"X" Marks the Spot! A Pirate Party Fit for the Most Daring of Swashbucklers < #AtoZbloggingchallenge >

You must have pirate-crazy kids if you're here;
 the whole Jolly Roger / Black Pearl thing is pretty cool, huh?
When it's not ruthless, bloody and inhuman.
But let's focus on the, well, fun of the seafaring life, shall we?
Thought I'd share some highlights of
 a Pirates of the Caribbean party we held for my son a while back.
Because cake, buccaneers, and sea -  themed food faves plus
 the #AtoZbloggingchallenge, given  today's super stumper
of a letter, X,
led me to organize our pirate shindig into a post!

In fact, I personally can't stand the POTC movies, but 
my crazy kid has seen each of them only
about twice and has. each. movie. memorized. 
I kid you not. The entire movie.
He memorizes whole movies, tv episodes and plays "by accident," he claims.
Since he's been a walking wiki on all things  POTC,
a pirate birthday theme was a no brainer!

The birthday boy pretty much came up with all the aspects of the pirate-y theme,
from the invitation ( we made a cool one
and if you, too, are having a pirate-y themed party, email me and I'll
be happy to send it to you)
to the decor, to the treats,  the favors and the music.
We even salvaged a shipwreck of a cake.
Ok it looked far from impressive, but it did look authentic -  pirate.
Extra icing and a wealth  of paper  and candy 
skull and crossbones  decoration do wonders.
And luckily big brother had the honor of DJ-ing!
So here we go~

~Decorations and preparations~

We bought a box of banner letters and paper fasteners 
at Walmart
to string up pirate expressions!

ARRRG
and
AHOY MATEYS

Next came the Dollar Tree skeletons with the AAA battery operated blinking green eyes
which we had on hand from Halloween....

hung with a gruesome warning.......

... depicting a morbid movie scene!

Lots of candy making in the kitchen!

Chocolate molds of the skull and crossbones,  and 

treasure chests  were artfully crafted....

...And the day of, we iced, labelled and set up the pirate bounty!

Anyway, all of the serving accessories save that pretty cupcake display,
were purchased at the Dollar Tree.

Pirate-y photos, which we printed off the web and then laminated, 

 fish nets decorations and blue lights strung around the house

gave a nautical "glow."

~Pirate treats~

Sorry I can't  turn these few shots, no matter what I do!

All the food was Pirates of the Caribbean -inspired and
 conjured  by the birthday boy.

A close up of the handmade chocolate~

...and more goodies concocted with yellow chocolate and dark chocolate:

...with Dollar Tree pirate coins strewn around~

Blue jello and candy skulls~

~~The cake~~

What we used to decorate and make, above and
what came out of the pan, below~!

With a lot of patience and time, 
yay!.......... we salvaged it and turned it 
from shipwreck to well, not fancy, but at least, recognizable, galleon!

 ~~The favors~~

This year they were simple, frugal and very appreciated.
Clear favor bags from Michael's, decks of cards--- 2/$1 at Dollar Tree,
pirate themed pencils and skull and crossbones bandannas. 

tied up with red ribbon.

~The music and fun~

Ghost stories and marshmallow roasting~

Older bro provided music, complete with garage-sale bought disco ball!

And THAT pretty much sums up the revelry among the local pirates~!
I don't share pictures of kids other than my own here on my blog;
so all the group shots around the cake, campfire and the "dance floor"
are still on the memory card.
Great,smiling faces and tons of fun with all his friends.
He's very lucky to have them...and they, him!


~The birthday tree~
I create a birthday tree for my boys to display  photos of them
throughout each year and "charms" depicting their hobbies and interests.
It's easy and they love a special tree dedicated to them!
This post gives the how-to.
Here's a quick shot of the tree a few years ago.:

I'm happy to participate  in the A to Z blog challenge! 

X is for X Marks the Spot!

 A Pirate Party Fit for the Most Daring of Swashbucklers  

And here are all of the 2016 A to Z  Blog Challenge posts~~ ~

Thank you for spending some of your precious time today

here at my home on the web! 

Have you signed up to receive my posts in your email inbox?

   If not, just click here to 

subscribe to Campfires and Cleats by email 

quickly and easily  so we can be in touch regularly!

You might wish to follow on Facebook as well.....

This post contains amazon affiliate links....

If you are shopping at  amazon and Target. 

why not consider clicking through my link? 

In this way, I will receive a small commission on the purchase.....

at no cost to you.

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

~Chris

Writers on the Writing Life: Quotes & Thoughts < #AtoZbloggingchallenge #QT >

I've been "collecting" writers' profundities just because.......
and decided to gather them all in one spot and share.
So many of us share a love affair with words and so 
I thought writers on  writing might make for an interesting read!
From Hemingway to Plath to Chekhov and more......enjoy.....

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, 
you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours 
and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. 
That doesn't happen much, though.”

JD Salinger
Catcher in the Rye

“There is nothing to writing.
 All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” 

Ernest Hemingway

Writer, Soldier, Sailor Spy

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. 
And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups,
 then you write it for children.” 

Madeleine L'Engle

Wrinkle in Time'

“And by the way, everything in life is writable  if you have the outgoing guts 
to do it, and the imagination to improvise. 
The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Sylvia Plath

The Journals





The most important things are the hardest to say. 
They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- 
words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head
 to no more than living size when they're brought out. 
But it's more than that, isn't it? 
The most important things lie too close to 
wherever your secret heart is buried,
 like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. 
And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have 
people look at you in a funny way,
 not understanding what you've said at all, 
or why you thought it was so important that 
you almost cried while you were saying it.

      

Stephen King

On Writing

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; 
show me the glint of light on broken glass.” 

Anton Chekhov

Letters

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” 

Mark Twain

Wit and Wisdom









...and by the way, for anyone who's
 in  need of any sort of professional authoring, 
here are  the writing services I offer. 

I'm happy to participate  in Kelly's Quick Takes link up,
and Debbie's Tune in Thursdays hop

.......as well as the A to Z blog challenge! 

W is for...Writers on Writing: 
The Best Quotes on the Writing Life

And here are all of the 2016 A to Z  Blog Challenge posts~~ ~

Thank you for spending some of your precious time today

here at my home on the web! 

Have you signed up to receive my posts in your email inbox?

   If not, just click here to 

subscribe to Campfires and Cleats by email 

quickly and easily  so we can be in touch regularly!

You might wish to follow on Facebook as well.....

This post contains amazon affiliate links....

If you are shopping at  amazon and Target. 

why not consider clicking through my link? 

In this way, I will receive a small commission on the purchase.....

at no cost to you.

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

~Chris