Super Cool Pirate Invites

Yarrrr!!!!! Ahoy there me hearties. It be that time o' the year again: Indy be having a party. Yarrrr!!!

Okay, enough of that. I can't type it without actually saying it like a pirate in my head and that's just silly. Plus, I think I might make crazy faces too. Weird.
Anyhoodle, Indy is turning 8 next month (which I cannot believe, because surely we just brought him home from the hospital) and wants a Pirate party (Yarrrr!). To be perfectly honest, he started planning this the day after his Indiana Jones party last year.
We've been in full party planning mode for a few weeks now (and by this I mean obsessively browsing and buying stuff from Oriental Trading Co.) and I finally got around to making the invites.  Pretty important, huh?  Sure, sure, we could just buy premade invites and write the info in, but where's the fun in that?  Where's the mess?   Store bought invites are not for me.  This year, we were going with a message in a bottle.  I started off by making the invites on MSWord, printing them on heavy brown paper, then dampening the back of the paper (don't do the front or you'll smear the ink-ask me how I know) and sticking it into a low temp oven for a few minutes.  This makes the paper crinkly and feel old.  Then comes the mess fun!  I lit a candle and burned the edges of the paper.  There were ashes all over the kitchen.  Good times.  Indy really, really, really wanted to help with this part, but I didn't think our insurance would cover birthday party invite related fires, so he had to stand by and watch.  BTW, if you do this, do it near a sink of water in case you can't blow the fire out (ask me how I know this!).  Also, when you're blowing out the fire, blow very gently (or you may need the a fore mentioned sink of water).
See how cute?  BTW, last year Indy asked for food for a local food bank instead of gifts, but this year he's asked for dog food to be donated to a shelter in memory of Miss Pepper.  Is my boy amazing or what?

After I was sure the edges of the paper were cool, I rolled the invites up and tied them closed with twine and dripped some red candle wax on them to seal it. I made sure one end of the twine was left really long. You'll see why in a minute.

I "made" Mr. HH drink several bottle of beer that came in a clear bottle and did not have a deposit (most glass bottles in Germany have a deposit).  I soaked the bottles to get them clean and get the labels off.  After they were dry, Indy and I poured sand in them and dropped in some sea shells (he thought this was really fun). I printed off some cool labels and glued them on.

I then slipped the invite inside, leaving the long part of the twine hanging out the top, so the guests could easily get the invite out (now, you see why I left one end long), put a cork in the bottle (Really, this is the reason we drank all that wine.  Promise.) and tied a small shell to the loose end of the twine.  The label reads "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here."  Indy went crazy over these.

Here they are all finished.

We actually have a few more to make, but I ran out of bottles.  I guess Mr. HH will have to drink more beer  while watching the World Cup this week (don't you feel awful for him?).  Or, I may use plastic bottles for those guests who have younger siblings.  We'll see.
So, there you have it, our super cool pirate invites.  What 'cha be thinking, maties? 


PS.  The mother of my future DIL (she told Indy they were getting married and he said "okay") got their invite yesterday and posted this on my FB page:

OMG! You are the coolest mom ever! What awesome party invitations! You have totally outdone yourself!

See why we're friends?  She totally knows me and validates that I truly am the coolest mom ever.

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