Talk Like A Pirate Day

 A short while ago I promised someone I would do a post about International Talk Like a Pirate Day.. Sorry this is so late in coming.

Talk Like A Pirate Day (a real holiday) is September 19th. When my niece and nephew were younger I would throw them a party each year to celibate and it was always a blast. There was always a theme (how Captain BlackBeard stole our treasure This time), a map of some sort, treasure, gold coins (chocolate), and beer (root beer floats that is).

 Please excuse the photos, they are very old, and taken from a photo album. 

This picture is the day light version of the ghost ship above (yes I had a smoke machine at one time).  The story for this party was that Captain BlackBeard had stolen our treasure.. again.. This time in the dark, but his sock caught on a twig and unraveled as he ran. To find our treasure we had to follow the unraveled sock yarn. I unwound a 1 pound skein of yarn zigzagging around my parents yard. We did this in the dark to make it even more fun. There was a spooky graveyard and lots and lots of Halloween lights. We made smores using ghost peeps and spent hours playing in the cardboard ship.

This picture is kind of hard to make out, but we made boats out of walnut shells and then had a race blowing them down two gutters side by side.

 This was a simple fort we built out of sheets. Our treasure consisted of broken jewelry, buttons, bits, and bobbles. Talk Like a Pirate Day does not need to cost a lot. Draw a map, wrap a cloth around your head, and begin to speak like a pirate. Instant memories. You can also find a lot of printable activities online. One year I hid gold coins and each coin had a clue where to find the next hint, and the last one was to the treasure. Another year I made a map and cut it apart and they had to find all the map pieces to find their treasure.

 This was another ghostly hunt. I drew ghost faces on many MANY white balloons and hid them around the house. The kids had to find the ghosts and stun them (tap them with a light stick, which causes them to jump in the air a bit), trap them in pillowcases, and lock them in this dungeon (put them on the bed). 

This is part of a maze I built in my parents back yard... I could not get the whole thing in one photo. It was a 64 by 62 foot maze of yarn and Popsicle sticks. I grafted it out on paper first so it was easy to put in. It took them two and a half hours to get though the maze to claim their treasure, so frustrating because they could see the old steamer truck treasure chest the whole time. Hehehe, I was such a stinker. 

I made these dolls one year for my niece and nephew, They were hiding in the treasure chest, and I think they were well loved. Some crafts we did in years past were:

Coloring and cutting out pirate masks, Popsicle stick treasure chests, toilet paper tube telescopes, a skeleton made out of milk jugs, beaded necklaces, Jolly Roger coasters, and little pirate ships made out of just about anything and everything (pop bottles, shells, walnut shells, clay, milk cartons, origami, and so on and so forth). Once we traced ourselves on the driveway in chalk and then colored in our outlines to make pirate self portraits. 

I hope that gives someone a few ideas. 

So get out there me hearties, and have a jolly good whale of a time this Talk Like A Pirate Day. 

Arrrrrr!!!