N and I spent quite a few fun nights scouring the web and Pinterest looking for just the perfect food to serve for his pirate party. Like I have said before I am not sure which is more fun planning a party or having the party. And I LOVE that N loves the planning almost as much as I do.
I don’t think there is a more fun theme than pirates when it comes to food. There are so many creative things that can be done. N and I picked our favorites, but there are tons others out there.
Appetizers:
The appetizers were so much fun. This was my first try at food carving and I was thrilled at how it all turned out.
- Fish and Chips (Goldfish and Doritos)
- Pirate Gold (Cubed cheddar cheese)
- Cannon Balls (Black olives)
- Pirate Jewels served in a Shark bowl (melon salad)
- Kraken Dip (Red pepper octopus, black olive eyes & dill dip)
- Desert Island Veggies (green pepper tree top, carrot tree trunk, zucchini bottom for the island)
- Sharks Blood punch
Dinner:
Is always a serve yourself affair at my shin digs. I try to make sure that as much as possible dinner can be prepared ahead of time. I even try to store the food in the fridge in the serving bowl. This means more time for me to play with all the kids!
For this party the pulled pork was done in the crockpot the day before. The salsa & guacamole was made the day before. The pasta salad was made the morning of the party. So the only thing that had to be made while guests were there were the hot dogs.
- Caribbean Pulled Pork
- Hard Tack – tortillas to ye landlubbers
- Shiver me timbers salsa
- Avocado and lime – to prevent scurvy don’cha know (guacamole)
- Seaweed salad – arg, its just pesto matey (pesto pasta salad)
- Octodogs or Kraken dogs (Just cut the hot dog into 1/4s but leave the top 2″ intact. When they are boiled the legs will curl up.)
Cake:
The pièce de résistance was the cake. I normally make cupcakes for parties because it makes serving so much easier. But I REALLY wanted to make a pirate ship cake. The problem is N doesn’t like chocolate frosting. So that meant I had to make a “sea” for the cake to sit on. And that meant we could draw a treasure map on the sea.
The sea is one yellow box cake mix in a 21″ x 15″ sheet pan and frosted with one batch of butter cream frosting. The island is a sugar cookie, but you could use crumbled graham crackers.
The ship cake is one chocolate box cake baked in a 9″x13″ pan. The cake was cut in half to make 2 pieces 9″x 6 1/2″. I cut a piece of cardboard to look like a ship and wrapped it in Aluminum foil. I used that as a template to cut the ship. One of the leftover triangle pieces from carving the ship was put on the front to give some more height. The ship took just over 1 can of purchased chocolate frosting.
The decorations for the pirate ship cake included: lifesavers for the cannon portholes, M&M decorations, pretzel snaps for the windows and railings. The cannons were black candles. The mast is just paper on a bamboo skewer.
One hint if you are going to make this, be sure that you put the decorations in the frosting before you put the cake in the refrigerator. Once it goes in the refrigerator the frosting will get hard and the decorations won’t stick.
Inspirations:
- Octopus dip & lots of other food ideas – Mom endeavors
- Watermelon Shark – Sun Scholars
- Cake – One Clever Mom
- Cake instructions – The Celebration Shoppe
- Octodogs – One Clever Mom
Pirate Party Links:
Not Your Normal Steam 
Absolutely awesome. These are really helpful ideas, and very creative!
Hi! My son’s pirate themed birthday party is a week away and I’d like to thank you for some great ideas! One question I’d like to ask…how on earth did you get the green bell pepper slices attached to the carrot for the palm tree? I was thinking maybe toothpicks? Thanks, and I love your blog!
Ding, ding, ding!!! You are correct. We used tooth picks to attach the green pepper. I’d love to hear how your son’s party went. This party was great fun!