Diary of a Crafty Lady: Pirate Party Part 4: Games

So, besides Dressing like a Pirate and Eating Lunch and Cupcakes, the big game at our Pirate Party was a Treasure Hunt.
Very Piratey, don't you think??
The treasure hunt helped them fill their party favor bags to take home too - which I think is way more fun than just handing them a bag filled with treats as they leave.

I wanted each child to have their own treasure map, and actually this was one of the things my daughter specifically wanted months and months ago when she told me she wanted a pirate party. She said that she really wanted a treasure map :)

In Microsoft Word, I took some clip art pirate pictures and arranged them around the page. I added a dotted line, an "x marks the spot" and and the words "Captain Jocelyn's Treasure Hunt."
I printed the maps onto offwhite cardstock - enough for each child to have one.
You can see in the picture above, on the left is the printed page before I distressed it. I cut uneven, wavy edges. On the right, you can see how we inked the edges and wrinkled the whole thing to make it look a little bit more like an old map.

Here they are, all rolled up and tied with a ribbon...

Around the building, I hid little treasure boxes, and next to them, a large image that matched an image on the treasure map.

Below, you can see, I printed the treasure chest onto paper, and taped it on the wall, and the last item on the treasure map, is the same picture.

So, the kids had to find the items on the map in order, and collected their treasure on the way. They used the fabric goodie bags I had made them to collect their prizes...

Some of the treasure included, bouncy balls, candy, harmonicas, and other things I collected from the party supply store.

I also made them each one personalized prize - these "Gold Doubloon Necklaces"

These were so easy, and fun to personalize!
Each was made from a small lump of clay. I used fimo/sculpey clay that gets baked to harden.

Some were made to look like treasure maps (above).
Some were made to look like gold coins (below).

I used the little letter stamps ($1 from the craft store), just like in this project here.
After they were baked, I filled the indentations with a little bit of watered down paint to make the letters stand out.
The two holes were made with a skewer and allowed me to string a ribbon, and have the "medallion" lay flat when they wore it as a necklace.

We also played "Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate."

I sketched out a pirate face and painted it....

I made each child an eye patch out of construction paper, with their intial painted on it....

They all had a good laugh :)

We also read a few Pirate Stories that I had picked up from the library!
Now, this was kindof a last minute addition/decision - but I am SO GLAD I picked these up!!!
We read all 3, the kids LOVED it - they were all enthralled!! In fact, the Port Side Pirates book came with a CD to sing the words - and it was so fun!
Granted, my voice was shot by the time I read 3 books in a pirate voice - but it was well worth it!!

We ended making fruit loop "jewel" necklaces - which was also really fun. I gave everyone a piece of twirling ribbon with a fruit loop knotted on the end, and they threaded fruit loops on to their heart's content :)