Homemade Pirate Chest for your little landlubbers

Toy Pirate Chest
Toy Pirate Chest

Any little pirate loving kid will lose their mind for this toy pirate chest. And you’ll be the coolest mom/dad/aunt/grandpa/friend ever.

My newly 4 year old nephew Kai is obsessed with pirates right now, and also has a December birthday. Having a December birthday myself, I know how often you get shuttled to the side with promises to make it up that never materialize. So when we go down to see family on Christmas day I wanted to have two presents for him. One for Christmas, and a special one for his special birthday.

But it also had to be cheap because Christmas is expensive.

This trunk started life as one of those cheap styrofoam coolers you can find at the grocery store or in a well stocked dollar store. We got some spray paint and painted it brown, but there’s a bit of a trick to it. Spray paints will melt styrofoam, so you need to do thin coats from far away and be patient with it. Unless there’s a section you actually want to melt, like the part of this cooler that had the manufacturer’s name on it. I gave that area a good hard blast with the spray paint and now it’s no longer legible.

The chest needed a hinge, but the cooler wasn’t made to accommodate one. I took three pieces of thick grosgrain ribbon and hot glued them in place to make a hinge that was flexible enough to account for the oddly shaped lid, then covered all my mess up with a fun fabric lining.

The clasps are what make this look like a pirate chest instead of a painted hunk of styrofoam. To attach them I took the screws included in the kit, covered the ends with hot glue, and shoved them through the clasp and into the styrofoam. The heat of the glue will melt the styrofoam enough as you go to act as a screwdriver at the same time.

Gold ribbon mimics the leather straps found on old luggage, and once again hides the evidence that this is a cheap piece of junk. Make sure you wrap the ends neatly so the lid can still come on and off easily.

I looked and looked for those metal corner pieces that come on old luggage but couldn’t find anything even close. So I just painted them on. You could keep going with this idea and paint on a lock or other metal embellishments.

I have to give credit where it is due, this was totally Bear’s idea, nearly from beginning to end. We had the styrofoam cooler kicking around in the garage and he was the one who brought it to me and said, “With a little paint, this could look like a pirate chest!” He is living proof of what I always say – Creativity is a muscle. He just proved he’s a weightlifting champ.

10 thoughts on “Homemade Pirate Chest for your little landlubbers

  1. Oh this is the neatest idea! Very creative! I have a 2 yr old little boy and this is such a great idea and cheap enough not to have to worry about it being destroyed! Im always looking for new storage ideas….this will be great for all his little treasures!!

  2. What a wonderful idea for a treasure chest. I will be using this soon when we do prom. It is pirate themed and I think it would be perfect. I am however going to put a coat of paper mache on the outside to give it a rugged look. Thanks for posting it.

  3. What an excellent idea. I've planned a very huge pirate bday party for my soon to be 7 year old son and we decided to use this idea for the big treasure hunt. Thanks!!!

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  5. Kind of late adding a comment (but 'better late than never'), but this is such an excellent idea and both thrifty and cute at the same time.
    I am definitely going to give it a whirl but think I will try making my hinges out of Electrical Tape (which pretty well sticks to anything and is durable). Also, I've seen such tape recently in patterns and also in plain gold or silver (at Michael Crafts) which could replace the usage of ribbon and also be applied to the corners without too much of a problem. THANKS SO MUCH Bear and Reese for the inspiration and the tips for constructing. 🙂 My Grandson is going to love it.
    ARRR -mrsben-

  6. I using this fabulous idea for a treasure hunt I putting together for my girls and my 7 nieces and nephews! I love the way the cooler is transformed. I'm having trouble locating the latches though. Any suggestions as to where I could find them?

    Thanks for posting,
    MS

  7. Much obliged such a great amount for your remark. I am sitting tight for this data. Join now to share and to make our reality all the more intriguing. See you next time.

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