Stupid Guest Tricks

Since most of you know that I am planning Meghyn's party at the end of January and it is pirate themed I thot I might run some stuff past all you intelligent folk and get some creative opinions. REMEMBER I AM POOR SO THE CHEAPER THE BETTER! LOL I am doing a little here and there since the monster demands attention and I still need to clean house.

First off the invites.
empty Dasani water bottles. (recycled free) I took off the lids and the plastic rings around the tops and will be adding a cork to each of them. I have small shells, skull and crossbones confetti (metallic silver), some small coins, and will be putting in the "treasure map" rolled up.

I happened to have some tan parchment looking paper left over from a prior project and just tore out the center part make it small enuf to fit the bottle when rolled. I wanted to burn the edges but it was too messy so I just tore them artistically and took a brown crayon and smudged the tears to look old. I did a quick map on the front where "X" marks the spot in the same brown crayon but lite so it looks faded.

Now here is where I need opinions on the invites. I will be copying it off and pasting it on the back since vellum is really pricey.
This is what I have it saying and how it is layed out per line (centered tho)
Ahoy Matey!
Capt. Meghyn the Blonde invites ye to
board her ship,docked at _______________.
for her 5th voyage on Sat. the 29th day of Jan.
in the year of me Lord, Two-thousand and Eight.

Come dressed in your best PIRATE GIRL GARB
(patches and parrots provided)
Promotions based on Best Attired

The vessel be leaving the dock at 13 bells (1pm) SHARP!
and returns to port 2 hours later.
AYE! We does regret that any crew left
after that time will be sold as slaves..

Avast! Ye must smartly contact
Coxswain Donnie or First Mate Vickie
at ________by __________
To confirm your desire to sign on.

The commanding officers kindly request that
no siblings stowaway and generously offer
the position of Deck boy or girl to
the attending adult crew.


SO how does that look? I want to keep it simple but give enuf info so they get it. Since it is a sort of costume party (the promotions line) I will be sending them out early this month (yes I am mailing them--if I cant as is I will box them-still cool that you get a message in a bottle in the mail) so that give folks time to find a costume. When should I ask a RSVP by? Is a week and 1/2 too far in advance or not far enuf?


I have other stuff ready to go but will post seperate

That sounds Awesome! You could also get some ideas for a menu before hand, and tell the parents of the future swashbucklers if the party has a meal planned- all pirates need grub too and be careful about food allergies if any (I once knew a boy that was allergic to some wheat products)

Get some bags of coin shaped chocolate candy once in a while (You'll have time to stock up now/look for it in stores) for Gold... :)

That looks like a pretty cool party. Your ideas are great.

1 PM is actually 2 bells, but for non-nautical types 13 bells will do.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/questions/bells.html

I am glad Hobi caught the 'Bells", there can never be more than eight!

Instead of Coxswain you could also use the term "Bowswain" usually pronounced "BOW swane" (or Bo sun) it might be a little more "PC"

I would assume the charts you made are to get to the house, are you also going to have a treasure hunt? We did that for the grandkids, and put the names of all the attending kids on seperate treasures, then they all had fun trying to help each other find the treasure!!

(if you do, make sure you REMEMBER where you "bury" each "treasure" and make a few extra!!)

IT sound like a lot of fun!!

Purpura wrote:That sounds Awesome! You could also get some ideas for a menu before hand, and tell the parents of the future swashbucklers if the party has a meal planned- all pirates need grub too and be careful about food allergies if any (I once knew a boy that was allergic to some wheat products)

Get some bags of coin shaped chocolate candy once in a while (You'll have time to stock up now/look for it in stores) for Gold... :)

I am not doing a big food thing(hence the time frame--after lunch but before dinner..hhehehe), maybe a snack that they can assemble. Last year I made "fish" sandwiches out of bread cut into a football shape, a dorito for the tail, raisin for the eye, cheese cut into the same football shape for the inside, and wavy blue fruit roll ups for the water for her Little Mermaid party.They were cute and easy to make. I may do them again since the same ppl arent invited this year. gotta get my money's worth out of that cookie cutter. :D:

hobie16 wrote:That looks like a pretty cool party. Your ideas are great.
1 PM is actually 2 bells, but for non-nautical types 13 bells will do.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/questions/bells.html

Really? OOPs, oh well, like you said it may make more sense for those not familiar and not confuse them on the time too much. Learn something new each day.

ARRRR! As an Airborne pirate, I thought I knew what was going on with 13 bells... ARRRR! This explains why I'm always late for everything!

Cool looking party though! Kinda wish I was a little girl now...okay, not really.

The Oriental Trading Company has some really great pirate stuff that's really cheap.

I love the invitation wording also. It sounds great.

Kwahati wrote:ARRRR! As an Airborne pirate, I thought I knew what was going on with 13 bells... ARRRR! This explains why I'm always late for everything!

Cool looking party though! Kinda wish I was a little girl now...okay, not really.

Must...not...post...too...many...points....Arrrhhhhh!!

(sorry)

Ooh Hehe "Davy Jones' Locker"... You get long green strands of yarn and twist them and tie them to a packet containing treasures in different places in a room with lots of obstacles that the girls get to untie and wind the yarn aka Seaweed around a cardboard tube(Empty toilet paper tube or paper towel half tube, and all the girls get one end of the seaweed and then wind up their long strands following the seaweed to the treasures.

The yarn is also tangled up so they have to go over and under other people's yarn strands...

GRUMPY PIRATE wrote:I am glad Hobi caught the 'Bells", there can never be more than eight!
Instead of Coxswain you could also use the term "Bowswain" usually pronounced "BOW swane" (or Bo sun) it might be a little more "PC"

I would assume the charts you made are to get to the house, are you also going to have a treasure hunt? We did that for the grandkids, and put the names of all the attending kids on seperate treasures, then they all had fun trying to help each other find the treasure!!

(if you do, make sure you REMEMBER where you "bury" each "treasure" and make a few extra!!)

IT sound like a lot of fun!!

LOL...picky picky...LOL believe me around the town I live in I will be lucky if they even understand the 1PM in parenthesis.

I did the Coxswain purposely. :D: I could care less about being PC. It fit anyway since Donnie does all the driving around here and Coxswain is the guy who steers the ship right? I am 1st mate since I control the ship around here (under Meghyn of course...lol)

The maps are just a generic thing since I am not quite sure where the party will be yet. I have to wait till the Majors at the Salvation Army come back from vacation next week to ask if I can have it in their community room. If so I will invite 11 if not the tally is down to 5 for my house. No way am I having more then that in 5 year old girls running about the premises. LOL

I was thinking about the treasure hunt thing but if I have it at the SA I will only have one room to do it in. Plus most of the guest cant read yet. LOL