Arrrghhhh, Land-lubbers! You looking for a fun new spin on dinner? Thanks to contributor Lauren Coleman for this creative way to knock your ordinary dinner routine right off the plank! She writes: Well Matey, I have just the thing for you: A Pirate Family Dinner. How exactly do you accomplish this in the middle of the Midwest, you ask?! Here’s your treasure map:
- We set sail for our pirate dinner by covering our kitchen table with a paper treasure map.
- Costumes! You have to dress the part. We donned pirate hats, eye patches, hooks, and for a little girl who loves Disney’s Jake and the Neverland pirates, a little bit of pixie dust.
- Ambiance. Pirates are not the cleanliest and most polite dinner guests. For one night only, we threw our utensils overboard and ate with our hands. The messier the better. A big pot of spaghetti was dumped in the middle of the table! At first it took a while for these land-lubbers to join in. But once they got the hang of it, it was all hands on deck.
Treasure! What would any pirate party be without buried treasure? The night was capped off with a dessert of gold coins. After dinner, there was a much-needed walking of the plank into the bath then it was bedtime stories of Peter Pan that sent them off to Neverland.
Added treasure – two outstanding picture books by author Melinda Long and illustrator David Shannon guaranteed to make your little pirates giggle. How I Became a Pirate and Pirates Don’t Change Diapers. Find them at your library or bookstore.
Submitted by Springfield Moms contributor Lauren Coleman. Lauren is a former Chicago Public Schools, Special Education teacher turned stay at home mom/domestic engineer. She is wife to Christopher Coleman and mother to Isabelle, Ireland and Hudson. She is from Iowa originally.
Play “The Pirates of Penzance” while eating!