Treasure Island Party

Hi Moms,
I am decorating my son's school cafeteria for a Treasure Island-themed party. Everyone is invited to come dressed as a friendly pirate. So far, I have found some fish nets to hang on the walls.........Does anyone have any cool ideas of how to transform a school cafeteria into a fantastic Treasure Island? All ideas are welcome! Thanks!

Look in the Oriental Trading Company catalog (also on line). They carry cool stuff like that. Sounds like fun.

Check out Oriental Trading- I think they have a website. The catalog is full of stuff you could use at great prices.
Have fun!

You could put a treasure map on one wall. Hang gold coins and other treasures from the ceiling. Make banners with pirate sayings like "ahoy there", "shiver me timbers", etc. Use a foot locker as a treasure chest - fill the bottom with blankets and the top with satin fabric, fake coins, jewels, trophies, etc.

I ditto the suggestion to check Oriental Trading. If you have limited funds and would rather make decorations they can provide good ideas.

Hi Leslie,
Our Spring Fair at school last year was Pirates of the Car.
We had help, but it was very cool, we had nets too, but we also had chests full of old shiny stuff (put newspaper at the bottom and cover with a sheet to make the chest look full), you can decorate boxes to look like chests, we had plastic gold coins, little treasure boxes, skulls, and messages in bottles, we also had palm trees, you can make paper trees and tape them on the wall, anything pirate related works.....old maps, swords, eye-patchs, bandanas, money..........good luck...............Ellen

Hi! I suggest taping blue cellophane over the florescent lights in the cafeteria to get the feel of the deep blue sea. Snacks could include whale-shaped crackers and swedish fish (red gummy fish).

I don't know what kind of budget you have, but you may want to take a look at wallsofthewild.com - they have all sorts of cool lifesized stick-on animals, trees, flowers and vines. I'm sure you could at least get some ideas there if not the actual decorations. Also, you might be able to get a large tarp or other floor covering and bring in some sand (plastic would result in too many falls if you don't have a lot of sand). Everyone could go shoeless ...? Good luck, it sounds like a great time!

The dollar stores always have sea shells. You could put them in the fishing nets. Have fun!

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions! The party is a week away and with help from friends and Oriental Trading it is sure to be a hit!