The Scariest Pirate Party

The runaway success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies has boosted the popularity not only of pirate parties in general, but also of haunted and undead zombie pirate parties for all but the youngest party people. Best of all, there’s absolutely no reason to wait until Halloween to throw a bash fit for the Bermuda triangle!

It’s easy to hunt haunted ships and multiply the fun by combining products from our pirate party store with selections from Halloween party supplies. Select a ship, palm trees, and treasure chest from our Treasure Bay or Pirate’s Cove kit. Then, think about the ways you can turn these pieces into an eerie and ominous setting using Halloween decorations and decorating techniques. Here are a few ideas:

Choose background materials in dark blues and grays to suggest nighttime, or a dreary underwater scene.

If using a Treasure Bay ship, cut and tear the ends of gossamer “sails” so they hang in tatters from the “masts.”

Backlight the large decorating pieces with red bulbs, and keep ambient lighting to the minimum required for safety.

Make use of a fog machine.

Dress up lifesize light up zombies (or lifesize grim reaper figures) in pirate wearables and weapons and hang or stand them in unexpected places.

Bring your dark blues to the table, too, along with the glint of pirate gold and silver. Start with a solid tablecover topped with tattered fishnet and a mix of gold and silver solid color tableware. Put together a centerpiece grouping of a nautical lantern lit with a flickering LED tea light, a glitter skull centerpiece outfitted with an eyepatch, and a scattering of plastic gold coins.

The skull and crossbones mylar balloon is big and sets the perfect tone immediately. Bedeck your deck by tying it outside to a pole or railing, or create tall, weighted bouquets of this balloon with black latex balloons to flank the entrance to your scary pirate party.

Decorate a Gruesome Over the Hill Party

An Over the Hill party is a fun option for nearly any milestone birthday from age 30 on. These parties are best thrown for tight-knit groups where teasing, light banter and other tongue-in-cheekiness are guaranteed to be the order of the day (and a hit even if the guest of honor is privately feeling a bit of trepidation).

Perhaps the best approach to Over the Hill is over the top, which in our case means checking out not just our Over the Hill theme collection but also hitting up Halloween party supplies for decorations, invitations and party favors that symbolize rust, rot and ruination.

Start with invitations such as “Skull” or “Bones Cake” vertical invitations. Each combines gruesome whimsy with a palette from which you can develop a party color scheme, such as black and white with purple, green, blue or pink. You will also be able to find matching candy bars, bottle labels, photo coasters and other party favors in either of these designs.

From there, think about providing the unexpected. Select a Halloween background illustration such as “Cemetery Gates” or “Graveyard” illustration to cover a wall as a focal point with a big impact. As is true of most of our backdrops, you have choices of material and size along with the option to add wording or not. Place a few personalized Halloween tombstones in front of your illustration for some depth (and added humor) and hide a fog machine behind one of them.

A Grim Reaper is a must for an over-the-top Over the Hill, and we have at least a dozen to choose from. Place the Reaper as a “greeter” at the door.

Mix and match solid color tableware in your party colors. Plant a big, sly, smiley Tombstone Vulture mylar balloon in the middle as a centerpiece, and black glitter candles on the cake.

Deadly Mardi Gras Decorations

If you think every Mardi Gras theme party must evince the raucous atmosphere of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, you are missing out on some ghostly, ghastly, but vastly entertaining possibilities.

New Orleans is haunted, so haunted that enterprising operators build entire tours around the paranormal, and some of the city’s oldest cemeteries are among the most visited in the nation. For a wicked change, host a Haunted New Orleans Mardi Gras party set in a century-old cemetery using our collection of Halloween decorations.

Consider the Black Raven invitation with its graveyard graphic for this purpose, for its pleasing color scheme and the ease you’ll find in matching the design to banners, yard signs and other products.

Transform walls into a nighttime horizon with drapes of lush Mardi Gras purple and navy gossamer, being sure to leave a spot for the Graveyard Background illustration. The Graveyard Gates entrance or lighted Spooktacular Cemetery arch can greet guests at the door impressively. Select another stand-alone piece, such as the crypt standee or 3D Spooky Tree, for a more central location in the party room and surround it with personalized tombstones and black tissue grass mats as a focal point.

Rim the edges of purple-covered tables with white skull garland, and top them with silver table settings and glitter skeleton table sprinkles that echo the gray of the tombstones. For centerpieces, we love the flaming table torch decoration for a sensational splash of garish red.

A Haunted Big Easy should have easy party favors, too. If you select the Black Raven line, you’ll find cookie tins, lollipops, bottle labels and window clings — and that’s just for starters. Stick with Mardi Gras tradition and pick up strings of beads in your party colors, too.

Love In All the Wrong Places – Dreadful Valentine’s Day Decorations

If you’re inclined to put a twist on the traditional Valentine’s Day party – or even to mangle it completely – you’ve come to the right blog! Here are a few ways to pull the hearts-and-flowers routine a bit out of the mainstream with Halloween decorations and other theme party supplies.

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Party

Suggested Slogan: “Guns, Not Roses”

Create a style reminiscent of the movie Some Like It Hot, whether you are from Chicago or not! Pick up big city backgrounds, flapper standees and other theme party decorations and wearables from the 1920s party supplies store for a gangster-themed party.

Include a Valentine-related password to your “speakeasy” on invitations.

Present attendees with hot pink gangster guns and other 1920s party favors that can be used as props at the party. Use gangster photo frames as prizes for the best gangster costumes. Customize labels with your party colors to create “bathtub gin” bottles.

Twilight™ Party

Suggested Slogan: “BELLA!!!”

Find Twilight™ Eclipse, New Moon and Moonlight decorations, favors and tableware in Vampire party supplies to suit any Twilight fan.

Consider creating your own apple-shaped invitations for this theme.

We’re inclined to favor a more Gothic look in party decorations for this theme: black-and-white with an occasional dramatic red flourish. Try placing a Moonlight Revelers standee against a dark backdrop, and use a bowl or acrylic ice bucket filled with apples as a symbolic centerpiece atop mostly black table décor.

Don’t forget Claire de Lune.

Anti-Valentine’s Day Party

Suggested Slogan: “Love Stinks”

Celebrate independence and singlehood by turning Valentine’s Day on its head! Start with the pinks in our Martini line of decorations and tableware from Cocktail Party Supplies coupled with plenty of black in your color scheme.

From there, add “statement” pieces from Halloween decorations. Our realistic crow, for example, makes a substitute for the bluebird of happiness. Fill vases with black silk roses, or hand single roses at the door. Finish with black balloons.