A Pirate’s Life For Me

Did you guys know that last Thursday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day? Yes, that’s an actual thing, and it has come and gone, and I’m really sorry if you missed your chance to say, “Aye, matey,” a lot without people looking at you funny. (Who am I kidding? They would still look at you funny.)

Well, a few weeks ago I was hanging out with the same group of magical people who were responsible for the End of the World Party, Heroes vs VillainsGlow in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt, and my Donkey themed birthday extravaganza, and a friend of ours happened to mention that her birthday fell on the sadly under-appreciated Talk Like a Pirate Day. I bet you can imagine what happened next…

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Or, if you can’t imagine it, I have pictures.

This weekend the farm was invaded by a dozen pirates ready to pillage, plunder, loot, and find treasure.

Oh, and drink rum. Lots and lots of rum.

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One of the advantages of  having an eight-foot chalkboard in your mudroom is that it’s real easy to help set the mood for a Pirate Party.

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Some of the highlights of the day included a picnic-table-turned-pirate-ship.

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Turns out I’m actually way better than I would have expected at building sails out of a 2×4 and torn-up bedsheet. So good, in fact, that about an hour before the pirates landed I looked outside and saw this…

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Then I ran around for ten minutes yelling, “Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Man overboard!” to the chickens. They were properly excited. The cat was unamused.

Luckily the wind died down eventually.

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We also had a treasure hunt, complete with maps.

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If there’s anything more fun than handing treasure maps and flashlights to a bunch of adults who’ve been drinking hot cider and rum for a few hours, I’d like to see it…

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The maps were torn into 4 pieces, and each section of the map led to the next…

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And finally, to Treasure! (Which I totally forgot to take a picture of.)

The maps, by the way, were super easy to make. I just took a piece of regular printer paper, crumpled it up…

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Used a combo of yellow, green, and red acrylic paint to come up with a dirty gold color, and then seriously watered the paint down and washed it over the paper.

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Hung them up overnight…

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And then burnt the edges with a lighter once they were dry.

We also had a tattoo station (washable markers), a talking skeleton, and one of my favorite things… message in a bottle.

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There were dozens of message slips tied with string, and you could write notes to other guests and leave them in their designated bottle. This becomes way more amusing after DRINKING ALL OF THE RUM.

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My favorite note from the night. “Part of me wants to keep you in a sweatshop in the basement.” Yep. My friends are awesome.

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I like building big things like houses and barn doors and bathroom vanities, but there’s something to be said for the joy in just being creative for the fun of it (without worrying about things like building codes or structural integrity.)

I’m so lucky to have a group of friends that inspire me to do things like build pirate ships in my back yard, just because we can. It’s definitely a pirates life for me.

19 Responses

  1. I totally want to have a pirate party now. And I have just the perfect group of friends for it. The message in a bottle sounds awesome.

  2. Wow, you are really one cool friend. And you’re right, the blackboard marquee does set the tone. So matey, what was the treasure?
    M

  3. Sounds like a lot of fun! It’ nice to have friends with a wicked sense of humor. Glad you got the pirate ship back up and sailing!

  4. It’s a pirate’s life for me,
    And so I thank the Lord,
    For giving me, the ocean free,
    The sun and the rain and the rum to be,
    The Lord is good to me!

    1. I can’t take credit for the idea… just some of the execution. My friends put my creativity to shame.

    1. Baskets full of dollar-store pirate goods. (Jewels and gold coins and eyepatches and blow-up swords. Also, more rum.)

  5. Wow, I read this just before I went to sleep last night. And last night I dreamed that there was some kind of weather catastrophe happening and all we had to do was get to your farm. It was a huge battle to get there but once I made it it was huge and way more beautiful than the pictures show, the sun was shining and it was pretty much paradise. I hope that’s what it’s like in real life 🙂

  6. 9/19 is also my birthday. I turned…..er…28….(again). 🙂 And I know it’s also “International Talk Like A Pirate Day” and look forward to it each year. Did you know you can turn your FB language into English-Pirate (go to “setting” and then “language”). I’ve decided to leave it on Pirate full-time. How awesome of an event you held! Very, very cool! I wish I was younger, and closer, and your friend in real life…and I like rum, too! I think while the costume shops are still open, I’m going to get myself a pirate costume, so I’m prepared for next year. I’ll have to find an event close to me to attend. Or maybe I’ll just host my own!

  7. Hey, you just made me smile to my ears. I love all kind of that stuff. The cat wasn’t amused as it probably didn’t drink rum 🙂 But I believe you all had tremendous pirate adventures… I regret I am not as creative as you are. Or do you become creative when it’s all about your friends and having fun? Will you repeat the party next year? Ah, almost forgot, and what was the treasure like?

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