# Pirates Theme 2016



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Here's a few props I got in the mail a couple of days ago. The skull has light up eyes and makes noises, it also came with a whole heap of bones. Couldn't fit them all in the photo, haha.


----------



## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Need Barrels,old trunks, gold coins and cups, amber lighting, black,white,and striped thrifted clothing, and some rum. Oh and, don't forget the rum! (cuz its always gone ya know)


----------



## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

The rum is definitely critical! We made a double pillory last year so that people could have selfie shots and also had a haunted mermaid, kraken sea monsters, and a cannon as well. The ideas on this site are endless!


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

I have found so many ideas on here and have a lot of stuff saved on pinterest  

Matrixmom- those are some good ideas! We have a glass drink dispenser that we'll probably fill up with punch that uses rum 

I absolutely love your pirate haunt photos, Frightshow. My partner is building the pillory for ours and I actually showed him a picture of yours a few weeks ago, haha.


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Also, here are all the prizes we've got so far. We make up a box each for the quiz winners and a box for the best costume winner. Pictured is a pack of 'ocean' scented tealights, fish shaped soap, trinket tray (it says 'keep your ship together'), anchor shaped bottle opener, a pirate themed scented candle, a toy octopus / starfish, motion sand, a skull shaped stirring spoon, a skull tea infuser and a set of nautical themed coasters. What do you think?


----------



## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

You've got some great plans already! Your garage & backyard walk-throughs sound like they're going to be fantastic!

Thinking about your indoor "pirate tavern", a few ideas come to my mind. You could make a good amount of the pvc candles and cluster some on candle pillars or trays for your centerpieces. Perhaps pick up some old beer steins & glass beer mugs at thrift stores and either use them for your guests, or gather some on trays on top of some tables as well. You could look for lots of old paintings with ships & stormy seas in them to hang around your walls. Try your hand at making some barrels for a display piece in the tavern - pile some tin mugs on top, maybe set your pirate rum punch on it, some pirate napkins, etc. 

You can gather up some of those old popcorn & cookie tins and paint them to look old or mod-podge some labels on them to look like food & drink containers for your tavern. This is a great look - they used dresser drawers & turned them into whiskey & rum crates - 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/4925880816289388/

Also be sure to save all your empty wine or fizzy water bottles. You could dirty them up, paste on some labels and put stoppers or corks in them as a display of various rums. 

I also love this Tavern Rules sign - you could make something similar - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/231583605817505617/
Ha ha ha "No slap & tickle o' the wenches"! 

Also, last year in July I found this awesome bottle at TJ Maxx. Look at Marshall's Home Goods & Ross also - they all have similar type things. But if you don't shop early, they will be gone. This would be a great addition for your tavern! It was $7.99, BTW.


----------



## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

We change themes every year, but we did do pirates. Pirates is a fun theme. We had a fun time and our guests enjoyed that theme.I used skeletons for my pirates years ago. Here are a few ideas from Our Boo Bash about 7 years ago that might be useful for you.

Lookout in Crows Nest:

















Animated Helmsman









Treasure Chest










P.O.T.C. Jail Scene...years later









Rum Bar









Random









Eric


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Jenn&Matt- we actually have been getting a bunch of glass beer mugs / tankards from thrift stores and sometimes dollar stores. All different shapes and sizes, which I think will be interesting. We also have a few plastic ones which we might just use decoratively. I like the idea of making some signs to put up around the tavern. I want to make a hanging sign for above the door into the tavern as well. I just need to decide on a tavern name first 

Wolfbeard- Great pictures! Your treasure chest with the skeleton is exactly the sort of thing we want to do. Did you make or buy that ships helm? Would love something like that for ours, but wouldn't know where to start.


----------



## Brides94 (Aug 12, 2016)

We did a pirates theme last year and we added the Captain's quarters in part of our room. (That had everyting from old Avon glasses found in a garage sale, parrot, skelleton key, globe, maps, old coins, telescope, gem stones, pearls. All seen on the picture. The rest was filled with barrels, treasure chest, old crates. Since our flooring isn't finised we painted the floor, we had plenty of Rum. We painted an old chair black and added skulls for the Captain. Our attendance prize was one of the small barrels the we built. What the guest didn't know is that it was functional. There was a bottle of Rum inside that could be poured by tilting the barrel. We picked a name out of a Pirate's hat. Which was a smashing success, they were impressed that it literraly worked. Hope this will be helpful.


----------



## Rich B (Sep 23, 2005)

If you have access to a projector, I highly recommend the Pirate Elements DVD from Hi-Rez designs!!! I used a video loop of a pirate ship battle and stormy seas as a backdrop to my pirate ship last year (actually a kayak full of pirate skeletons) and it was a great effect! http://www.hi-rezdesigns.com/store/product.php?productid=17640&cat=249&page=1


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Brides94- That looks incredible. Definitely similar to the look we're going for!

Rich B- Sounds great. I'll have to see if I can pick up a cheap projector


----------



## Brides94 (Aug 12, 2016)

Mogway- I'm glad you liked it. I also, thought that they always seemed to have that woman dressed in a white gown who was about to walk the plank.


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated much. We've been extremely busy getting ready for Halloween, I've barely had time to come on here!








Here's the sign we made for our tavern. What do you think?


----------



## JamesButabi (Aug 30, 2012)

I did Pirate two years ago and it was my favorite theme no doubt. I found access to a trailered ship used in parades and bartered an offer to borrow it for the day. 

Here is my pinterest board with some ideas.
https://www.pinterest.com/jamesbutabi/pirate-halloween-theme/

I still have my whole stash of pirate props including about a dozen bucky skellies all corpsed and in various pirate garb, awesome treasure chests, cannons, a perch, lobster traps, cargo boxes, on and on. If anyone local wants to launch this theme I would sell the whole lot to make space!


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

James- Love that you could get that enormous pirate ship! It looks awesome. I wish we lived local, I'd take that offer in a snap, haha.

We just finished making our big treasure chest today. When it's set up, I'll post a few photos.


----------



## JamesButabi (Aug 30, 2012)

Mogwai said:


> James- Love that you could get that enormous pirate ship! It looks awesome. I wish we lived local, I'd take that offer in a snap, haha.
> 
> We just finished making our big treasure chest today. When it's set up, I'll post a few photos.


If you have local parades check them out. Thats how I tracked mine down.


----------



## Brides94 (Aug 12, 2016)

That is so cool.i would have loved to find a ship like that.


JamesButabi said:


> I did Pirate two years ago and it was my favorite theme no doubt. I found access to a trailered ship used in parades and bartered an offer to borrow it for the day.
> 
> Here is my pinterest board with some ideas.
> https://www.pinterest.com/jamesbutabi/pirate-halloween-theme/
> ...


----------



## KatH2O (Oct 2, 2016)

AHoy - i too am doing a pirate themed party this year. So many great ideas - I hope some of my scenes settings come off as well as what I see here. I will surely stay tuned and share as well. 

ttfn, 
Kat


----------



## PMTT (Oct 13, 2013)

We're also doing a Pirate theme this year!


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Great! I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. Feel free to share your ideas here. Hopefully I can inspire you as well  I'll try to post more photos of what we have soon. I'm doing one last shop for bigger props (perhaps a new animated prop if I find a good one) on tuesday so I'll keep you all updated.


----------



## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

Mogwai said:


> Wolfbeard- Great pictures! Your treasure chest with the skeleton is exactly the sort of thing we want to do. Did you make or buy that ships helm? Would love something like that for ours, but wouldn't know where to start.



Hi. Thank you for the kind words.

I made the ship's wheel. It is made from two luan plywood circles sandwiching some porch railing ballusters. It is mounted to a 4"x4" post via a lazy susan ball bearing unit. It is driven with an aluminum linkage (lower left, below the wheel) and a rotisserie motor. Very inexpensive and doable in a weekend.










Eric


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

So our party was last weekend. Everything turned out pretty well, with a few minor issues. A lot of people didn't turn up, which was very disappointing. We also ran out of time and probably had only half of our props out on the night. The weather during the week leading up to it was terrible so we couldn't put any outdoor props out until that day. Still, it was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves, and that's what matters. Here's a few photos.

































This is what it looked like inside the 'tavern'. Obviously it looked a lot better at night with the right lighting, haha.

- hopefully the photos post okay...


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

And more photos from the outdoor walkthrough...








This is the 'cave' we made in the garage. It's pretty hard to see but it looked good on the night.








Almost every guest got in the stocks for a photo opportunity.


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

And the last of the photos I have...








Desserts.















Myself and my partner in our costumes.

That's about it. One of our guests is a professional photographer and he took a lot of great photos, which I don't yet have. I'll probably post more then.

So yes. It didn't really go according to plan, but it was still a great Halloween. We're already planning our next one. We're thinking of doing a Fairytales theme.


----------



## Tannasgach (Nov 1, 2009)

Mogwai, you look absolutely adorable in your outfit. The stockade photo op is a great idea and your cave looks amazing!


----------



## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

Tannasgach: Thank-you so much


----------

