Treasure Map
Invitations for 14 children were made like flags, black paper pasted around a dowel with a skull and crossbones cut out on the front and a "treasure map" made from a parchment art paper with invitations to little buccaneers on the back.
The map showed our address. I burned the edges of the treasure map (after wetting the edges) to make it look a bit more weathered before sticking it on!
Message in a Bottle
These came with a plastic bottle, cork, sand, and a few other things that I ended up not using. I replaced the sticker of sand and water on the front of the bottle with a large black sticker with crossbones and skull that I printed on my computer.
I added the words Aaarrr! Come if ye dare... to the sticker. Inside the bottle I added small sea shells and small skull beads (oriental trading) to the sand. Using a print software I have I made the invitation. First I used a scroll background that looked like a weathered pirate map. I added a picture of a sand mound with a pirate hat and pirate sword to the center top of the invitation. I also added a sailing pirate ship the the bottom corner of the intvitation. The rest of it read:Aaarrr! Come if ye dare to Pirate Landon's 4th Birthday Bash! We need shipmates to swab the deck, walk the plank & hunt fer pirate treasure. Aaarr!
Ship sets sail on (date & time). Meet us at old man Landon's island (address). I cut these out around the scroll and then burned the edges. I rolled them up tied with red ribbon and put them in the bottles. Once these were done and corked back up I hand deliverd them with the birthday boy. He also invited two of the guests (cousins) to sleep over. I made the same invitations, but worded these Your invited to sleep over for a pirate adventure. We are going to sail the seven seas, hunt for some fun and watch some pirate movies. Aaarrr! These were the cutest and funnest invitations we have ever made.
Bottled Invitations
The invitation was a drawing of an island with various features labeled (eg., Deadman's Swamp, Pirate's Cove, etc.)
The font was similar to Old English in keeping with the pirate theme. The party blurb was "Aaarrr! Come if you dare to (boys names) pirate party. They are turning 5 and need shipmates to swab the deck, walk the plank and look for pirate treasure. We set sail on, Pier located at.., RSVP First Mate."
They were asked to wear striped t-shirts if they had one. The paper was aged by dabbing it with a wet tea bag and once dry the edges were burnt to give it that old "treasure map" look.
The invite was rolled up and put into a bottle with some sand, small shells and skull confetti. Each bottle had a black label with a white skull and crossbones and the child's name on it, and were hand delivered.
Peter Pan Invite
The Invitation I used the cover of the original Peter Pan video for the design. I pulled the paper cover out of the video box and taped it to a window. I held a piece of typing paper over the cover and traced the figures of Peter Pan, Wendy, John, Michael, the pirate ship, and Tinkerbell in two different poses. Then I listened to the We Can Fly song over and over to get the lyrics I wanted; I typed the lyrics and party information and printed them on the computer.
Then I cut out the different blocks of lyrics/words and the traced figures and pasted them together to make a simple folded invitation. The front of the invitation was Peter and Wendy flying over the verse that begins: "When there's a smile in your heart" and ends: "You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!"
The inside top of the invitation was a small picture of Tinkerbell with the words Think of the happiest things, its the same as having wings. The inside bottom of the invitation had pictures of John, Michael, Tinkerbell and the pirate ship with the party information. On the bottom I wrote Bring your faith and trust, we'll supply the pixie dust. I copied the invitation and spent WAY too long hand coloring each invitation with colored pencils.
I rolled up the invitation and secured them with a piece of semi-long gold ribbon. I purchased small water bottles at the store. My children helped me to pour out the water, remove the labels, and fill each bottle with about a half an inch of sand box sand, and some pixie dust glitter. We stuffed each bottle with an invitation and left an end of ribbon hanging out for easy removal.
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Treasure Map Invitation
I found a treasure map and I printed it on to white paper on the other side I had my party info: Ahoy Mateys!! Shiver me timbers... There's a party going on Captain (Your child's name) Invites ye to board her ship at (Your address. Write out each number ex. Thirteen Hundred and Sixty five Palmer Drive) Saturday, The 16th day of July in the year of me Lord Two thousand and five Jacob's ladder will be lowered for boarding at 11:30 am Aye we does regret that any children left after 2:00 pm will be sold as slaves at the next port. All ye lads and lasses come for some swashbuckling fun, grub and kiddie spirits. Avast! It be requested that ye smartly contact the coxswain, (your name) at (your phone number) to confirm ye desire to excercise your sea legs and search form mighty treasure!
My daughter wanted me to read her invite over and over. She loved it. I used a font called Vivaldi, it looked piratey. (Also the coxswain is a person who steers the boat.) After I printed on both sides of the invite I tea dyed the paper. (I don't know if computer ink works the same, but I had used copier ink when I copied all my invitations. I did not have a problem with smeared lettering) To tea dye get some hot water and put your tea bags in the water, depending on how dark you want your paper add more tea (darker) more water (lighter)put your tea in a dish that can hold your paper flat. I crumpled my invitations and then unfolded them and laid them in the tea submerged it for a few seconds make sure you get it in all the crinkles then take it out and lay it on some paper towels on a cookie sheet. Let completely dry. I then burned the edges.
I also went one step further by rolling the invites and tied them with a piece of jute string. I left some string on then end and put them in a empty plastic water bottle (24oz arrowhead bottle)I poured some sand and some small craft shells from Oriental Trading Co in the bottle. I hot glued one end of the string to the bottom of water bottle lid that way when it was opened the invite came right out. We hand delievered most of the invites, but I mailed a few of them. Put a label on the bottle with an address and return address. Tape the lid with some packing tape and you can mail the bottle just like that.
Old Paper Invite
I took regular computer paper and dipped it into cold tea to give it an old look. After it dried I typed the info for the party on it. Then I burned the edges. A friend brought over empty beer bottles and I soaked them to get the labels off. Then I had found some assorted size shells at the Dollar store and dropped about 15 small shells in the bottom of each bottle.
I then rolled up the invite and tied with a thin piece of gold string, and slipped it into the bottle. Then I made up pirate names for each of the invitees. I cut index cards in half and burned the edges, then wrote the pirate names on it. My son and I then hand-delivered these. We called ahead to make sure they would be home because where we live we get a lot of raccoons and wild life and I didn't want to leave these on the porch incase an animal knocked them down and they broke.
Pirate Photo Invitation
First, we created his invitations using coffee soaked paper which included a picture of my son in his Captain Hook pirate costume and the text, "Sail back on the high seas, to the days of old...It's a party for all mateys - there's great fun in store! Also, we included the specific information about the party in another section at the bottom of the page that stated, "Ahoy Mates... ye be invited to Captain ______'s Pirate Party. Chart yer course fer Address, the ___ day of (month). We be a meetin at (time) fer some swashbuckling fun, grub, and kiddie spirits. Wave yer flag if ye be attendin or have yer mum send message by yer phone to (Phone #). Sees ye there...aarrgghh!"
On the back, I drew a pirate map which contained actual landmarks near our home. For example, we have a Winn Dixie Grocery Store that we have people look for when giving directions to our house. On the pirate map, we placed a hill where Winn Dixie is and called it "Winn Dixie Hill". In addition, we had other things on the map that help to identify roads, like "Ambassador Caffery Pkwy River", "Dulles Dr. Swamp" and etc. For the parents who weren't quite able to figure the map out, I put "Landlubber directions" at the top which contained step by step directions to our house.
Root Beer Bottle Invite
I used resume paper and printed the invitation using pirate language. After printing, I used a lighter and burned the edges. I "made" my husband drink IBC Rootbeer and rolled the invitations and placed in the bottles for delivery. I also used my son's digital photo and placed it in the Paint program and drew a pirate shirt, clip art parrot and pirate hat on the front of the invitation. "Yer invited to Collin's Buccaneer Bash.(etc.)..swashbuckling fun.(etc)...Wave yer flag if ye be attendin' or have yer mum call, etc. (etc).
Parchment Invites
I bought cardstock that was the color of parchmant paper and used a treasure map clipart picture which I faded out to be in the background and put the wording on top. I got 2 invitations per piece of paper. The wording was a follows: Aye Me Hearties ... Ye be invited fer some birthday spirits at Captn Jacob's Pirate Bash. Chart yer course fer the pier at XXXX (our last name) Lagoon. We be a meetin Sunday July 18th at 1 pm fer some swashbuckling fun, grub and kiddie spirits. Wave yer flag if ye be attendin or have yer mum send message by yer phone. See ye there...Aarrgghh!
I then burnt the edges of the invitation to look like a real treasure map. I rolled up each map and tied with raffia. Each rolled up map was placed in a brown glass rootbeer bottle (bought in a pack of four, emptied, rinsed and air dried). Since the caps were twist off, I twisted the caps back on to close. Around the neck of the bottle I tied with raffia a tag that said: To: XXXXX Ye be Invited w/ treasure chest clipart to give added decoration. The invitations were then hand delivered. Everyone thought they were great, the children were excited about the party!
Scull and Crossbones
I started by typing out the invitations on my computer. I found a skull and crossbones jpg picture on some website and transferred it to the invitation. Then I wrote this, "Ahoy maties! Cap't Nate is turn' four. A birthday bash is in store for this ol' seadog. He needs all 'is mates to help raise the sails, wash the deck, and batten down the hatches. There will be plenty of pirate treasures for the taking. Please say you'll come for this swash buckling Pirate, fun filled, Birthday Adventure!" "The Captain's Ship is docked at the secret location:".....Since I live in a small home, we held the party in a big room that I rented. That way all the kids could run around and go crazy. Along with invite, I enclosed an authentic looking treasure map (that I drew) on one side, with the directions to the party on the other side. Then I rolled up both papers and stuck them into plastic coke bottles and handed them out to the parents. The kids loved this! They had a blast floating the treasure map bottles in their bathtubs. I had all the kids dress in pirate clothes by adding this at the bottom of the invitation. "All maties are asked to please dress in yer pirate uniforms (stripped pirate shirts and black pirate pants) so ye be ready for plundering." It worked. Mostly everyone came dressed up.
The Pirate Invite
On heavy card stock, I printed (with "valiant" font- looks English/old-style)an invitation poem that read "Ahoy there matey! Pirate Captain Evan is turning three! So join us for a Pirate Birthday Party! He needs shipmates to swab the deck, walk the plank and hunt for the long, lost treasure... A sailor's lunch and a pirate cake will also be there for your pleasure! Please say you'll come for a swashbuckling fun Pirate Birthday Adventure! We set sail on- the date. Captain Evan's Pirate Ship is docked at- our address. RSVP Pirate Co-Captains- parents and phone number."
On the top of each invitation was a picture of my son in a Pirate Captain costume (I made this costume for him for Halloween- red velvet coat, gold sailor buttons, lace collars) and next to him was the Fisher Price toy Pirate Ship and a stuffed animal parrot. On the envelopes, I put some pirate stickers & printed the children's addresses and my sons return address with the same font and tore the edges of the creme paper to look "old."
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