Decorate your yard for a pirate scavenger hunt.
Mixing pirates with Halloween isn't tricky. Pirates already are scary. All you have to do is enhance that feature and bring it out for some spooky, pirate-themed Halloween decor. Use pirate ghosts as a decorating theme, or focus on Treasure Island or Pirates of the Caribbean themes, which lean towards darker pictures of pirates than the children's storybook character, Captain Hook, for instance. Does this Spark an idea?
Skulls
Incorporate skulls into your pirate Halloween theme. Hang tattered skull and crossbone fags, and for an eerie Halloween touch, dip the flag in dark red corn syrup. Pile fake skulls on the porch, and decorate them with pirate hats, patches or even fill them with fake booty. If you're hosting a party or haunted house for adults and older kids, add a bit of blood as well. If you can't get skulls, carve skull and crossbones into different pumpkins for display.
Crafted Decor
Have your kids help out with some pirate-themed Halloween decor, or make it a Halloween party activity. Have them make skeletons out of pasta, pasting construction paper pirate hats and accessories onto them. Hang the skeletons around your home. They also can help make treasure chest place settings or centerpieces with cardboard boxes and some art supplies. Older kids and parents can fashion old pirate maps to display.
Setting the Mood
Decorate with grays, blacks and orange accenting with gold and silver at the dining table. Use tattered linens to put displays on, as well as on the food and drink tables. Use dim lighting in blues or greens if possible to indicate a spooky night. If you can, use dry ice or fog machines to create a hazy atmosphere, or limit these elements to one or two display pieces. Use treasure maps with fake blood spattered on them as place cards. Cut out black bats and parrots from construction paper and string them above the dining table.
Backyard Treasure Hunt Decorations
Decorate your yard for a creepy treasure hunt party. Use fake cobwebs, spiders and other traditional Halloween decor, but focus on pirate themes, even creating a dead pirate from a large doll or stuffed clothing, if possible. Hang fake hooks on strings of Christmas lights, so long as they're not heavy. Display a pirate cemetery in part of your yard with fake headstones made from spray-painted cardboard or foam. Play a CD or play list with pirate ghoul sounds, pirates whispering, chains and wooden legs knocking on wood, for instance..
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