The past many weeks have been filled with thoughts of pirattitude: how to decorate with pirattitude, how to cook with pirattitude, how to dress with pirattitude. This weekend was the culmination of all the hard work and friends showed up in full force.

I salute my friends for the pirate-filled exuberance. I am happy to have found someone like Wonder Boy who can spend so much time, work and money around a party theme like pirates.

Here are the things I learned during my pirattitude weekend:

  • Alcohol and toy swords do not mix well. It is because of these things that you have someone say to you, “I would love to come with you but I have to kill your dad first” while they are holding a $3 plastic sword to your dad’s throat.
  • Wonder Boy did it right when he bought the turbo Eureka vacuum cleaner he did. It turns out that sucker can suck up whole pretzels, which is a good thing because some drunk pirates were inspired by the Olympics and tried to do back flips over the couch and might have missed and hit a coffee table sending a whole bowl of Chex Mix flying.
  • When Wonder Boy comes up with the idea to use tape and make treasure-map-like dashes around the apartment that lead to beer and the bathroom, you will think “Brilliant!” The next day when you are on your hands and knees picking at tape with your fingernails, you will curse to yourself, “Brilliant, my ass!”
  • Family members who party with you despite pregnancies, not knowing people, being called old by your friends … they rock.
  • Wearing baseball uniforms to a party is funny. Wearing cups under those costumes is even funnier. Signing people’s bodies like you are really famous is even funnier still.
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.