Long John Silver, Captain Hook, Black Sam, Black Bart and Jack Sparrow. The adventure and romance of pirates appeals to nearly everyone. The sad truth is that many pirates ate poorly, and often lived on bananas and limes. Very few actually became fabulously wealthy and many of them died at a young age.

Since the early days of film when there were such classics as ‘Captain Blood ‘ in 1935 and ‘The Sea Hawk ‘ in 1940 there have been very few films about pirates that are worth any real mention. Only a few examples come to mind such as Roman Polanski’s ‘Pirates’ in 1986 and ‘The Goonies’ which made good use of a pirate-based storyline. Another movie that should also be mentioned, albeit for different reasons is 1995’s ‘Cutthroat Island’. This calamity of a movie ended up costing an unbelievable $100 million dollars at the time. The film went on to recover a mere $11 million dollars. The Guinness Book of World Records describes it as ‘the largest box office loss’ whilst The Washington Post said that ‘Cutthroat Island’s’ lame cliff-hangers are enough to make you a cliff jumper’.

Clothing certainly won’t be a problem. Pirates wore quite a variety of garments and with a little imagination and minimal outlay you can soon look like a true blue-blooded buccaneer! Think of simple articles like eye patches, bandanas and wide leather belts. A stripey black and white top wouldn’t be out of place; maybe it could be worn with some old black jeans.

Unless you are one of the few people to have not watched one of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films then you will more than likely agree when I say that Mr Depp is perfectly cast as Captain Jack Sparrow. It would be incredibly difficult trying to imagine anyone else being able to play the role anywhere near as well as Depp. Who else could be quirky, camp, cool, sexy and funny all at the same time? Out of the many modern actors that we have in Hollywood today it has to be said that Johnny Depp must be one of the most versatile. The range of parts that he has played has been incredibly varied and impressive.

For the meeker lady Renaissance Fairy peasant garb is just as acceptable. A chemise or peasant blouse with full sleeves, a bodice or corset, and under-skirt and accenting over-skirt. If she was a lady pirate, she may also be wearing a frock coat over this costume, but for sure she will also be carrying all traditional weaponry, including a (plastic) bodice dagger!

If you are organising a themed pirate fancy dress costume party then you could also make up some pirate-style games and activities for your guests. How about a treasure-hunting game?

In interviews, after the release of the first film in the series, ‘The Curse of the Black Pearl’, Johnny Depp confessed that he had partly modeled his character on aging rocker Keith Richards. Richards made a cameo appearance in the third film of the series, ‘At World’s End’, as Captain Teague who is actually Captain Jack Sparrow’s father. He was supposed to have made an appearance in ‘The Curse of the Black Pearl’ but the writers couldn’t manage to fit him into the story.

If you get your party right then your guests will absolutely love it. Who knows, you might get such a kick out of doing it that you end up organising a ‘cowboys’ party in a few more weeks!