Categories: Party Plans-Published On: November 1, 2022-

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

What is better than a 70th birthday? Maybe a 70th birthday on Halloween! My mom was born in 1952 on October 31 and has always loved Halloween. She dresses up every year and goes all out decorating her home and front yard for the festivities. To celebrate her special 70th birthday, we threw an epic pirate themed birthday party. It became obvious to me that the party space needed a pirate ship as well as a table set for rowdy pirates to eat at. We also played a little trivia game, going around the table, each of us asking my mom a question from each decade of her life. She got all the important questions right, only missing the hard ones about how much a gallon of gas cost and what was the average time it took for a web page to load. No one knew the answers to those questions, but she nailed the others and is still very sharp for 70!


Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party – Invitation

As with ever party, it always starts with the invitation. Mom’s party was small, so I made the invites a little more special than normal. I got some glass bottles from Hobby Lobby (always wait for their sales) and then added some sand to the bottom as well as some gold leaf foil (leftover from other projects I’ve done). I designed the invitation using Canva.com, printed them, and then burnt the edges. If you like this invitation idea, just be sure to add enough sand to cause the invitation to be reachable in the bottle. Then to complete the look, I just secured the cork top in place and made some wax seals on wax paper. Once the seals were dry, I just peeled them off and used a glue gun to attach them to a piece of ribbon. I really like the way they turned out and the hardest part was gathering the items to make them.


Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party – Party space

To create the pirate ship, I started with the mast. Using the cheapest piece of lumber I could find; I built the frame. Check out my video to see just how easy it was to do. The video shows more of the party space too. Creating the mast probably took me 10 minutes – so easy. To stabilize the frame, I used our small outdoor table with an umbrella hole. I originally expected to also need to secure it in a bucket of rocks, but it wasn’t necessary for my frame. Then I used some cheesecloth gauze to create billowing sails. You can usually find creepy gauze around Halloween at the Dollar Store. For an extra detail, I wrapped some rope around the post and called it good. Once the mast was upright, I just covered the table with a black tablecloth. Part one of the pirate ship was done and I loved it, but the boat shape baffled me for a bit. I searched Pinterest for inspiration but couldn’t find the fit for my table and faux mast. I ended up using wood plank paper from Hobby Lobby and an old huge box. I just folded the flattened box in half and cut the curve for the top of the ship. Once I had the shape, I just glued the wood plank paper to it. It’s not fancy or super sturdy, but it got the job done for my pirate ship backdrop.


Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party
There was fog and some spider webs to enhance the party space~

The epic pirate themed tablescape was fun to put together. How cool would it have been to replicate One-Eyed Willy’s table from the movie, Goonies?! But without a Hollywood budget, I just used some black covered books to get varying heights across the table; my Amazon candelabras and LED tapers; and then I used my brass urn, a skeleton head, and some black roses for the centerpiece. I got a bag of chocolate covered coins from Party City and some other little bits and baubles to add details and interest to the table. I set chargers around the table for each place setting and then used paperware. The tablescape was busy and chaotic, but very simple to set up. I would recommend using what you have and just get creative with the decor.


Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party
Here’s a link to the pirate flag in the background.

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party – Food

For lunch we enjoyed toasted croissants with chicken salad, cut fruit, and chips. My mom isn’t into fancy gourmet meals so I kept it simple and selected things I knew she would enjoy. For dessert she requested anything with pumpkin. I found a dessert that looked and sounded delicious, but when I tested it, it was horrible. I’m talking, one bite and we were done testing. Now, I know there are many of you out there who would know exactly how to fix the recipe just by looking at it and then make it wonderful, but my skillset remains outside of the kitchen. So, I picked up a pumpkin roll from Sam’s Club, and it was very good, the pumpkin spice flavor was rich but not overpowering – I was very happy with it. If you’ve seen enough of my other party plans, you know that I don’t drink alcoholic beverages, which consequently means I don’t serve alcohol to others, but what I do enjoy serving are spritzers – mocktails – punch! I love combining various juices with a fizzy base, and then creating the pretty and edible garnish is my favorite part. Check out the video of the pirate spritzers, they were so good, like I had another glass after the party because the flavors were great together. I just mixed half peach juice and 7-Up into a pitcher to create the punch. The day before, I made some skull ice cubes using grape juice and I froze a cup of pomegranate seeds. The skull ice cubes looked so cool and were a good contrast in the light-colored punch, but unfortunately, they didn’t float upright so you couldn’t really see the face. However, when the grape juice melted into the spritzer, it tasted phenomenal. The pomegranate seeds were fun to chew on and their juice added a nice flavor too. It was a very good mixture and looked creepy.


Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Our family dressed up as pirates and so did my mom, it was so fun! Celebrating my mom is always fun and an honor to do. And with each party done, I like to reflect on anything I would change, and I would say that the biggest lesson learned is to not use sparkler candles on a dessert. I cut everyone’s slice of pumpkin roll, then added the numbers 7 and 0 sparklers to mom’s piece and they finished sparkling in time with us singing Happy Birthday. Sounds good, right, and it was fun! However, bits of sparkler came off onto her dessert without her seeing it and chewing into one is so not good. I assumed the sparklers that were sold as cake toppers would be fine, but I should have checked her piece to make sure there was no debris. She was a good sport, but yuck! Anyway, the party was fun for all, and I hope mom’s 70th was a memorable and special one.

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party
George Washington and the Grim Reaper

Epic Pirate Themed Birthday Party
Quinn was really getting into character!

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Thanks so much for checking out this post! I hope my parties inspire and help provide ideas and inspiration. Getting together is always special whether there is party decor or not, but it sure makes it fun and memorable. Be sure to subscribe to my blog for more DIY projects, decorating inspirations, and party ideas!

POSTED IN:  Party Plans

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