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 8a

The Hippie and Jumpsuit Parties, page 8b

The Hobos, Togas and Murder Mystery Parties, page 8c

The Famous Chefs 2016, Traditional Halloween 2015, Day of The Dead 2014, page 8d

The Addams Family 2019, Hawaiian 2017 Luau and Television and Movie Hero Party 2018, page 8e

Vintage Halloween Costumes for Sale, page 9a

Vintage Halloween Costumes for Sale, page 9b

Vintage Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for Sale, page 10