Throwing a Pirate Party in Your Ap-AAARGH-tment

Throwing a pirate party in your apartment can be a fun way to entertain a group of friends or family. Putting together the party needn’t be expensive or a hassle if you follow these tips:

Providing Costumes

While asking your guests to come dressed for the pirate party in costume may be one possibility, most people don’t have a pirate costume on hand. You can make the festivities much more fun by providing simple, cheap accessories that can turn any outfit into pirate attire. These include bandannas, eye patches, clip-on hoop earrings and fake, plastic hook hands. They won’t cost much, especially if you look for them at a dollar store, but they can make a great conversation starter.

The Pirate Decor

You don’t want to spend a lot on decor, but it just wouldn’t be a pirate party without something to transform your apartment into something out of the high seas. Look for Halloween skulls-and-bones-design as well as tropical island-style decorations, such as streamers, cardboard cutouts and balloons. Good colors to decorate with include blue (for the sea), yellow (for gold or the sand of an island with treasure) and black and white (for the classic pirate emblem). Don’t forget to include a cutout or a stuffed animal of a bright green parrot near the door to greet your visitors.

The centerpiece of your decor should be a box of treasure. You can make one by using any box with a lid (preferably a brown one so it looks like a classic treasure box) and filling it either with fake coins as a decoration piece or with prizes for games to be played throughout the evening. The prizes depend on what your guests like and may be actual money (like the Sacagawea gold-colored dollar pieces), food or gift cards.

The Pirate Diet

Food is the staple of any party and the pirate party is no exception. Good appetizers include veggies stabbed by little plastic pirate swords and crackers shaped like fish. You can also have some “treasure” for those with a sweet tooth and decorate cupcakes or cookies with frosting in the shape of skulls-and-bones, treasure chests, parrots or gold coins. The drinks you serve can have pirate-themed names like “grog” and “hogshead.” You can also serve bottles of Jack Daniels because the bottle looks classic and fits right in with the “old time” decor.

ARRGH-anging Your Apartment

Entertaining guests in an apartment always poses an extra challenge because of the small space. When planning your party for the pirates, move all unnecessary furniture into a back room or hallway that won’t be used, so long as it doesn’t block access to exits and the bathroom. Designate a counter or table for the food and an area near your television for chatting and watching pirate movies. This space can then double as an area for games when you gather everyone around and turn off the TV.

If your guests love your first pirate party, perhaps you can make it a somewhat regular event. Once you have all of the decorations on hand, the next party will be much easier to prepare for.