Invitations
Create invitations that look like pirate flags covered with a splattering of blood, or a pirate and a zombie facing off wild west style. Add the time, date, location, and any instructions for guests - what to wear and what to bring.
Pick a Costume
Your guests can either choose which character to arrive as beforehand or keep their costume choice private until they arrive. Then your friends and family will have an entertaining rivalry. Families or groups of friends could theme their pirate costumes or dress as a combination of both. The great thing about Zombie costumes is that everyone interprets them slightly differently, blood, cuts, and makeup effects will all be slightly different and you will get an impressive range of zombie wounds. Your guest will hardly need encouragement to take each other on. Pirates will fight to the death over almost anything (candy, silly games or party cups) and zombies can be hilarious and mono-syllabic. BRAINS!!
Pirate Theme
Decorate rooms in your house in each theme, or if the party is in one large open space, decorate each end of the room in a contrasting theme. Try making a pirate ship stage out of wood, painted polystyrene, or perhaps a painted backdrop with pirate treasure scattered around. (It should be easy to find lots of fake gold nuggets or coins around the Halloween season at your local costume store). There are endless underwater-themed props and decorations to go with it. Think sharks, leviathans, mermaids, and giant squid.
Zombie Theme
For a zombie-themed room or area, consider making a make-shift graveyard theme or open tombs, either as painted backdrops, or with large black plastic throws over couches, and bandages, blood, and gruesome fake body parts emerging from behind furniture. Party snacks should be brain-themed—try marshmallows dipped in strawberry sauce or scoops of watermelon. Dry or water-soaked spaghetti makes a great creepy brain-like texture as a decoration on the snack table. Try your local Halloween costume store for plenty of zombie makeup and props to inspire your decorations. My favorite place is definitely www.spirithalloween.com - a huge selection with great prices.
Throughout the night, your unruly zombies will no doubt be looking for pirate brains. It is quite possible that by witching hour your house will be full of pirate zombies.
Food
Create some pirate- and zombie-themed food. Make jolly roger cupcakes by molding fondant icing into bones and skulls. create oozing cakes by filling sponges with strawberry syrup. and have some bloody fingers and some zombie's brains - sausage rolls and meatballs dipped in tomato ketchup.
Have a great themed party and happy Halloween!
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