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"Just thought you'd like these pirate party ideas, " says Karen after buying a few bits from SillyJokes for her son's 10th Birthday.

"We bought eight pirate cutlasses and wrote a clue, a word on each one and then after each activity they had to pull a cutlass from a box where they were all shoved in. When they got all the cutlasses they solved the clue and it lead to a map (drawn on a bit of cardboard) and this lead in turn to a treasure chest shaped pinata full of choc coins, sweets and toys,"

"For each game they had to nominate a captain and he held the Captian's Hook. We gave them some gold chocolate coins and if they didn't talk like a pirate, address the Captain as Captain or said 'yes' instead of 'Argh' we took some of the coins away."

"They earned the coins back by going down the garden slide and popping balloons with a pin on a stick. Some of the balloons held coins, others had flour or even water - very messy."

"We gave them sea legs by making put their foreheads on a stick and running round in circles on the spot six times before heading off towards the ship (climbing frame). Lots of laughs as they fell over."

"They put together their own pizzas at the Pirate Pizza Parlour. Pizza bases and a variety of toppings spread out, followed by do it yourself ice cream sundaes. Both these ideas made the mealtime last longer and be more fun. It's important to fill the time."

"The evil pass the parcel with forfeits like holding an ice cube under your arm, singing Amarillo, talking for one minute about Elephants and eating a slice of lemon was a big success,"

"The one bad thing, I forgot to order the cake in good time from Waitrose, it takes 7 days, so missed out there but in the end it didn't matter that much as they had a really good time."

SillyJokes resources
Pirate Stuff - a lot of the props mentioned above came from SillyJokes.

Don't forget, if you have a great party you can tell us and we will tell the world.
"I'm stark raving mad and I want the World to know!"

Hailey told us about her 26th birthday party. Everyone came as Chavs. Dress code: Hoodies

The guests all wore their best Burberry and tied their hair back tight.

They lived near a MacDonalds so went out and got burger and fries for all, blending in seamlessly.

Drinks ranged from cheap cider and bottled beers to flavoured vodka drinks for the ladies.

Hailey mentions that they thought about having the party at the local bus stop with a mate's car to provide the drum and bass but were worried that the local residents might call the police.

10 -10.30 there was meant to be a scheduled fight but for a change someone realised " 'e wasn't worff it."

Jane wrote and told us about her eleven year old daughter's birthday disco.

This is often a difficult age to give a party for as they want to be grown up but are not really ready for a sophisticated disco.

Jane hired a hall and a mobile disco, filled the venue with helium balloons and great finger food.

The simple yet effective twist that really made the evening was providing all the children with proper masquerade masks.

These range in price from £1.50 to £5.95 and the children were allowed to take their masks home as part of their party bags.

Jane's husband dressed in black tie and acted as a butler with a tray of fruit juice cocktails to greet the guests as they arrived. He also helped serve food and kept order amongst the excited kids.

The masks proved a great success with all the kids wearing them throughout the evening and seeming very reluctant to leave at the end!

Resource
SillyJokes has dozens of Masquerade Eyemasks to choose from.

Penny wrote to us to tell us about a successful 40th birthday party she had last year.

The theme was taken from the popular and trashy ITV television show, Footballers' Wives.

The invitations were handmade and each featured a stylish drawing of a lady photocopied onto acetate with diamonte 'bling' stuck onto each one which really set the tone.

She dressed her house with masses of tasteless interior decor. Huge and hideous dried flower arrangements clashed brilliantly with the nasty animal print throws.

To give the party an air of bought-in sophistication she splashed out on fancy caterers who sashayed around the party with trays of elaborate finger foods instead of doing a buffet or sit down meal.

All the guests went over the top on dressing up with fake finger nails, low cut dresses, far too much makeup and piles of 'bling'. It was dressing up to the nines and beyond and the girls loved wearing tarty frocks.

If anything the men loved it even more than the women with more than a smattering of sarongs, trendy cut stubble and glued on piercings and fake tattoos (for those who didn't already have them).

Penny laid on a dressing up room for those who felt under dressed for the occasion. Wigs, fake moustaches, feather boas and even fake cigarettes so they could all look as cool as Tanya, the bitchy star of the show.

There was also extra fingernail and eyelash glue for those mid evening disasters. Just don't get the two mixed up!

Dancing was to a local disco and further apporpriate amusement was laid on in the form of table football.

"It was a great evening and everyone was able to get into the theme even if they hadn't seen the show," says Penny, "Afterall who doesn't like dressing up? And you simply couldn't go too far,"

We rode the challenge adventure charities cycle race last year raising over £6,000 and scarred half of the teams. We even wore the wig under our cycle helmet.

Sue says, "My top tip! Whilst out drinking keep your teeth in your gin and tonic for safekeeping. They stay nice and moist and they won't get hairy from your pocket! Plus, who would nick your drink with teeth swimming in it?"

Norm the Geek on his Stag Do in Nottingham. "The birds were all over me, I couldn't beat 'em off with a mucky stick,"