15 Pirate Themed Ideas for Schools
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Updated November 2025
Table of Contents
Easy to Implement
- Dress Like a Pirate Day
- Pirate Costume Showcase
- Pirate Art Day
- Pirate Movie Marathon
- Pirate Bingo Night
- Talk Like a Pirate Day
- Pin the Patch on the Pirate
- Dig For Buried Treasure
- Sell Candy Apple Treasure Maps and Ship & Cannon Ball-Shaped Cookies
- Pirate Trivia Night
Moderate to Implement
- Lunch and Learn: Pirate Edition
- The Princess & the Pirate Lunch/Tea Party
- Silent Auction
- Pirate Photo Booth & Dress Up Items
- Pirate Treasure Hunt
Dress Like A Pirate Day
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - spirit day with a flat fee |
| Time to Implement | 1 week |
| Expenses Required | $ (posters; students bring costumes) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1-2 (approval, comms) |
| Ideal For | All grades, low-lift campus fundraiser |
Encourage your students to dress like a pirate for a day in exchange for a small donation! The class votes on which person has their favorite pirate costume and that person can go head to head with the other favorites from the other classes in a costume contest.
15 Pirate Themed Ideas for Schools
Pirate Costume Showcase
| Ease of Implementation | Easy |
| Time to Implement | 2-3 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (small prizes, signage) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-5 (judging and setup) |
| Ideal For | Spirit week, all grades, low-lift fundraiser |
Have the students donate to watch the costume showcase! They get to strut their stuff in their pirate best and their peers get to vote on their favorite costume out of all the favorite costumes in their grade. To make sure each person votes for their own classroom representative, the winner of the showcase wins a pizza party for their whole class!
See also: The 50 Best PTA/PTO School Fundraising Ideas
Pirate Art Day
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - requires table, craft supplies, supervision |
| Time to Implement | 2-3 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (craft kits, art supplies) |
| Volunteers Needed | 2-4 (helpers, setup, cleanup) |
| Ideal For | Elementary and middle school groups, community events |
Collect donations from the students for the opportunity to decorate hats and eye patches in honor of Pirate Day! They can make their own hats out of felt or the school can supply a hat and eyepatch base to be decked out as the students see fit.
Lunch And Learn: Pirate Edition
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - finding a pirate expert, coordinating dates and availability |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (speaker lunch, light refreshments) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-4 (coordination, setup) |
| Ideal For | Educational fundraisers or community engagement events |
Modern classes don't go into pirate lore so today's students don't know a ton about them. Have an expert come and teach a quick lesson on pirates through the ages and have the students donate for the opportunity to lunch n' learn all about them!
The Princess And The Pirate Lunch/Tea Party
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - lunch/tea party setup required |
| Time to Implement | 4-6 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$-$$$ (catering, venue) |
| Volunteers Needed | 8-10 (setup, serving, coordination, cleanup) |
| Ideal For | All grade levels, lunchtime fundraisers, community events |
Host a princess and pirate tea party! For a donation, allow the students to attend the event dressed as either a princess or a pirate and have all the snacks and refreshments a strapping pirate and a beautiful princess could ever want.
Pirate Movie Marathon
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - just need space & movies |
| Time to Implement | 1-2 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (licensing if needed, snacks, seating) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-5 (setup, concessions, cleanup) |
| Ideal For | Family-friendly evening, all grade levels, part of larger event |
Host a family friendly pirate movie marathon and dress up party! Charge an entry fee and have all the pirate themed snacks you can think of!
Pirate Bingo Night
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - bingo cards and simple supplies |
| Time to Implement | 2-3 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (cards, markers, small prizes) |
| Volunteers Needed | 4-6 (card sales, caller, prize distribution) |
| Ideal For | Family nights, elementary/middle school groups |
Its time for bingo! Collect an entry fee plus fee per card for the patrons to play or have them donate a flat rate to play for free the rest of the night. Either way, play lots of pirate music and as always, costumes are encouraged but not required.
Silent Auction
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate |
| Time to Implement | 5-7 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (venue, signage, promotion) |
| Volunteers Needed | 10-15 (setup, item tracking, bidding management) |
| Ideal For | Paired with galas, dinners, or seasonal events |
Host an event and have a silent auction, with the grand prize being a pirates chest full of pirate booty! Load the basket down with as many snacks, scratch offs, and gear as you can fit inside.
Talk Like A Pirate Day
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - works best with smaller groups, minimal supplies needed |
| Time to Implement | 1-2 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (prizes, posters, optional costumes) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1-2 (promotion, prize tracking) |
| Ideal For | Classrooms, clubs, themed school days, add-on to a larger event |
Accept donations to participate in the one day of the year that you actually score points for every pirate phrase you sing or song you speak! Whoever talks the most like a pirate during the day wins a prize!
This event works best with smaller groups so feel free to pair it with any other larger a-thon style event to really bring in the gold!
Pin The Patch On The Pirate
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - requires simple setup with poster, blindfold, stickers |
| Time to Implement | 1 week |
| Expenses Required | $ (pirate poster, blindfold, patches, small prizes) |
| Volunteers Needed | 2-3 (game operator, line management, prize table) |
| Ideal For | Carnival booths, school fairs, family events, pirate-themed community parties |
Ever heard of pin the tail on the donkey? Well this game is the exact same! For a fee, the guest is blindfolded, spun in a circle and sent forward to pin the patch as close to the paper pirate's eye as they can. Landing in a certain area gets a prize!
Dig For Buried Treasure
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - needs small pool, sand, prizes, and markers |
| Time to Implement | 1-2 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $-$$ (sand, inflatable/plastic pool, treasure items, number markers) |
| Volunteers Needed | 2-4 (setup, supervision, prize distribution, reset between turns) |
| Ideal For | Outdoor festivals, carnival days, summer events, themed fundraisers |
Grab a baby or inflatable pool and charge guests to dig through sand and rock to find a prize buried in the rubble. You can also hide a number in the pit and if the participant finds it, they get to pick a prize from that number box. Each paid turn gives the guest a certain amount of time to do their searching and what they come up with is what they get.
Sell Candy Apple Treasure Maps & Ship And Cannon Ball Shaped Cookies
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - baked donations + table setup |
| Time to Implement | 1-2 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (packaging, labels, ingredients) |
| Volunteers Needed | 4-6 (bakers, sellers, setup) |
| Ideal For | Lunch hours, sports games, parent nights, festivals/carnivals |
Everyone loves sweet treats! Sell candy apple treasure maps and cookies cut out and decorated to look like pirate ships and cannonballs.
Pirate Photo Booth With Dress Up Items
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires props, backdrop, and simple photo setup |
| Time to Implement | 2-3 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$-$$$ (costumes, props, backdrop, photography/digital setup, photo printer) |
| Volunteers Needed | 2-4 (setup, photo-taking, checkout/cash box) |
| Ideal For | Larger community events, school carnivals, themed fundraisers |
Add a photo booth to one of your larger scale events! Splurge on a few pirate costumes and charge your patrons to take home silly pictures from the event.
Pirate Trivia Night
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - customizable event |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (venue, prizes, refreshments) |
| Volunteers Needed | 6-8 (host, scoring, setup) |
| Ideal For | Parents & staff, themed evenings |
Everyone loves a trivia night! The theme: DO YOUR WORST PIRATE! All this event will need is some good music and everyone to be ready to do their best to take home the top trivia prize! Also, costumes are encouraged but not required.
Pirate Treasure Hunt
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires map design, props, setup of clue stations |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $-$$ (printing treasure maps, small props, "gold" treats) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-5 (map distribution, trail setup, prize table) |
| Ideal For | School carnivals, spirit week, community festivals, themed parties |
Allow your participants to purchase a copy of a treasure map that they can follow to their own pile of gold! Include a fun and silly trail and allow them to decipher a pirates riddle or two. At the end of the journey? Their "pile of gold" aka oreos painted with gold dust.
