Celebrating International Talk like a Pirate Day at Work

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!! So how will you celebrate this fun holiday at the office? Here are some fun tips to make the day memorable so that it becomes a yearly event!

First start promoting the holiday a few weeks ahead of time. Mark September 19th on your office calendar as International Talk Like a Pirate Day. By giving them advance notice it gives them time to arrange for their pirate costume.

I bought a basic pirate outfit for the Supervisors so that all of management was in sync. Just simple pirate hats, bandanas, eye patch, and plastic sword. Remember so have someone bring in a camera so you can take lots of pictures.

Set aside a budget of how much you want to spend on food and/or decorations. Remember that it does not have to cost you much. You could have an office potluck. Bake a homemade cake and tint your frosting blue like the ocean. You can use chocolate icing to make a small island and then put a small plastic boat or just a small treasure chest that you can find in most dollar stores on it. Be creative - serve root beer to your mates!

Plan to have a Pirate Costume Contest and award a prize for the most creative one! I usually buy a bag of paper eye patches from one of the party store and also a bag of pirate temporary tattoos and hand them out as my employees enter the office. That way everyone can get in to the spirit of the holiday, even if they didn't wear an official costume.

Go online and search for Pirate Jokes and Pirate Trivia so you can email them to the staff that morning or hand them out as they walk in. Award prizes throughout the day. If you find them speaking like a pirate in the office, award them on the spot. Create excitement by being spontaneous!

Set up a pirate chest filled with inexpensive candy for the staff so they can choose what they like. I had my Employee Satisfaction Committee make a treasure chest out of an old copy paper box, construction paper, and markers. I then filled it with inexpensive goodies like pirate finger puppets, plastic swords, paper pirate hats, and lots of candy.

Have fun with it - remember you can save your decorations to re-use year after year! You can also use the decorations and costumes for Halloween. You can find inexpensive pirate gear just after Halloween each year so you can stock up! Just try not to buy anything that has a year or date on it, that way you can use them again and again.