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Pirate Party - Backyard Pirate Games

December 2007

Meran in Layton, Utah

Special Mention

PIRATES!!!! think Pirates of the Caribbean, Cut-throat Island, etc. swashbuckling corsairs with swords and muskets and eye patches sailing  the sea in huge ships with canvas sails and cannons! 

Invitations: Message in a bottle. Treasure maps with burnt edges and blood spots and black sand and sea shells stuffed into a little glass bottle.  

Decorations: Ocean and ship scene setters. Torn sails, parrots, and ropes. Treasure chests filled with booty. Brightly colored tablecloths and gilded flatware. Jolly Roger flags. 

Activities:  Shipshape Sailors: This is a game of trivia. Look up online to find sailing and pirate lingo. http://www.io.com/~sj/PirateTalk.html If you have a sailor in your group make him the Boatswain in charge of the game. Give him the list with the definitions and have him quiz the crew to find out how much they know. The person with the most right answers gets some treasure. Give your boatswain a special prize for being a good sport. 

Fishing: Fill a large plate or bowl or small kiddy pool with little cut-outs of fish with paper-clips glued to them. Give each crew member a fishing pole- a bamboo skewer with a string and a magnet attached. Each fish has a number on it to tell you how much treasure it's worth. Players must gather as many fish as they can before they are gone. They can also steal another player's catch by attaching their magnet to their fish before they get it into their bucket.  

Land Ho: Make big a picture collage in black and white filled with little ships and waves and sharks. Hidden throughout the picture there will be Islands, reefs, and harbors that are really hard to see. So, one must use a telescope and look very closely. When land is spotted the player must yell Land Ho!! who ever spots the most land gets some treasure. 

Fight for Captaincy: Sword fighting with raw spaghetti noodles! the captain is found through process of elimination. The fighter with the most wins get some treasure and and special prize for being captain. Two people go up against each other with a noodle. The first to break his noodle looses. If both the fighters break their noodles the player with the most noodle remaining is the winner. This is messy- there will be little bits of broken noodles EVERYWHERE. Best to be played outdoors.  

Walk the Plank: Everyone who fought the captain must now walk the plank!!! A 12 foot long 2x4 is laid out on the floor and the victims are blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs. They then are forced to walk the plank. If they fall off they lose. If they make it to the other end they receive some treasure. To make this safer the whole crew should stand along the plank on both sides to catch the person when they fall. 

Cursed Treasure: Make a treasure map with cryptic clues and give it to the captain (decided by the sword fighting contest). He/she will lead the crew on a treasure hunt through eel infested waters and deadly swamps. They must find the chest and remove a piece of treasure each. On one piece there will be a mark indicating that it's cursed. The person who chose the cursed treasure is now IT in dead man's bluff. They must pass the curse on quickly or be killed by it. 

Dead Man's Bluff: Designate who is IT" Blindfold "IT" and spin him/her around several times puts the blindfold on and the fun starts again! Give this game a time limit or it could go on for hours. At the end of the time the person who is IT now receives the Black Spot. 

The Black Spot:  The person whose fate has given them the Black Spot is now in big trouble! Davy Jones has sent the Kraken to devour the man who behest the Black Spot! To save yourself you must evade the terrible beastie. This is a version of Snakes or Caterpillar. The rest of the crew is now the Kraken. They form a circle by holding hands and must chase the person with the Black Spot. This person has a bag of water balloons (or Nerf balls) which he can throw at the Kraken. If someone in the Kraken is hit by a water balloon they are out and must leave the Kraken. The people on either side of this person now join hands. Also if the circle breaks without someone being out the two people who let go are now out. The people who are out are now on the side of the Black Spot. They are given water balloons and must attack the Kraken. When the Kraken is defeated the person with the Black Spot is now free. But if they are caught by the Kraken a new person is chosen to have the Black Spot. This is done easily. When they are caught the people in the Kraken must sit down. The last person standing now has the Black Spot. 

Sinking Ships: You must now fight Davy Jones for your Soul!! Split into two even teams. Each team has a ship painted on paper bags. They are given a limited # of cannon balls (ping-pong or Nerf or similar) and slingshots or cannons if we can get them. They then have a set time limit to fire as many cannon balls into the other teams ship as they can. Balls that bounce off are not counted. Only a direct hit that goes through the paper scores a point. The team with the most points is given some treasure. 

Music: The soundtracks for all three Pirates of the Caribbean have excellent music. Also use Cut-throat Island and The Princess Bride music. Cut out the boring or obnoxious scores and make a montage of beautiful orchestrated music. 

Food: Tuna Schooners: Toast each muffin and place a piece of lettuce on it after it cools. Top with tuna salad and a tortilla chip propped up like a sail. 

The Kraken: cut hot dogs lengthwise 3/4 of the way up 4 times to make 8 legs.  Boil the hot dogs so they swell and the legs curl out. Serve on beef flavored ramen colored green like seaweed. This is a great treat for little kids especially if you draw faces on it with mustard or ketchup. 

Stuffed Seashells:Cook giant seashell pasta al-dente. Stuff with chicken salad. Chill  Shrimp Cocktail: cooked chilled shrimp served with cocktail sauce.  Ginger Beer: make a graveyard with 1/2 ginger ale and 1/2 root beer  Hot Buttered Rum:look up recipe for a virgin buttered rum. 

The Black Pearl: make a cake shaped like a pirate ship!! Check out this website for a recipe  http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50180 I plan on making mine with black sails and blackened frosting. This is my piece-de-resistance. 

Favors: Wardrobe:  Upon arrival to the party each person is given a pirate hat eye patch sword gun sash (also could be used as a bandanna) a telescope a treasure bag and a compass. These are for ambiance and some of it is necessary for games to be played."

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