Birthday Party for 5 Year Old Boys

-2.5 hours is good at that age.
-pizza is great. Be sure to get one plain cheese pizza for those that don't
like pepperoni. I always have hotdogs on hand too.
-be sure to have little nibbles out: chips, goldfish & pretzels
-have a treasure hunt in your house ending w/a pirate chest of gold coins,
Matchbox cars & candy to take home. Just be sure to have plenty in there
so all the kids can take some home. Make your treasure maps. Make it easy hiding the treasure behind the sofa, let's say.
-Google "pirate party" & you will find tons of cute ideas
-you can always have a pinata outside if weather is permitting or in the
garage
-hv some toys out for them to play in the event they get a little restless
-they have cute pirate themed cakes or you can do cupcakes (easier for
the kids to eat)
-you can have little pirate hats & eye patches for each child

Updated

-2.5 hours is good at that age.
-pizza is great. Be sure to get one plain cheese pizza for those that don't
like pepperoni. I always have hotdogs on hand too.
-be sure to have little nibbles out: chips, goldfish & pretzels
-have a treasure hunt in your house ending w/a pirate chest of gold coins,
Matchbox cars & candy to take home. Just be sure to have plenty in there
so all the kids can take some home. Make your treasure maps. Make it easy hiding the treasure behind the sofa, let's say.
-Google "pirate party" & you will find tons of cute ideas
-you can always have a pinata outside if weather is permitting or in the
garage
-hv some toys out for them to play in the event they get a little restless
-they have cute pirate themed cakes or you can do cupcakes (easier for
the kids to eat)
-you can have little pirate hats & eye patches for each child

Updated

-2.5 hours is good at that age.
-pizza is great. Be sure to get one plain cheese pizza for those that don't
like pepperoni. I always have hotdogs on hand too.
-be sure to have little nibbles out: chips, goldfish & pretzels
-have a treasure hunt in your house ending w/a pirate chest of gold coins,
Matchbox cars & candy to take home. Just be sure to have plenty in there
so all the kids can take some home. Make your treasure maps. Make it easy hiding the treasure behind the sofa, let's say.
-Google "pirate party" & you will find tons of cute ideas
-you can always have a pinata outside if weather is permitting
-hv some toys out for them to play in the event they get a little restless
-they have cute pirate themed cakes or you can do cupcakes (easier for
the kids to eat)
-you can have little pirate hats & eye patches for each child

I usually do 2.5-3 hour parties. I let the kids come and play until they are all there then we eat. Then I let them play for a little while longer or have some games they can play. Then we do cake and presents. After that I usually do a craft and they either finish up the craft until their parent comes to pick up or just let them play some more.

2.5 hours sounds perfect. We usually have our parties at a venue, such as go-carting, mini-golf, bowling, YMCA etc. Many of these venues allot 2 hours, and we feel rushed at the end. The parties we have done at home have been mostly outdoors, and we did carnival games (ring toss, bean bag toss etc) and parachute games in the yard. We only invite close friends, so usually 6-8 kids, but because they are close friends they all attend if invited.

I did two hours, roughly # kids = age. So at 5 years old my kids would have been allowed to invite around 7-8 kids (assuming a few couldn't make it.) It usually worked out pretty well, first 15 minutes drop off/welcome, about an hour or so of play/games/activities, remaining 45 minutes cake/ice cream and presents. It was PLENTY of time.
We usually got close to a full turnout. I think when you invite the whole class versus actual friends the turnout is lower but BE PREPARED FOR EVERY KID YOU INVITE TO SHOW UP, rsvp or not!
ETA: our favorite activities were pinata, scavenger hunt and simple old fashioned games like pin the tail on the donkey (or you could do pin the patch/parrot on the pirate?) Sometimes we got a bouncy house because it was such a good deal ($120 and it usually stayed all day!)

When my son was turning 5,he wanted a Diego themed party.It rained at his party but the boys had fun in the rain,anyways i think it was about...3 hours.1 hour for the boys to play, 30 to get the pool ready,30 min to dry off and 1 hour for presents and cae.

Two hours is good. I wouldn't go 2.5 for a party at home.

Do traditional party games with a Pirate theme. Pin the hook on Captain Hook, musical chairs with pirate music (yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me), maybe a pirate craft.

Also, don't invite more kids than you can fit or are willing to have. Last year, 19 out of 20 said yes for my son's party. I don't think we've ever had more than 2-3 kids say no.

2 hours and my rule was one friend for each year. So five friends plus birthday boy. Believe me that is plenty. Look on line for some Jake the Pirate themed things to do.

I suggest you only have a couple of kids or you invite his whole class. It is extremely hurtful when kids don't get invited. The ugly kids or the quiet kids get left out all the time.

If you do have it at home then just plan on a couple of hours. That's more than enough time. Also, there's really no need to feed them a meal plus cake and stuff. That's just way too much. Let them play and have pretend sword fights, let them run around with hats and sashes on, they'll think it was the best party ever.

My son is 7.
But when he turned 5 he had his first friend party.
It was 3 hours.
Outdoors at a park up our street.
Served cake and lunch, which we just ordered from our local 7-Eleven store because they have great catered food items and it is cost effective.
We had games.
Brought some balls.
Had a Pinata.
And the boys basically just ran around like boys do, and had TONS of fun!
The party was from 10:00am-1:00pm.
And all the parents LOVED that party time frame.
Because, their kids could not wait.... ALL day to go to a party.
And once it ended, the kids were tired! Went home and napped.
The Moms loved it.
It was a drop off party.
But we only had like 10 kids.

Try this place for party stuff:
www.birthdayinabox.com
They have great reasonable party things and themes and personalized things/goodies.
AND THEY HAVE "Jake" the Pirate party things! I just looked:
http://www.birthdayinabox.com/party-supplies/party-themes...
My friend orders from there all the time and it is good quality.
We STILL have the personalized luggage tags, from her kids' parties, and it is still good as new. For example.