGal
2 Aug 16#34
Wow, thanks for putting all this together. My son loves loves Legos. I'll use these ideas for his next birthday
Jennels
3 Aug 16#35
Does anyone have any suggestions for a DIY superhero theme on a budget? Many thanks x
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#36
Shiver me Timbers it's Pirate Party Time!!
I LOVE Pirate themed parties, I've made it well known before that I'll dress up at a drop of a hat & we have monthly talk like a pirate days at home, with the first one to forget having to walk the plank.
There are oodles of ideas for one & hope the one's I've posted will help with some party planning & save some " pieces of eight" as well.
Thought we'd start with party food ideas (mainly cos I'm craving trifle tonight & food is on my mind)
Loving this FAB Dead Man's Chest made out of sausages & ribs, such a simple & fun idea! You can find skulls quite cheaply on ebay HERE or even in the the Pet Section HERE
Keeping with the macabre theme, how about these "Grilled Parrots"? Polly isn't so pretty now, though she looks very yummy!
Back in my day these were sausages on sticks, not now, now they're Dead Man's Fingers
What other body parts can we use? Oh I know, these aren't just sausages wrapped in bacon, nope, they're Dead Man's Toes!
But what if I hear you cry, you are a traditional pirate with a wooden leg? Not a problem, check out these fab Corn Dog Peg Legs! Recipe HERE
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#37
Well we've had sausages galore & here are a few more
Octopus hotdogs
Ahoy There Matey - All aboard the Jolly Dog
Free Printable Pirate Flags HERE
Free Printable Pirate Ship Sales HERE
Free Printable Labels, Straw Toppers, Water Bottle Labels HERE Free Printable Banner HERE & More Free HERE More Free Printable labels HERE
This Treasure Map Pizza looks so much fun, but really simple to make with the ready made pizza doughs available like this one HERE &HERE, or even mixes to make up at home like these ones HERE & HERE
Everyday meatballs can become every Pirate's weapon of choice by simply sticking a cannonball label on them!
I think even I could attempt these Cupcakes as they are decorated using frosting rather than icing, but looking at the extensive range of cake decorating items that Hobbycraft have HERE, I'm beginning to think I could be a little more adventurous.
What Kid hasn't make choc rice krispie or cornflake cakes? By popping a gold coin on top & putting them in a eye catching pirate cake case like these HERE it keeps to the pirate theme & involves the kids before the party or it could even be used as a party activity if you're very brave & don't mind chocolate everywhere
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#40
Gosh looking at all this food is making me chubbier by the minute!
Few simple ideas to end the Food Section
Sword Kebabs - Just add whatever you want to, you could even substitute fruit if you preferred to do that
How easy are these sandwiches to make? Pop whatever filling you want into the sandwich, cut into a rectangular shape & add a sail made of a cheese slice & a cocktail stick
Mix them with some skull shaped & starfish shaped ones to continue the theme
I said they were simple didn't I? Cheese balls like these HERE in a jar with a cannonball label
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#41
Dip of your choice decorated with a pepper octopus, you could add a tray of carrot "planks" & "peg leg" bread sticks with it too
Quirky idea to serve a seashell pasta salad in a kids beach bucket, you could even give the kids one of these each to use instead of plates.
Shark Attack
You can make the blue jelly by using a blue coloured drink, something like Barr's Bubblegum drink HERE or Powerade just use a pack of gelatine mix HERE, follow instructions carefully & make sure you add the blue drink to the gelatine mix rather than the other way round!
Mix a jelly up, add the gummy sharks & pop the bowl into fridge until set
Talking of sharks, how amazing (& healthy) is this Watermelon Sharks Head?
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#42
Last few, hope they've helped
Simple Fruit Swords using ones like these HERE - you could use them for the Dead Mans Fingers & Toes too
Pirate Sea Water Drinks - lemonade or sprite with a drop or 2 of blue food colouring
How about buying some of these fab Shark Fin Ice Cube Trays HERE, popping a red berry juice in & freezing then adding with a gummy shark to a white drink like lemonade to create a shark infested waters drink
Something else for a dip - carrot & cucumber swords
Stunning centrepiece for the table - Watermelon Pirate Ship
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#43
There are some amazing cakes out there, if you fancy trying a simple one of your own, hobbycraft have a Pirate Ship Mould HERE
Or you could make individual Kit Kat Treasure Chests & fill with treasure (gold coins) instead of a gift bag
Love the idea of a treasure map cake like this one below
If you don't want to attempt one of your own, M&S do a lovely one, but it is expensive HERE
Finally, something to help all the mums & dads clear up a little happier
Dirty Pirate Popsicles. 2 1/2 cups Coke 1/3 cup Captain Morgan Spiced Rum 1/3 cup Kahlua, mix & freeze
Shiver Me Timbers Punch.
To make, you will need; 750 ml bottle light rum or Malibu, 500ml pineapple juice, juice of 6 oranges & 6 limes, 1.5 L ginger ale/beer,
125g icing sugar, orange slices & maraschino cherries (to garnish)
In a large bowl, combine rum, pineapple juice, juice of oranges, juice of limes and sugar.
Add ginger ale just before serving.
Chill, serve over ice in glass, garnish.
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#45
Thought I'd share some Pirate Party Themed Party Tables I've found, love the idea of using brown paper to make your own treasure map tablecloth & using sails to keep it ship themed!
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#46
This one is more of a Peter Pan theme, use an inflatable palm tree for the centre of the table LIKE THIS unless you have a real one in a pot!
Simple yet effective table - wilko have lots of decent priced coins, pirate hats HERE
Love this table using the treasure chests instead of plates, you can buy similar HERE or HERE Free Printable Template HERE
Keeping with the theme, these would be great instead of party bags HERE
or maybe use something like this Pinata for table decor then later as it's meant to be used
Simple but effective idea for cutlery
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#47
Love these Pirate Ships, don't look too hard to make & could be scaled up for play / photo prop use or down for room or even table decor.
Any good at balloon modelling? I'm useless, but cheap fun way to keep the kids amused during the party & they can take home with the afterwards too
Free Printable Pirate Certificate HERE from Rooftop Post
LOTS OF FREE PRINTABLES HERE inc Invites, Cake Toppers, Pirate Digital paper pack comes with 7 printable papers that you can uses for decorations, gifts crafts and more. Cross-bone skulls, pirate skulls, stripes & a sheet that looks like blank treasure
Say Pretty Parrot - I love the idea of photo booths or photo props at kids parties, the resulting photo could be printed off, popped in a photo frame & put in the party bags at the end. With this being pirate themed, you could even buy some cheap frames (Wilko sell them for 50p HERE) & get the kids to decorate them at the party with things like shells, sand, jewels, stickers, gold coins (Like These & other pirate things.
Or you could buy a themed one like this HERE
If you are really crafty, you can make your own photo props like the ones below but don't worry if you're not, there are some really reasonable priced ones around, will pop links / pics of those in next post
Love this ship themed one, could use broom handles & a sheet for the sail.
Another ship, again it's made out of card with a fabric backdrop, you can buy stripey wrapping paper in rolls, I'd be tempted to use that if I din't have any suitable fabric.
This one maybe a little frightening for younger kids, but it looks incredibly simple to do & I think even I with my terrible art skills would have a go at making one.
This one would definitely be beyond my capabilities but when painted up with some prop oars it would be fab for photos
If you are having a "Walk The Plank" then you could use this as your photo booth
wishihadadonkey
9 Aug 16#51
Don't want to make your own? Maybe the following may help!
Make a ships wheel out of cardboard & either mount on something or just decorate the walls
Fab Anchor & Chain Set - anchor is cut out of card & covered in duct / duck tape, though you could use silver spray paint or just cover in tin foil. The chain is made from paper plates, you cut the middles out of each play, face 2 together & bind with duct tape. Cut through & link the next one on, then tape over the split & so on until you have what you need.
wishihadadonkey
21 Aug 16#53
Aha me hearties - it's time to Walk The Plank!! (along with other Party Games)
For older kids something like this would be great fun - for younger ones, just place a plank on the floor, no plank of wood handy? Just make one out of paper, add a sea of blue balloons & a few shark fins circling to add to the fun.
Another really simple idea is a Captain Hook ring toss - Hook Toss, found some cheap pirate hooks at Wilko HERE or Pack of 20 smaller ones HERE all you'd need apart from those are a large piece of cardboard & some rings, these could even be made out of cardboard too. There is a free printable Here but it's large so don't think household printers could do it.
There are so many variations you could do based on the hook toss, my kids love throwing games & I know their friends do too, here are a few more ideas in this post & the next
You can buy inflatable swords for the following games if you prefer HERE or stay with the more traditional plastic HERE
wishihadadonkey
21 Aug 16#54
Am loving this cheap but fun parrot toss game for just £1 from Wilko's, HERE they have a great Pirate Party range
Got an old washing basket? Convert it into a fun pirate ship toss game like this one below. Don't have one? £1 HERE
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts! Well actually no, I am quite old, but I do have this Fab Cardboard Coconut Toss Game - just use balls, bean bags or something similar
Feed the croc or shark before they eat you!
wishihadadonkey
21 Aug 16#55
Don't fancy making your own? How about this Inflatable Ring Toss Game for £4.99 HERE
Or make your own with an inflatable shark like this one HERE & some card rings for the fraction of the price.
Or how about buying something like this Shark Swim Seat HERE to use as a ball or bean bag toss?
Fill an old tub or paddling pool wit sand & hide some "Buried Treasure" for the kids to dig out, I would be tempted to give them a list if items to find ie 3 necklaces, 2 bracelets, 3 coins & any extra they discard back into the dig for others to find, the person who finds them quickest, wins.
wishihadadonkey
21 Aug 16#56
Sunny Day? Fill some black water balloons like these HERE & have a cannonball fight!
Weather not so great? Have a game of Cannonball Popping instead, blow up loads of black balloons & stomp or squash your way through them until they're all gone, you could add a few surprises into them before blowing up.
Wilko sell packs of 6 Black & Red Skull & Crossbone Balloons HERE or Pack of 50 Black Skull & Crossbones Balloons HERE or Pack of 10 Black Skull & Crossbones HERE or 100 Plain Black Balloons HERE
"Shark Attack". It's musical chairs with a twist.
Draw or Print out pics of pirate islands & put them all over the floor. Then play music and when it stops you shout 'shark attack'! Everyone has to find an island to jump on, each round an island is removed & the child who doesn't find one is knocked out, this continues until there is just one island left between 2 players.
An oldie but goody party game with a twist, Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate Game. If you were artistic (& I know so many of you are), you could make your own from card, I'm not so good at drawing, so I'd be tempted to buy one of these ready made sets HERE
All pirates have tattoos don't they? How about a Pirate themed tattoo parlour?
There are lots of cheap Pirate Tattoos to be found like these ones HERE & HERE
Think Pirate Face Painting designs are some of the easiest to do, the one below looks very simple but very effective!
One of my kids has very sensitive skin, we have used Snazaroo face paints many times without any issues, you can buy Pirate Themed kits like this one HERE or larger packs like this one HERE or Pan Stick Sets like THESE
Activity Tables are very popular at parties & so easy to organise, hope the following ideas & links help
Save your egg cartons, provide paint & jewels to stick on to make your own treasure chests or buy some HERE or HERE to decorate
wishihadadonkey
24 Aug 16#59
All Pirates need a sword right? Save some money & get the kids to make their own at the activity table;
1st pic the swords are made from cardboard, cardboard tubes & tin foil & in the 2nd pic they are made from Pipe Insulation. In the 3rd, they are just made from cardboard & could be decorated with paint or covered in tin foil & decorated with jewels
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Opening post
Do you dread those immortal words "Mummy, I want a real live pony parade at my Birthday Party this year"? I know I do!! That was one of the least weird & wonderful ideas my youngest has come up, last year I kid you not, she had a frog themed party complete with frog spawn (passion fruit) & pond water to drink (lemonade), still at least it gave me the chance to do my world famous Kermit the Frog impression. Anyway, I digress, I thought it might be a nice idea to do a Kid's Party thread, where we could all share tips, any offers we find, party themes, food ideas & anything else that could help make a party easier (I know I age about 10 yrs after each one we have & my poor husband usually ends up giving handfuls of money out to get the kids off his back, quite literally the last 2 years as he spent hours giving kids piggy back rides around the hall).
This is a work in progress, so PLEASE bear with me, keep checking back as I'll add things in as we go along inc Pirate / Princess themes PLEASE feel free to SHARE too!
All comments (64)
Aldi have Packs of 10 Pirate / Fairy / Celebration Themed Party Invites / Party Bags / Party Hats & more inc Paperchains / Banners for 79p each
Plan ahead, places like Ali Express can be great to pick up cheap party decor ie Minion Balloon 65 x 92cm Blow Up Self-Sealing & Reusable Party Decoration 81p Del
4 for 3 on selected Party Tableware @ Tesco Direct + a Huge Range of Party Items HERE
Tesco Grocery have a 5 for 4 offer on selected party items instore / grocery delivery
Wilko has a good range of inexpensive party items including my fave game Pin the tail on the donkey for £1
Disney Jake and The Never Land Pirates Ultimate Party Kit for 16 £5.94 @ Argos Ebay Thanks to racha27
Princess Party Pack for 16 Guests now £5.99 C+C @ Argos
Pirate Party Pack for 16 Guests now £5.99 C+C @ Argos
Solid Colours Complete Party Kit in Hot Pink now £5.99 C+C @ Argos
Dinosauras Party Pack for 16 Guests was £14.99 now £8.99 @ Argos
JCB Digger Party Pack for 16 Guests was £19.99 now £8.99 @ Argos
Disney Frozen Olaf Party Kit for 16 Guests was £19.99 now £9.99
Disney Mickey Party Time Ultimate Party Kit for 16 Guests was £19.99 now £11.99 - Minnie Version now £12.99
Zebra Party Kit for 16 now £4.99 @ Argos
Paw Patrol Complete Party Supplies Kit For 16 £10.63 Del @ Amazon (sold by House of Party)
Dunelm have some cheap party bits
Party Bag Fillers / Decor
Asda have a small offer of 4 Packs for £5 on Party Fillers inc
Pack of 8 Gold Medals
Pack of 8 Test Tube Bubbles
Pack of 8 Water Pistols
32 Piece Bubble Fun Set £3 @ Asda
72 Gold Pirate Coins (6 Bags Of 12) - Plastic Treasure £2.15 Del @ Ebay
&2 Temp Pirate Tattoos £1.65 del @ Ebay
6 Pirate Telescopes £2.15 Del
The Seller for the above items has lots of different party good for really decent prices, some are postage free some are 66p, may be worth asking if they'll combine postage if you buy a few items
Pack of 8 Whirl-A-Copters Party Bag Filler was £5.89 now £1.49 @ Argos
Pack of 8 Disney Frozen Masks was £4.89 now £1.99
Disney Frozen Party Favours - 48 Piece Set was £9.79 now £5.99
Dinosaurs - 8 Pack of Party Fillers was £5.99 now £2.99
Pack of 8 Magic Springs was £5.99 now £2.99
Pack of 8 Wind Up Toys was £5.89 now £2.99
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pack of 8 Assorted Masks was £4.99 now £2.99
48 Piece Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Party Favours was £9.79 now £3.99 @ Argos
Pack of 12 Party Masks - Minions was £5.99 now £2.99
Pack of 8 Paddle Ball Sets was £5.89 now £3.49
Peppa Pig and Friends Masks - 12 Pack was £5.99 now £3.99
Avengers Age of Ultron Masks - 12 Pack was £5.99 now £3.99
Avengers 48 Piece Party Favours Pack was £9.79 now £5.99 C+C @ Argos
Disney Frozen Pull String Pinata - Olaf was £12.99 now £5.99 Also Elsa & Anna Same Price
Butterfly Pinata was £8.99 now £5.99
Marvel Avengers Assemble Pull String Pinata was £12.99 now £6.99 - Ultimate Spiderman Version Same Price
64 Piece Pirate Party Favours was £11.99 now £6.99 @ Argos
55 Piece Generic Party Favours was £11.99 now £6.99
88 Piece Princess Party Favours now £9.99
Play-Doh Classic Colours 4 Pack £2.99 Split Pack to pop in Party Bags
Chad Valley Cloth Activity Books Set of 3 was £6.99 now £1.79 Split pack to pop into party bags - ideal for younger kids
Chad Valley My 1st 10 Pack of Books £9.99 or 2 for £15 Mix n Match Split to pop into party bags - could be bought in the 2 for £15 offer with; Disney Tsum Tsum - 8 Pack or Play-Doh Stamp and Create Set and again split the packs to pop in as party bag fillers or even game prizes
Baker Ross have a large range of party bag fillers / party activities they usually have Voucher Codes available HERE
as do Yellowmoon & they sometimes have discount vouchers too HERE
24 Flying Glider Planes £2.30 Del @ Amazon (sold by Zuvo)
Pack of 20 x Yellow Stretchy Smiley Men £1.85 del at Amazon (ToyWarehouseUK.)
Pack of 24 Party Bubbles £2.98 del @ Amazon (Ed's Party Pieces)
Pack of 12 Mini Touchable Childrens Party Bubbles £1.98 del @ Amazon (New-Sales) or Pack of 48 for £4.99 HERE
15 X Mixed Colour Jet Bouncy Balls £1.63 Del @ Amazon ( Top Deals 4 You - UK)
Pack Of 12 Flip Flop Note Pads £1.45 Del @ Amazon ( Discount Party Warehouse Ltd)
12 Stretchy Snakes - Assorted Colours £1.99 Del @ Amazon (Bargain-Base)
8 Pullback Cars £1.99 Del @ Amazon (Ed's Party Pieces)
12 Window Walker Bugs £2.80 Del @ Amazon (SLJ_PARTY_BAGS)
[url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/24-Kids-Super-Hero-Tattoos/dp/B00G7KM4ZG]24 Kids Super Hero Tattoos £1.02 Del @
Groupon can be very good for cheap Party Packages; some of their current offers include;
Soft Play Party for Ten Kids at Gioco Play Centre St Helens (55% Off) - £49 thanks to eddie151
Kids Soft Play Party For Ten Kids from £39 at Cheeky Cherubs Soft Play and Learning Centre Thanks to melly6969
Two-hour boat hire for up to 10 people for £49
£34.95 for a Party for Up to 10 Kids with 100 Paint Balls Each & Light Lunch at Paintball Networks
Football or Tennis Party for Up to 20 Children at Super Sport £49
Pop Star Recording Party For Up to Five Children or Adults for £29 at Mad Media
Princess Pamper Party For Up To Ten Children £69
Trampoline Party for Ten Kids at Boing Zone Trampoline Park Cannock from £130
Plus lots more across the country - remember to check for any Groupon Discount Vouchers HERE
McDonald's Birthday Adventures start from just £5.99 per child
Most Soft Play Centres offer party packages, so check your local to see what they have on offer as well as some national chains.
Wacky Warehouse Offer a variety of Party Packages as do Brewers Fayre & Gambado's Soft Play
My kids recently attended a Crazy Golf Party & they loved it, there are lot's of places across the country that offer them ie
Here , Here & Here
Ever Thought of a Trampoline Party? Lots of local centres & national ones offer party packages like Oxygen Free Jumping & Jump Nation
Have a Wild Side? Lots of zoos offer Party Package Deals ie;
Chester Zoo
Battersea Park Zoo
Newquay Zoo
Colchester Zoo
Dudley Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Exmoor Zoo
Dartmoor Zoo
Blackpool Zoo
Welsh Mountain Zoo
Bristol Zoo
Drusillas + Many More
Thought these could be either split to pop into party packs or would be useful for activity tables.
Pack of 40 Crayola Twistables was £10 now £5 at Tesco Direct or Tesco Grocery
Pack of 50 Crayola Supertips was £9 now £4.50 at Tesco Direct or Tesco Grocery Thanks to fingermouse27
Tubs of Pavement Chalks 80p at The Works thanks to Cranklebody
Lots of Free Printable Colouring Sheets Inc Disney - approx 10,000 ideal for general or themed activity tables
Free Printable Lego Minifigure Colouring Sheet
Free Colouring Sheets to Print inc Elmer
Free Printable Playmobil Colouring Sheets
Free Printable Frozen Colouring Pages
Free Disney Colouring Pages inc BFG / Finding Dory
Free Zootropolis Colouring Pages
Free Gruffalo Activities / Colouring Pages to Print
24 x Ice Princess Snow Queen Temporary Tattoos £1.17 Del
Punch Balloons with Elastic (PK20) £1.77 Del @ Amazon (Lizzy Outlet)
12 Folding Paper Fans - Pretty Chinese Designs £2.49 Del @ Amazon (SLJ_PARTY_BAGS)
12 Pack of 12 Animal Stickers £1.20 Del @ Amazon ( WowTastic UK)
12 Jungle Wild Animal Theme Pencils with Erasers £2.41 Del @ Amazon (UK + DIRECT)
Pack of 12 Jungle Theme Mini Spiral Notebooks £2.99 Del @ Amazon (Express Goods UK)
12 jungle animal temperary transfer tattoos 96p Del @ Amazon (SLJ_PARTY_BAGS
18 Novelty Pencil Erasers in the shape of a Lego Brick £2.40 Del @ Ebay
6 Novelty Pencil sharpeners in the shape of a Lego Brick £2.50 Del @ Ebay
Lego Minifigure Soaps £2.20 for 6, £3.20 for 12, £5.25 for 24 del @ Ebay
Pack of 5 Lego Minifigure Keyrings £6.95 del @ Ebay
25 Crayon Lego Men £5.50 Del @ Ebay Seller has other amounts too from 12 to 200
Pack of 4 - Colour Brick Block Rubber Bracelets £3.60 Del @ Ebay
Pack of 10 LEGO Brick Keyrings £7.95 Del @ Ebay
Love This Lego Construction Theme for the Party Table
Don't think it would cost the earth to do a version of it - found a few of the items needed at quite decent prices, will pop links under the pic, hope they help
Soft Yellow Plastic Tablecloth, 9ft x 4.5ft £1.85 Del @ Amazon (Ed's Party Pieces
Orange Football Cones - Pack of 8 £2 at Wilko
12 pack of yellow construction party hats £8.99 @ Amazon
Hobbycraft do a really good range of Primary Colour Tableware inc 18 piece plastic cutlery sets for £1
Such a clever idea to make the cake plate out of lego, think it would make a fab centre piece for a table, would really brighten it up.
Another simple idea for the table, buy some yellow plastic/paper cups & draw on features in marker pen to create lego heads.
Yellow Paper Cups
I'm sure most will have enough Lego Bricks to make the Plate Stand & the Cutlery Holder below, but just in case, Amazon have a couple of sets on offer at the moment HERE & HERE
What better to keep your cutlery in than a Lego cutlery holder - could be kept in use after the party to hold pens / pencils
Pick up some yellow balloons like these HERE & a black marker pen to make your own lego head balloons - use as decor during the party & send each kid home with one
You will need moulds, something like these Building Bricks Style Ice / Chocolate Moulds X 3 or Mini figure shape ice tray & Building Bricks Mold Tin foil pie trays, crayons & a saucepan. ( Pack of 24 Crayola Crayons £1 @ Tesco HERE
Remove paper wrappers from crayons, break into small pieces & pop individual colours into the tin foil trays.
Boil some water & pour into saucepan, place 1 tin foil tray in pan & simmer gently until crayons are melted. Take foil tray out of pan, put to one side to allow to cool slightly & repeat with another colour.
When crayon mix is cooler but still runny, pour into moulds, allow to set, when set remove from moulds.
You could buy some cellophane bags Like These to pop them in & jazz up with some ribbon around the top.
You could make chocolate ones too for the party table / party bag (do the choc ones first before the crayons) by following the same method as above.
When you've finished making those, how about making Lego party bags? Thought these looked really fab, you can pick up the bags in different primary colours quite cheaply from Amazon & ebay . Then just using something like card, cut out circles & stick on.
You could do something similar to create hanging decorations, using different sizes of coloured card, adding circles & then hang from the ceiling as below
FREE Printable LEGO Building Block Birthday Banner
Or make your own to match the hanging decorations
Party Bag Fillers
18 Novelty Pencil Erasers in the shape of a Lego Brick £2.40 Del @ Ebay
6 Novelty Pencil sharpeners in the shape of a Lego Brick £2.50 Del @ Ebay
Lego Minifigure Soaps £2.20 for 6, £3.20 for 12, £5.25 for 24 del @ Ebay
Pack of 5 Lego Minifigure Keyrings £6.95 del @ Ebay
25 Crayon Lego Men £5.50 Del @ Ebay Seller has other amounts too from 12 to 200
Pack of 4 - Colour Brick Block Rubber Bracelets £3.60 Del @ Ebay
Pack of 10 LEGO Brick Keyrings £7.95 Del @ Ebay
Visit Lego.com for FREE Printable Posters to decorate the Party Room, you need to go on each product range's page, then click the activities tab to see what's available in each theme
Use the Lego Minifigure Head Template HERE to create individual wall art or a hanging banner, you could even use them on a Lego themed activity table & get the kids to decorate them.
Other ideas for an activity table could include, colouring pages (lots on lego.com link), create your own minifigure using the printable template HERE.
Maybe have a make your own mask section & use the following printable Lego Movie ones
Emmet
Bad_Cop
Good Cop
Benny
President Business
Superman
Wonder Woman
Wyldstyle
Batman
Vitruvius
More Masks to Print Here
Pile a bundle of blocks in the middle or a table or on the floor & use Lego Challenge cards to get the kids to create something, give them a time & brick limit to make things more interesting. I'll pop a link to the ones in the pic that are FREE to print, but they are quite basic, so you'll probably want to create your own
LINK
Buy some Play-doh or soft dough & some of these fab lego themed cookie cutters for an activity table or use the cutters to make some lego themed cookies & get the kids to decorate them with icing / frosting & other food decorations
Places like The Cartridge Shop often have offers like this one 240g 10x15cm Glossy Photo Paper x 50 BUY 1 GET 1 FREE for £3.99 & if you use voucher code GOOGLE10, you'll get an exta 10% off making it £3.59 delivered. If that voucher expires, check HERE for more.
The Cartridge People often have similar offers on & their current voucher codes can be found HERE.
I'm not very good at drawing, but I think most people could attempt to make the photo cut out below with reasonable success & who cares if it's a bit wonky, the kids will be having too much fun to care!
You could use the free printable minifigure head HERE, draw on some expressions, add a stick & use them as photo booth props like the ones below
Use these Free Printables HERE & HERE to create these
This photo opportunity using a poster looks a great idea, there a few on this link that may help, though I think you'd have to enlarge them somehow Free Printable Posters
I searched all over for a Lego Cardboard Cut Out or Scene Setter & couldn't find one, but did come across this fab Construction Photo Prop at Tesco Direct for £7.49 HERE, thought it could be adapted for a lego theme.
You can buy a slightly large version HERE
Tesco Direct have quite a large selection in different themes, link to ALL HERE
Have been wondering how people make the lego brick type cakes, so did a quick search & came across a couple of ideas, the first makes the studs on top out of cupcakes cut in half & the other popular method uses round double tier biscuits like oreos.
Other cakes I've seen include bricks made out of fondant icing & I came across this tutorial that I thought may help
Love the way this cake has the minifigures holding the candles, such a clever idea, if the child was slightly older you could add to the wow factor by using indoor sparklers (obviously under adult supervision). Similar candles can be found HERE, HERE - inc in Tesco 5 for 4 promo until October & HERE
Or you could buy this fab set of 3 Large Silicone Minifigure Cake Molds for £8.99 Del @ Amazon
There is even some fab Lego Wrapping Ribbon 2m x 22mm LEGO GROSGRAIN RIBBON FOR CAKE'S £1.47 Del @ Amazon
Lego Minifigure Set of 2 Cookie Cutters £2.99 Del @ Ebay Seller has others too & gives 5% discount when you buy 2 or more
Lego Head Cookie Cutter £2.59 del @ Ebay
Lego Man Cookie Cutter £2.79 del @ Ebay
Lego Mini Figures Set of 4, Batman, Yoda, Lego Man & Darth Vader Cookie Cutters £3.49 del @ Ebay
Lego Head Set of 2 £2.99 del @ ebay
Just basic brownies with frosting / icing & smarties used for the Lego Studs
Lego brick sandwiches, would have to use something to make the small round bits with & stick on with either the filling or sauce.
Lego pizza, great idea using pepperoni to create the brick effect
Really simple fruit kebabs, but topped by a lego head, think they look really effective! You can find printable Lego Heads to top these HERE - you could even use them as straw toppers too.
Bag of large marshmallows
Bag of yellow candy melts (like these HERE & HERE
1 tube of black icing Like this or edible ink pen like this HERE (or homemade black icing made from food colouring, water and icing sugar)
Cake pop or popscicle sticks.
Yellow Smarties
Saucepan & bowl + something to stand them up in like a sponge or some styrofoam whilst drying
Melt the bag of candy melts in the bowl resting over a pan of boiling water. Stir until mixture is smooth.
Remove melted candy coating mixture from heat, but keep over hot water
Use a dab of melted candy coating to attach a smartie to the top of each marshmallow forming a Lego head shape
Place marshmallow onto cake pop stick then dip each marshmallow head in the candy coating. Makie sure you coat the entire head then tap gently on the side of the pan to remove excess. Rotate the sticks while tapping for even coverage.
Place in sponge, styrofoam or cereal box with holes punched in it to dry.
Use the black icing to draw faces on your Lego heads.
Allow faces to dry
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These cupcakes look stunning too & again really easy to do, just bake some using your favourite cupcake recipe & then decorate with frosting, icing or buttercream & use edible icing pens (see links in marshmallow head pops) for the facial details.
Above cupcakes not sweet enough for you? Need a sugar boost? Look no further than these fab lego desserts, sure to be a hit with most kids!
They look great in those glasses & you can find similar HERE but I'd be tempted to use something like these Crystal Rainbow Disposable Party Cups
Let's balance all that sugar out with some savoury ideas!
Simple crackers & cheese, just slices of cheese with circles of more cheese on top to recreate lego studs, really simple, but very effective.
Slightly harder to do, but worth the effort I think, some fab lego head cheese slices on top of crackers, use an edible writing pen Like This for the details
These Lego Frozen Yoghurt Treats in the shapes of Bricks & Minifigures look & sound delicious & with a blender won't take long or break the bank to make.
You'll need some of the lego molds that are HERE & HERE
You will also need;
1 500g plain yogurt
150g Strawberries washed, stems removed
150g Blueberries, Raspberries or other berry of choice
1 Tbsp. Honey
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth then pour mixture into molds to fill.
Pop in freezer until frozen then remove gently from mold & place in an airtight container back in freezer until required
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Keeping to the Lego Primary Colour theme, these Rainbow Jellies look fun & though each layer will take a time to set, they will take very little actual time to make.
You can even make the blue layer by a blue coloured drink, something like Barr's Bubblegum drink HERE or Powerade just use a pack of gelatine mix HERE, follow instructions carefully & make sure you add the blue drink to the gelatine mix rather than the other way round!
Mix a jelly up, pop into serving dishes, into fridge until set, then do the next layer & repeat until you have enough layers
Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go!
Liven up boring juice cartons & water bottles with these fab free printables for carton covers HERE & HERE & water bottles HERE
FREE Printable Pin the Head on The Minifigure HERE
Or you could make your own very easily like the one below
A simpler version to make would be Pin the Stud on the Lego
Free Printable Pin The Face on The Lego Head HERE
How about Guess How Many Legos?
Love this idea of a Lego Memory Game. Label about 25 LEGO pieces on a board. Give everyone a few minutes to memorise as many pieces as they can. Take the board away, and whoever can write down the most items wins.
A really simple idea is a target game, just create circles out of coloured paper like the ones below & the kids throw lego pieces to see who can score the most.
Get the kids to run off all that cake (and the mums & dads too) with a lego Relay Race. Split the kids into teams, place some coloured containers at the end of a course (could make it an obstacle one if you wanted too), get each child to tuck a piece of Lego or Duplo under their chin & they have to run up the course, drop the brick into the container & run back to tag the next team member.
Another version you could play is the Lego & Spoon Race, either as a relay as above or give everyone that makes it to the end a prize.
I've never managed to get the hang of chopsticks, but this game looks so much fun & certainly less messy than the front of my top after trying to eat chop suey with a pair!!
Simply fill a tub with lego then place an empty tub a foot or so away & the aim is for the kids to transfer as many pieces as possible in a say a minute, you could have 3 or 4 kids doing this at a time using paper party bowls.
Some more ideas can be found on the Lego site HERE
Such a fab & clever idea, you could use this painted bubble wrap for lots of things, table decoration as in the first pic, table runners & place mats or even hang on the walls to use as general decor. You can pick up huge rolls inc green really cheaply (will pop some under pics).
This pic shows how the bubble wrap could be used on the table, I think I'd be tempted to use it as a complete tablecloth, love the square plates with the decoration, these are homemade using permanent marker - similar plates HERE
50M Here @ Amazon
Green Bubble Wrap 100M @ Ebay
LINK to Lego Men Paper Garland in Pic 1
The FREE Printable for these fab Ninja Balloons can be found HERE
Another fab party idea game that I came across was this great Ninja Balloon one, though it says use nerf guns, I think it could be easily adapted in various ways, ie use small soft balls / beanbags to throw at them or maybe use water pistols outside & of course it could be adapted to any theme by changing the colour of the balloons & the decoration on them.
Thought this pic showed just how something as simple as jelly (or smarties sorted into individual colours in clear bowls) could really brighten up a food table.
PDK offers many party bag fillers at a very reasonable price
FREE Bus colouring pages & HERE for an activity table
Free London Bus Template for a paper / card model
Thought this looked a good idea, you could adapt the cutout to your local bus, it's just a table with the bus cut out in card & decorated, would be good for the food / drinks tables
You could make up invites as a ticket & get your little one to clip them when they arrive or buy something like THESE HERE
The Wheels on the Bus (20 Fun Kids Songs to sing and dance to) [DVD] @ Amazon
London Bus 3" on offer as an add on item £1.99 at amazon
Pin the wheels on the bus, the one in the example is a school bus, but just adapt to whatever one you want
Make a cardboard box bus to use as a photo prop
or if you don't fancy doing that, how about this fab The wheels on the bus toy tent looks amazing & you could use it after too
Next Theme is Pirates, if you want to suggest any themes, please do & I will try to help, they do take quite a while to research / post, so please bear that in mind if you have a party coming up.
Hope some of the ideas have helped!
I LOVE Pirate themed parties, I've made it well known before that I'll dress up at a drop of a hat & we have monthly talk like a pirate days at home, with the first one to forget having to walk the plank.
There are oodles of ideas for one & hope the one's I've posted will help with some party planning & save some " pieces of eight" as well.
Thought we'd start with party food ideas (mainly cos I'm craving trifle tonight & food is on my mind)
Loving this FAB Dead Man's Chest made out of sausages & ribs, such a simple & fun idea! You can find skulls quite cheaply on ebay HERE or even in the the Pet Section HERE
Keeping with the macabre theme, how about these "Grilled Parrots"? Polly isn't so pretty now, though she looks very yummy!
Back in my day these were sausages on sticks, not now, now they're Dead Man's Fingers
What other body parts can we use? Oh I know, these aren't just sausages wrapped in bacon, nope, they're Dead Man's Toes!
But what if I hear you cry, you are a traditional pirate with a wooden leg? Not a problem, check out these fab Corn Dog Peg Legs! Recipe HERE
Octopus hotdogs
Ahoy There Matey - All aboard the Jolly Dog
Free Printable Pirate Flags HERE
Free Printable Pirate Ship Sales HERE
Free Printable Labels, Straw Toppers, Water Bottle Labels HERE Free Printable Banner HERE & More Free HERE
More Free Printable labels HERE
This Treasure Map Pizza looks so much fun, but really simple to make with the ready made pizza doughs available like this one HERE &HERE, or even mixes to make up at home like these ones HERE & HERE
Everyday meatballs can become every Pirate's weapon of choice by simply sticking a cannonball label on them!
Chicken Nuggets can become Nuggets of Gold
Use the same pen to make the faces on these fab Pirate Marshmallows & Cake Pops with some red fondant icing for the headscarves
If I ever feel seasick I find Eggs & Bacon really help!
These Fab iced cookies would be beyond my icing skill, but I know there are very talented mums on here who would know exactly what to do
How about these Golden Doubloons made out of Oreo's & Edible Gold Spray like this Dr Oetker Gold Shimmer Spray Here
I think even I could attempt these Cupcakes as they are decorated using frosting rather than icing, but looking at the extensive range of cake decorating items that Hobbycraft have HERE, I'm beginning to think I could be a little more adventurous.
What Kid hasn't make choc rice krispie or cornflake cakes? By popping a gold coin on top & putting them in a eye catching pirate cake case like these HERE it keeps to the pirate theme & involves the kids before the party or it could even be used as a party activity if you're very brave & don't mind chocolate everywhere
Few simple ideas to end the Food Section
Sword Kebabs - Just add whatever you want to, you could even substitute fruit if you preferred to do that
How easy are these sandwiches to make? Pop whatever filling you want into the sandwich, cut into a rectangular shape & add a sail made of a cheese slice & a cocktail stick
Mix them with some skull shaped & starfish shaped ones to continue the theme
I said they were simple didn't I? Cheese balls like these HERE in a jar with a cannonball label
Quirky idea to serve a seashell pasta salad in a kids beach bucket, you could even give the kids one of these each to use instead of plates.
Shark Attack
You can make the blue jelly by using a blue coloured drink, something like Barr's Bubblegum drink HERE or Powerade just use a pack of gelatine mix HERE, follow instructions carefully & make sure you add the blue drink to the gelatine mix rather than the other way round!
Mix a jelly up, add the gummy sharks & pop the bowl into fridge until set
Talking of sharks, how amazing (& healthy) is this Watermelon Sharks Head?
Simple Fruit Swords using ones like these HERE - you could use them for the Dead Mans Fingers & Toes too
Pirate Sea Water Drinks - lemonade or sprite with a drop or 2 of blue food colouring
Free Printable Bottle Labels + other Free Pirate Printables HERE
How about buying some of these fab Shark Fin Ice Cube Trays HERE, popping a red berry juice in & freezing then adding with a gummy shark to a white drink like lemonade to create a shark infested waters drink
Something else for a dip - carrot & cucumber swords
Stunning centrepiece for the table - Watermelon Pirate Ship
Or you could make individual Kit Kat Treasure Chests & fill with treasure (gold coins) instead of a gift bag
Love the idea of a treasure map cake like this one below
If you don't want to attempt one of your own, M&S do a lovely one, but it is expensive HERE
Tesco do something similar HERE
Pirate Ship Cake at Waitrose
12 Pirate Cupcakes Waitrose
Pirate Ship & Treasure Island Cake Recipe
Finally, something to help all the mums & dads clear up a little happier
Dirty Pirate Popsicles. 2 1/2 cups Coke 1/3 cup Captain Morgan Spiced Rum 1/3 cup Kahlua, mix & freeze
Shiver Me Timbers Punch.
To make, you will need; 750 ml bottle light rum or Malibu, 500ml pineapple juice, juice of 6 oranges & 6 limes, 1.5 L ginger ale/beer,
125g icing sugar, orange slices & maraschino cherries (to garnish)
In a large bowl, combine rum, pineapple juice, juice of oranges, juice of limes and sugar.
Add ginger ale just before serving.
Chill, serve over ice in glass, garnish.
Simple yet effective table - wilko have lots of decent priced coins, pirate hats HERE
Love this table using the treasure chests instead of plates, you can buy similar HERE or HERE
Free Printable Template HERE
Keeping with the theme, these would be great instead of party bags HERE
These look fun for the wooden ship centre piece
or maybe use something like this Pinata for table decor then later as it's meant to be used
Simple but effective idea for cutlery
Any good at balloon modelling? I'm useless, but cheap fun way to keep the kids amused during the party & they can take home with the afterwards too
Free Printable Pirate Certificate HERE from Rooftop Post
LOTS OF FREE PRINTABLES HERE inc Invites, Cake Toppers, Pirate Digital paper pack comes with 7 printable papers that you can uses for decorations, gifts crafts and more. Cross-bone skulls, pirate skulls, stripes & a sheet that looks like blank treasure
Why shouldn't you join in with the fun? Or if you have girls coming, you could even have a nail bar
Poundland have a good range of Disposable Pirate Themed Tableware HERE & Pirate Balloons HERE as do Wilko
64 Piece Pirate Party Favours at Argos
Party Pack for 16 Guests at Argos
Good Range of Pirate Themed Items at Hobbycraft & Wilko
Morrisons also have a decent range of Pirate Themed Tableware at just £1
Tesco Direct have some fun Pirate themed Decorations & Tableware HERE & Tesco Groceries often have 4 for 3 Offers on Basic Tableware HERE
Tesco Also have 5 for 4 offers on party bag fillers inc bubbles
Buy some cheap generic bubbles from somewhere like Tesco or Poundland & glue on a Pirate Themed Label like these Free ones HERE
Lots of Free Printable Pirate Themed Decorations HERE inc Party Straw Toppers, Banners, Cupcake Flags, Pirates Party Place Cards & Paper Chains
The straw toppers could be used to decorate these Bubble Swords 2 for £1 or Giant ones for £1 HERE
Love these Bubbles, just 20p each at Wilko
This Seller on Ebay has lots of Pirate Themed items & has excellent feedback, prices start from 99p del for 8 party plates
Free Printable Wall Decorations inc Pirate Ship HERE
Free Printable Wanted Display Posters for Wall Decor
Free Printable Pirate Name Poster Spooky mines Stinky Slappy Pants - it's like it was made for me, what's yours?
Or you could buy a themed one like this HERE
If you are really crafty, you can make your own photo props like the ones below but don't worry if you're not, there are some really reasonable priced ones around, will pop links / pics of those in next post
Love this ship themed one, could use broom handles & a sheet for the sail.
Another ship, again it's made out of card with a fabric backdrop, you can buy stripey wrapping paper in rolls, I'd be tempted to use that if I din't have any suitable fabric.
This one maybe a little frightening for younger kids, but it looks incredibly simple to do & I think even I with my terrible art skills would have a go at making one.
This one would definitely be beyond my capabilities but when painted up with some prop oars it would be fab for photos
If you are having a "Walk The Plank" then you could use this as your photo booth
Pirate Photo Door Banner instore / online at Wilko's 50p
Pirate Photo Props £1.50 at Wilko
Pirate Party Photo Cut Out £7.49 at Tesco
Pirate Ship Card Cutout - 78cm £6.99 at Tesco also at Party Delights along with lots of scene setters HERE
Pirate Boat Shaped Play Pool
Inflatable Treasure Chest Cooler - 64cm
Inflatable Treasure Chest
A few other decorations / props
Inflatable Palm Tree
48cm Inflatable Parrot £1.20 Del or 6 for £6.99 Del
2ft Shark
Pack of 6 Pirate Door Danglers 150cm long
Make a ships wheel out of cardboard & either mount on something or just decorate the walls
Fab Anchor & Chain Set - anchor is cut out of card & covered in duct / duck tape, though you could use silver spray paint or just cover in tin foil. The chain is made from paper plates, you cut the middles out of each play, face 2 together & bind with duct tape. Cut through & link the next one on, then tape over the split & so on until you have what you need.
For older kids something like this would be great fun - for younger ones, just place a plank on the floor, no plank of wood handy? Just make one out of paper, add a sea of blue balloons & a few shark fins circling to add to the fun.
Another really simple idea is a Captain Hook ring toss - Hook Toss, found some cheap pirate hooks at Wilko HERE or Pack of 20 smaller ones HERE all you'd need apart from those are a large piece of cardboard & some rings, these could even be made out of cardboard too. There is a free printable Here but it's large so don't think household printers could do it.
There are so many variations you could do based on the hook toss, my kids love throwing games & I know their friends do too, here are a few more ideas in this post & the next
You can buy inflatable swords for the following games if you prefer HERE or stay with the more traditional plastic HERE
Got an old washing basket? Convert it into a fun pirate ship toss game like this one below. Don't have one? £1 HERE
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts! Well actually no, I am quite old, but I do have this Fab Cardboard Coconut Toss Game - just use balls, bean bags or something similar
Feed the croc or shark before they eat you!
Or make your own with an inflatable shark like this one HERE & some card rings for the fraction of the price.
Or how about buying something like this Shark Swim Seat HERE to use as a ball or bean bag toss?
How about a game of Pirate Baseball or Rounders ?
42 inch inflatable skull & crossbones baseball bat
Inflatable Pirate Ball
Eat a lot of beans? Save the cans & make this Can Toss Game
Inflatable Pirate Bop Bag could use as intended or use large rings like hula hoops to play a ring toss game
Shark or Crocodile Version HERE
Fill an old tub or paddling pool wit sand & hide some "Buried Treasure" for the kids to dig out, I would be tempted to give them a list if items to find ie 3 necklaces, 2 bracelets, 3 coins & any extra they discard back into the dig for others to find, the person who finds them quickest, wins.
Weather not so great? Have a game of Cannonball Popping instead, blow up loads of black balloons & stomp or squash your way through them until they're all gone, you could add a few surprises into them before blowing up.
Wilko sell packs of 6 Black & Red Skull & Crossbone Balloons HERE or Pack of 50 Black Skull & Crossbones Balloons HERE or Pack of 10 Black Skull & Crossbones HERE or 100 Plain Black Balloons HERE
"Shark Attack". It's musical chairs with a twist.
Draw or Print out pics of pirate islands & put them all over the floor. Then play music and when it stops you shout 'shark attack'! Everyone has to find an island to jump on, each round an island is removed & the child who doesn't find one is knocked out, this continues until there is just one island left between 2 players.
Similar Idea using hula hoops HERE
An oldie but goody party game with a twist, Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate Game. If you were artistic (& I know so many of you are), you could make your own from card, I'm not so good at drawing, so I'd be tempted to buy one of these ready made sets HERE
Or one of these fab Pirate Themed ones below
Pin The Parrot Game
Place The Treasure Chest Game
Little Pirate Coin Game
Buried Treasure Party Pin Game
Very Simple Make Your Own below + FREE Printable Eyepatches HERE
Free Pirate Nature Scavenger Hunt HERE
All pirates have tattoos don't they? How about a Pirate themed tattoo parlour?
There are lots of cheap Pirate Tattoos to be found like these ones HERE & HERE
Think Pirate Face Painting designs are some of the easiest to do, the one below looks very simple but very effective!
One of my kids has very sensitive skin, we have used Snazaroo face paints many times without any issues, you can buy Pirate Themed kits like this one HERE or larger packs like this one HERE or Pan Stick Sets like THESE
Not feeling so adventurous? Wilko sell Snazaroo Pirate Face Paint Stamp Kits
Activity Tables are very popular at parties & so easy to organise, hope the following ideas & links help
Save your egg cartons, provide paint & jewels to stick on to make your own treasure chests or buy some HERE or HERE to decorate
1st pic the swords are made from cardboard, cardboard tubes & tin foil & in the 2nd pic they are made from Pipe Insulation. In the 3rd, they are just made from cardboard & could be decorated with paint or covered in tin foil & decorated with jewels
Free Printable Template to make Skull Paper Chain
Free Printables for Make Your Own Eye Patches / Make Your Own Pirate Hats + much more
Free Printable Pirate themed colouring sheets
Free Printable Colour By Number Pirate Sheets
Free Printable Design Your Own Ships Flag Sheet
Free Pirate Themed Printables for Mazes, Wordsearch, Dot to Dots, Colouring Pages + More
Free Printable Pirate Mask to Cut Out & Colour
Both YELLOWMOON & BAKER ROSS have an excellent range of themed arts & crafts & party bag fillers.
Even your Pets can join in the fun right HERE
To err is human but to arr is pirate!!
Well now me buckos, that's the Pirate Party theme finished, next one will be Princess themed