We’ve been planning a Pirate Party for a 5 year old, well, two 5 years olds actually, for a while now. And we want it to be fun, perfect and friendly to the planet. Read on to see how we got on.

Who are the Pirate Party Planners?

Firstly, who’s the we? The lovely Kirsty (take a look here to see how lovely she is) from Navigating Baby has a Number 2 son exactly the same age as my Number 2 , my 5 year old daughter. In fact, they were born on the same day in the same hospital.

(We didn’t meet until a few weeks later when we dragged out sorry, labour-weary, bodies to a local playgroup so our Number 1 kids could run off a bit of energy. And then discovered that our older kids are just one week apart in age. And then we ran a Playgroup together. And now our Numbers 1 & 2 are both at school together.)

But, I digress.

So, Kirsty and I decided to pool our time and resources and have a joint birthday party. Our two 5 year olds are in the same Reception class together, so we’d have been inviting all the same people anyway. So it made sense. And it meant we got to meet up for a coffee a few times without kids and call it a ‘Planning Meeting’. (I can’t promise that we didn’t spend more time gossiping than planning)

Now, you can really go to town on a party. And a lot of people do. But we decided to keep it fairly simple and outsource some of the bits.

Why? Well, we’re both busy. Kirsty has 4 littles and a host of side-hustles including her blog. And I’m trying with my new blog and making final preparations for our school’s Summer Fair which I am organising. (Note to parents: be careful what you stick your hand up for at PTA meetings)

So those lovely folk at Waitrose were chosen to bake a pirate ship cake for the birthday bash. And Kirsty, who is very adept at these things, made a Pirate Boy and a Pirate Girl topper for the cake.

Then her 5 year old boy commented that the pirate girl topper looked really fat. Whereas the real life girl doesn’t. Cue a quiet chat from Kirsty to my little girl explaining artistic licence. Crisis averted. Phew!

Why a Pirate Party?

To be honest, neither of our kids is particularly into pirates, but we thought we could cobble something pirate-themed together that they’d be happy with.

And it’s not too gender-specific.

And I’d rather cut out my own heart with a teaspoon than have a Disney Princesses party.

Or a My Little Pony party.

And we saw some really great stuff on Pinterest that looked easy enough.

(Take a look here at my Pinterest Board for Pirate Party Ideas).

Why a Planet-friendly Pirate Party?

Regular readers of my blog will know that the Empty Nest Family are on a big drive to reduce our consumption of plastic. The kids are actively choosing not to have magazines with (cheap and nasty) plastic toys on the front. And I’m trying my very best never to head out the of the house without a bag for life or a jute bag. (You can read more about our problem with Plastic Consumption here.)

So, Kirsty and I decided we’d do our bit and make a concerted effort to minimise our use of plastic at the party.

We decided to say NO to plastic straws. NO to lots and lots of individual plastic water bottles. And NO to plastic take-home bags full of plastic crap.

Homemade Invitations for the Pirate Party

At Empty Nest Mummy, we are very keen on crafts. So the kids were delighted to help make parchment paper using wet teabags.

And then, loosely based on the theme of a treasure map, I wrote out the invitations. A great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Keep It Simple

Having been to a whole load of kids’ parties by now, we both thought that keeping it simple was the way forward. We decided against any party games, so had no pass the parcel and didn’t pin the tail on anything.

And no balloons as Kirsty is terrified of them. (Can I reveal that, K? It does make you sound a bit bonkers)

We also decided against a kids’ entertainer or a face-painter.

Instead, we hired part of a leisure centre hall, selected partly for its enormous bouncy castle.

And we had a selection of foam mats and foam shapes. Lots of chance for free play. Job done.

And, of course, we had a Craft Table. No event is complete without a Craft Table.

We even kept the crafts simple. I bought two 99p Colouring Books from Wilko, one Pirate themed and one Princess themed.

And I bought, again from Wilko, a few packs of plain white card people, goggle eyes, glue sticks and a pack of pretty paper. I roped my mum into cutting out bandana shapes out of the pretty paper.

And co-opted by One Man Craft Shop 5 year old to make a couple in advance. Job done!

What Food for the 5 Year Olds’ Pirate Party?

Mrs Navigating Baby is a dab hand at fairy cakes, so she rolled up her sleeves and whipped up a big batch, some decorated with shark-infested waters, and some with gorgeous hand-made pirate cake toppers.

I’m less adept at the whole baking thing, so made some very chocolatey, and very delicious, Rice Krispie Cakes. I popped a gold coin into each one to make them a bit more piratey. I was hoping they’d look a bit like buried treasure. What do you think?

Mr Navigating Baby made a skull-and-crossbones cookie cutter so Kirsty used these for some of the ham sandwiches.

I did simple cheese and simple jam (had to be strawberry as one of the kids won’t entertain any other flavour). They were supposed to be cut into dolphin shapes but I couldn’t find my dolphin cutter. So we made do with little triangles. And, as it’s a party, we allowed white bread and cut the crusts off. (Just no limit to our crazy party spirit here, eh Kirsty?)

Add in a few bowls of crips, and we were ready to party.

Healthy (ish) Food for the Pirate Party

I know it’s a party, but we were both keen to keep the Pirate Party fairly healthy. And to try to ensure maximum engagement with the fruit.

… and I have always been keen on making the food look pretty or funny, ever since I had an issue with Fussy Eaters.

So, inspired by Pinterest, I ‘dressed’ each banana like a pirate, a very friendly pirate. And, do you know what? Lots and lots of kids said yes to the Pirate Banana. (We did have some leftover bananas, but I used these to make a healthy Frozen Banana & Strawberry Dessert)

I was supposed to do something similar with the easy-peelers, but discovered too late that felt tip won’t stay put on satsuma skin. So, we just piled them up into a box like treasure instead.

And I made carrot baton Pirate Swords with a cucumber hilt. Again, these were really quite popular. And they took just a few minutes to make.

Party Bags for Take-home

Kirsty and I decided early on that we wouldn’t go down the plastic party bag and plastic toys route.

So we sourced relatively sturdy white paper bags with handles and put in some Pirate Wordsearches, a handful of gold coins and some pirate stickers.

And finished them off with a small packet of Pirate crayons and a homemade piece of ‘ancient parchment’ for a Make Your Own Treasure Map craft.

Perfect for our 5 year old pirate party guests.

A Successful Planet-Friendly Pirate Party for 5 Year Olds?

Of course there was some weeping and wailing. A party isn’t a party without some tears, right?

But apart from that, all 30-something 5 year old kids seemed to have a great time. They bounced. They ran. They jumped. They ate. They crafted.

…and surely that’s all you can hope for. Right?