For 2003 the theme was "Pirates". The reason for this theme was the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. I searched the internet for "Pirate", "Buccaneer", and "Renaissance". eBay is a treasure trove of pirate merchandise. Costume parts were ordered - pirate shirt, pirate pants (also check "breeches"), & pirate boots (from a renaissance boot supplier - search under "Pirate boot"). A Google search on these titles will turn up lots of leads. Then it is a matter of price and style. Head bandana, sash, and vest were made of material from a fabric store. The sash was 10 feet long and the bandana was 36 inches square.

The skeletons were dressed for a Pirate Halloween. The gent pirate brandishes a sword. He is attached to the tree with a hook and then copper wire holds his arm and sword in place. In the background is the flying crank ghost dressed for like the gent pirate, but he also has a hook for a hand. The lady pirate is also attached to a tree and hangs above the cemetery. Her colors are a bit brighter. Both were lit at night with spotlights.

The guests were into the spirit and almost all came as "sea" pirates.

A few views of the interior decorations. The TV/Den room. I put on a magic show for the guests.

The dining room and the living room (some place to display my Halloween Apron collection) and a ship painting (picked up on eBay for $20) along with one of the vintage pirate Halloween decorations.

I erected a rope in the cemetery and created a sail. I bought music CDs from a few Pirate movies - Captain Blood, Captain Courageous, CutThroat Island, Hook, etc. and one of the cuts from my sound effects CD (Pumpkinland by Nobody Records - website is www.13thtrack.com) is a creaking ship.

I went to a party shop, got the Oriental Trading catalogs, and bought "Luau" party material - palm trees, raffia skirts for the food table, netting to hang, and some shells and fake sea creatures to put into the netting. I also found a site for Pirate toilet paper (rip-off - it just had a pirate image on the outside wrapper. The inside was plain white), pirate napkins (that were not little kid oriented), reproduction metal doubloons, a fake parrot, some tiki torches ($2.00 each at Kmart) and a few misc. other items. I include some nice links that should make your hunt easier. For example, there is a bookstore called Fern Canyon that has 300 pirate things besides books. There is a "Pirate Ring" that has loads of interesting sites among its ring members.

Pirate Image Archive - Pirate images

Tudor Shoppe - All kinds of clothing, accessories, etc for pirates

Hamilton Dry Goods - All kinds of clothing, accessories, etc for pirates

Pyracy Forum - A place to ask questions and get answers - costumes, history, whatever

No Quarter Given - Newsletter with dozens of great Pirate links. Go to "Merchants" section

Fern Canyon Press - Over 300 pirate items and lots of books too

The Pirate Ring - Pirate enthusiast and merchant sites

(Please let me know if any links are not working)

The Theme for 2004 was "Early Bird Dinner & Halloween Party at the RiverView Rest Home"

Although some thought this was in questionable taste, my friends liked the theme and really got into it. I really like the guy from the Six Flags commercial (Mr. Six) so I put him in the invitation to the party. Decorations went up. A DJ to take care of the music and he brought his Karioke machine. I performed magic. I decorated the outdoor skeletons as old folks with a walker and as old witch. Here are the photos that show some of the guests, their costumes, and the fun everyone had.

The skeletons.

A few of the guests

Halloween Museum Links

Go back to Halloween Museum, page 1

Trick Or Treat Bags, page 2

Parties and Decorations, page 3

Halloween History, page 4

Crepe Aprons from 1910s to 1920s, page 5

Halloween - Jello Sculpture instructions & my graveyard fence, page 6

The Black & White and Pajama Parties, page 8

Vintage Halloween Costumes For Sale, page 8a

Vintage Halloween Costumes for Sale, page 8b

Vintage Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for Sale, page 9