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Monday, January 25, 2010

Beware ...Pirates in the House!

MY TURN to host our neighborhood Bunco...

20 Ladies plan to come...our biggest group, yet!
I need a theme...

Oh yeah... GASPARILLA is coming up. Great idea!!! Call SIL to borrow her collection of pirates, beads, and coins (Brother is a Gasparilla PIRATE. They have LOTS of stuff!!!).


Enter, if you dare...

I was unable to find the skulls I wanted for the wreath center, so I pulled out my paints and canvas...

The bow is made with 3 colors of wired ribbon...purple, green with a gold trim, and a "bronzey"-gold.





The saber is from IParty... It is attached with a gold cording, which disappears to the eye.

Hanks of beads are attached with chenille strips...otherwise known as pipe cleaners. I love using these with wreath-making. They attach so well...and can be removed easily. (I reuse the base wreath over and over again.)

The dining room table is set with 3 napkins used as a runner, my favorite cheese box, topped with a vine wreath, and adorned with hanks of beads. The center is one of my favorite lanterns. On the table are "doubloons" with the Gasparilla ship motiff, pirates, and spent shells from the guns fired by the pirates. (Blanks, of course!)













On the serving counter, a mirrored tray (I made this from an unfinished tray from Michaels and a broken mirror, mastic and grout) is the resting place for "Kermit, the Pirate Frog", "Mr. Potato Pirate", and "Pirate Troll". An unlikely trio, their colorful attire make them just the right (humorous) touch at the beginning of the buffet.

Red plates and Pirate napkins are positioned in an old cigar box (more Tampa flavor) from my collection, waiting for guests to serve themselves from the array of foods.

The Menu:
Cannon Balls in Blood (meat balls in red sauce) w/ Parker House Rolls...for mini-sandwiches Seaweed Dip (spinach), She-Crab Dip, Anchor Cheese Spread (shaped like an anchor), Tropical Fruit (citrus ambrosia), 1905 Salad (recipe from the Columbia Restaurant -You can find this online or in an older post), Rum Crunch Cake, Guava Paste w/ Cream Cheese and Saltines, Assorted Crackers and Flatbreads, Hard Tack (Galletas Cubanitas...Cuban Soda Crackers)






One of several treasure chests, scattered throughout the house.

(Do you
see Hannah peeking out behind the pirate?) The "chest" is from Ross...marked down to $2!

Here she is!











One of the chest displays... Large clam shells with "pearl necklaces", a "parrot's wing", and one of my crab paintings. The clam shells were in a box of garage sale shells. The parrot wing was on the markdown table at HomeGoods. It had been painted gold...an angel wing, I suppose.

Each of the tables was set with a black cloth, a center "napkin" with a
skull and crossbones which had been "drawn" with a paint writer. On the table was a bright red bowl of Goldfish Crackers and mini-pirate characters. The tables were numbered with wooden numerals from Drummer Boy's wedding reception.

A fun time was had by all!!!

8 comments:

Ms. Bake-it said...

I love it! What a fun and creative idea! Hannah is adorable!

~ Tracy

Kat said...

What a great theme for the party! Everything looks great, your decorations are wonderful. And that little Hannah is the cutest thing I've seen in a long time - and I work for a vet! Kathy

Shellbelle said...

Jane, I'm lovin' those pirate wreaths! All your decorations and honey, that menu is so creative. How could anyone not have a great time at a party like this! You're so creative and the theme itself was perfect, of course.

This is a party I would have crashed had I known, lol.

Wendy said...

I love your delightful blog. Your pirate themed bunko party is so very creative!
smiles,
Wendy

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

This is really cute! So unique! Love the door wreaths!

Katherine

Bama Belle said...

I adore this! It is precious. I have missed blogland this week. Hope you are well!

Embellished Bayou said...

What a fun theme! I have never heard of Gasparilla before. Thanks for stopping by my blog, you asked about websites for Mardi Gras supplies. I have never bought anything online, I found most of my stuff this year at my local Hobby Lobby. I think www.orientaltrading.com has a good selection of mardi gras stuff at reasonable prices, though.

Have a great weekend! ~Christy

jmac said...

So cute!! I wanna come to one of your parties!!!!