Pirate Princess Party - Part 1

Before the ATD (annual tiara dinner), I had a serious fit of silliness in coming up with this year's theme: Pirate Princess!  Pirates of the Caribbean was on television several times recently.  Several people, including my mother, asked what I was thinking.  They all knew the answer.  I like to be silly and dress up and have fun.  It was going to be my 39th birthday party the way I wanted it.  Do I sound spoiled?  I am.  I am spoiled by my friends who indulge me in this every year.

I liked the idea of a treasure hunt.  "X" marks the spot of the treasure.  Each clue had an "X" with it.  You will see that some of the messages are about us as God's treasure.  To top that, the red "X" is the symbol for the End It Movement, which is an anti-human trafficking organization.  I borrowed that idea because it all fits together perfectly.

To start the pirate proceedings, I lined out specific clues to lead the princesses to the treasure.

My friends had to decode the date, time, and location.  I picked two history teachers to receive the coordinates.  Everyone posted their clues to Facebook so friends could help figure out the meaning.  Posting the clues in this way also helped a few people to be involved in the event who couldn't make it to the actual event that particular evening.  

Some messages were about getting together and just for fun.  I either included a scripture or wrote a quatrain for each person.  Then I put it in a bottle, labeled it and mailed it for $2.32.  Yes, I mailed a message in a bottle.  Each message was tied with a cord of three strands.  I also tossed in a dozen pearls, flower petals, and some red glitter!  

Again this year, my friends and I planned to make a donation to Redeemed Ministries.  Because we were doing a pirate theme and messages in a bottle, I asked them to collect change for change in a bottle.  Each person was to collect pocket change to help change the life of another lady.  

The last thing to do in preparation for the event was to create a tip jar.  Another friend had put together redneck wine glasses for her own birthday party and gave me an extra as a donation to the ATD.  She knew that we could use it for the tip jar.  Some restaurants add gratuity to the check for large groups, but we do a tip jar anyway.  The tip we give is a reflection of who we are and not necessarily the service we get.  Sometimes we have great service and sometimes not.  I include a card with some scriptures that tells about who we are and what we do.  Then we stuff that sucker with cash!  I'll show you the full jar in the next installment of this story.  Here is the jar I created just to bless the people who served us that night.  No matter what kind of service we might have, I trust that our waiter needs the blessing we are sharing.  

I wrapped the stem in the cord of three strands.  Flowers, sea shells, and gold glitter are hot glued to the top.  I think it fit the whole pirate theme with treasure included.  

Then I had to wait and see how many friends dared to join my silly crew and drop anchor at the given coordinates that night! 

{This is not actually me, but it is a cool picture!}