There are few defining moments in your life; I had one in college. It was in the Spring of 2007, I was the elected Social Activities Committee Chair at CMC, and was thinking back at party themes from my freshman year. I remembered the Pirate vs Ninja party vividly.
It was at night, and there was one inflatable pirate ship. About a third of the people were dressed as pirates and the everyone else was wearing all black. I liked somethings about the party, like dressing up as a pirate. I didn’t like other parts of the party, like the cop out ninja costumes (few were really cool).
That was the moment I decided to kill off the ninjas, and go all in on pirate. The pirate party would be a celebration of free will, nature, and camaraderie. It would start during the day. We would have not one, but two pirate ships (otherwise, how could we battle?). We would pre-fill 200 water balloons and hide them in trash cans until the battle mid-way through. We would have plenty of eye patches, bandanas, and temporary tattoos for the people who won’t put effort into dressing up.
That spring, all of this happened and more. 7 years later, it continues to be an annual party. The Pirate Party is my legacy.
You have no idea how happy that makes me, I put so much love, effort and thought into this party for three years. A big thank you to this year’s students who captured the party’s essence:
Here’s a time lapse from 2012.
Other random facts:
- For the last two years, invitations to this party were extended to all alumni through the school’s alumni association.
- The first two years, it was in the middle of North Quad. The slip and slide was added the third year when it moved to Green Beach.
- The first few years, too many guys enjoyed wearing eye liner (including myself).
- Not ready to grow up, I continue to host Pirate Parties in LA (haven’t in a while…).
- One of those was on a boat out of Marina Del Rey called the Tiki Mermaid.
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