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Pirate Party for Preschoolers: A Treasure Chest of Ideas

Buried Treasure, Captain Hook, Pirate Party

Pirates are a popular theme these days, but even if your preschooler has yet to see Pirates of the Caribbean, they can get into the whole swashbuckling fun. You do not even need to wait for a birthday to throw a pirate party. Celebrate the start of summer or arrange to use some of the following treasure chest of ideas for a swim team party.

Treasure hunt
Pirates are all about the loot. In turn, what child is not fond of loot? Treasure hunts can be as simple or as elaborate as you desire.

  • Gather the loot. This can look like pirate’s treasure such as candy coins or necklaces, but it could just as easily be small toys from the Dollar Store or a healthy snack.
  • Set up a treasure hunt – Hide the loot and then working backwards plan the map. If you are feeling ambitious write a riddle for each clue, if not a simple picture map will work. Draw a few landmarks and then draw a dotted line to the loot.
  • Make it official – After drawing the map, crinkle it up and cover with a pinch of flour. Add a note about the stash of treasure.
  • Easier treasure hunt alternative – If you have a sandbox or have access to a beach, hide loot in the sand. Hand each party guest a small plastic shovel and let them hunt for the buried treasure. Plastic jewels are fun to find and won’t be destroyed if someone accidentally steps on where they are buried.

Plan Pirate Activities
The pirate party I threw took place at our neighborhood pool so much of our pirate activities involved water play. If you do not have access to a pool or lake, consider holding relay races and making a craft or two. Pirates have energy to spare!


1. Captain Hook hand –
You will need:

  • Cardboard, an old cereal box works well.
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Plastic cups, large enough to fit over a child’s hand
  • Scissors
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Cut a hook shape out of cardboard. Do this beforehand to keep the activity moving.
Let the kids cover their hooks with foil.
Cut a slit in the bottom of each child’s plastic cup.
Slip the hook through the cup. The child holds the end of the hook to “use” it.


2.Tick Tock –While the kids are running around with their Captain Hook hands, hide a ticking kitchen timer. Hide it so that the kids can hear it but not see it. Direct their attention to the right location through a series of dramatic “You are getting hot” or “You are getting cold” exclamations. The object is to find the timer before the bell goes off. Plan on playing this many times if your kids are anything like the ones in my neighborhood!

3. Musical islandsCut pieces of poster board into island shapes. Place the islands throughout the play area. Have all the little pirates find an island to stand on. Start music and have the pirates “swim the ocean” meaning they walk around the islands until the music stops. Once it stops each pirate has to jump to an island. After the first round, start removing an island each time until only pirate island is left.

Pirate food
You can go all out and make a pirate ship cake, or an impressive treasure chest cake complete with candy necklaces spilling out, or keep it simple. I went with the simple approach and served hotdogs that looked like squids.

  • Squid dogs – If you want to be a little fancier, stick a paper sail into each hot dog, or cut the dogs lengthwise four times leaving a third of the dog intact before placing them in boiling water. This method creates little octopus dogs that are fun.
  • Another hot dog treat is to cut hot dogs into one inch pieces and then push dry spaghetti noodles through before popping in boiling water. This also makes octopus-style hot dogs.
  • Goldfish Crackers – Set them in cupcake wrappers with skull and cross bones, or pour them in a clean plastic sand bucket using the shovel to scoop them into little hands.
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Pirate favors

Easy favors could be whatever loot the kids find in their treasure hunt. Add to it with temporary tattoos, candy necklaces, gummy worms, or a pirate eye patch.