Pirate Party Food Labels

The task was to make food labels for the dishes that would be served at a pirate-themed birthday party for a two-year old. The boy’s mother gave me a list of 11 food names that she already made up. The list included Dead Man’s Fingers (hotdogs), Cannonballs (meatballs), Salty Bones (pretzels), Parrot Wings (chicken wings), and Treasure (colored pasta salad).

Of course, the first thing I did was Google pirate party food labels to get an idea of what others have created. And because the boy had been a huge fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I tried looking for images I could use. Thank you, Internet, for the pictures! (Actually, Disney encourages pirate parties. Check out their "Planning a Pirate Party" page.)

So, here are the steps in making the pirate food labels that graced our birthday boy’s pirate party.

1. Gather all the images. Google and right click to “save image”. Jake and the Neverland Pirate images are available online in high resolution versions. Choose the skull-and-bones image to use for the flags. Pick a scroll image to use as the background of the text. Search for free fonts and pick a pirate type, then download so that you can use it on your image manipulation application (like Photoshop).

2. Arrange, size, and print your images. Print a sample and complete one prototype food label before making an entire batch.

3. Prepare the tools and materials: Barbecue sticks, olive skewers (snip off the sharp ends), black colored paper, adhesive tape, fancy scissors (wavy is good for the pirate theme), regular scissors, double-sided tape (or glue), hole puncher.

4. Print your images on regular bond paper.

5. Cut the labels and colored paper then tape (or glue together) to make the banners.

6. Punch the holes at the ends of the printed scrolls.

7. Cut the skull-and-bones images into little flags and tape them onto the barbecue sticks.

8. Tape a barbecue stick onto the back of a banner.

9. Slide an olive skewer through the holes in the banner (this adds dimension to the banners), and secure the skewers with a small piece of tape to prevent them from slipping off.

And there you have it! 

Be creative in making up pirate names for the foodstuff you will serve at the party. Enjoy!

10/10/15 Update: I see that a lot of people come to my blog to check out these pirate party food labels. If you want me to make a set for you, please email me: rubybayan@gmail.com so that we can discuss. Please note that I am currently based in Manila. :)