3 DIY Pirate Birthday Party Ideas

By Joan
May 24, 2023
1 Comment

DIY Pirate Birthday Party Ideas

My grandson Felix just turned 5 years old and mom and dad threw him a Pirate Birthday Party. I’ve welcomed each new grandchild with a DIY frame, you can find his from five years ago here.

Mom and Dad took care of most of the food, decor, games and goodies but they did send a couple of requests my way. Could I make a treasure map ring toss and could I check the local thrift stores for boxes that could pass as pirate treasure boxes.

My daughter-in-law, Mollie, sent me this picture of a pirate themed ring toss game . Apparently this one was from “Jacob’s birthday party”, and apparently kid’s birthday parties have gotten a lot more extravagant than when I was a kid. Make sure you check out some of these pictures. Wow, just wow!

Anyway, she just wanted a simple pirate ring toss game. I can do that!

You can purchase individual pirate hooks at your local Party City or other Halloween store for about $5 a piece. Amazon sells a set of 8 hooks for $21.

Could I make the hooks myself? Don’t know, but it was time to hit up my local thrift store to see what I could find. And that is where I found these plastic, no stem, wine glasses for 75 cents each. They are the perfect Captain Hook shape and size.

I had the rope already on hand and will use that for the rings.

Ring Toss Rings

For the ring toss rings, cut pieces of rope so that they are about 5-6 inches in diameter. Join together with wrapped wire. Cover the wrapped wire ends with tape. I’m using colored electrical tape I’ve had sitting around forever.

Pirate Hooks

For the pirate hooks, give your wine glasses one or two coats of black semi-gloss spray paint, or whatever you have on hand.

Draw a pattern for a hook making sure it’s not too large or too small for your glasses.

If you are uncomfortable with drawing your hook freehand, just Google, Pirate Hook template, and you’ll get several patterns to choose from, or just use mine.

Cut out your hook pattern and transfer to a thin piece of scrap wood. Cut out the hooks with a tabletop or handheld jigsaw. Lightly sand the edges.

Spray or hand paint with gold or silver.

Drill a hole in the tops of the wine glasses large enough to hold the end of the hook. Use hot glue to secure the hook.

Pirate Treasure Map

Moving on to the pirate treasure map backdrop. I’m using a piece of 1/2 plywood I had saved from my son’s garage a couple months ago. It’s about 2×3 feet.

Cut notches in the sides of the plywood as if the paper map is ripping and slowly decaying.

Paint the map white. When the white has dried use some of your antique wax (or watered down brown paint) to age the map. Paint on the wax or paint on the edge of the map and while it is still wet blend with a rag or paper towel. Add a few more drops to the center of the map to age that “paper” as well. If the wax is too dark, keep rubbing the wax off. If it is not dark enough, add more.

Go around the edge of your map one more time with black paint. Paint the edges black to remove that fresh cut wood look and smear some of the black onto the front edges of the map. This time you’re going for the look of charred paper.

The treasure map Mollie sent me was fine but I do like to see what else is out there on the internet. This time Google, pirate treasure maps. Just look for what inspires you. I liked the one in the lower left corner. It wasn’t too fancy but had a lot of nice details.

Before beginning to paint my map I determined where I would like my hooks. I’m attaching them with circle cutouts that fit inside the glasses. Those circle cutouts are screwed into the plywood. When I’m finished painting the map, I’ll just attach the hooks with hot glue.

Now it was just a matter of outlining my island with black paint and adding some island details.

The treasure map ring toss is ready for a bunch of 5 year olds.

Pirate Birthday Party Pirate Sail

This DIY project I had absolutely nothing to do with. My son, Kevin, put this up in the backyard welcoming all the kids to a backyard pirate treasure scavenger hunt.

He tells me this was made from a white tablecloth and 2 long poles. I believe at least one of the poles is his extension pole for painting. The tablecloth was attached to the poles with zip ties.

I must say that when the wind caught the tablecloth, it really did look like a pirate sailing ship.

Pirate Birthday Party Treasure Box

My other assignment was to find 5 or 6 treasure boxes for the Pirate Birthday Party Scavenger Hunt. Kids would each receive a map for which they would have to find a treasure box with pirate themed goodies inside.

From the thrift store I found this Pokemon stickered, lavender treasure box. Not quite pirate themed but it could totally work.

I don’t think pirates were into Pokemon, so the stickers were the first to go.

The lavender had to disappear as well, replaced with a nice black chalk paint.

I also removed that nice purple handle.

I could have stopped here but that brass is way too shiny for a treasure box that’s been buried for a hundred years.

What that brass needs is a nice fragrant faux rust. Paint on a layer of brown/black, almost rusty paint. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle with cinnamon. Brush off the excess. Voila, instant rust!

Yes, the cinnamon did make quite a mess.

But the box did clean up quite nicely.

I replaced the lavender handle with a piece of an old belt.

For most of the pirate treasure scavenger hunt boxes I was able to use boxes that I already owned. I did manage to make one pirate treasure box entirely from scratch. That one I’ll show you next week. I know you can’t wait. 😆

Until next time, stay inspired.