DIY Pirate Themed Wedding Party Proposal Gifts Tutorial

I just wanted to quickly share a fun project that I just handed out in relation to our upcoming wedding. I know most people just ask their wedding party (bridesmaids and groomsmen) by phone or whenever they see them next but since G and I share our friends and I'm just as likely to hang with the guys as he is to grab a drink with the gals it seemed really strange to divide up our pals by gender.

So, instead of bridesmaids or groomsmen we're having a Wedding Crew. Which seeing as how 90% of us met via our Pirate Kickball League (underground/rebel pirate more than "yaaar!" Pirate) we thought it was fitting to go with the Pirate theme. Plus, you know... rum.

Items used for the Proposal Gifts:

• Computer & Printer
• scrap (or new) paper with a nice texture and natural color
• scissors or paper trimmer
• glue or double sided tape
• hole punch
• natural style string, yarn or twine
• bottles of BOOZE!

Start by designing your tags. I set mine up so that the front and back faced toward where I would fold the paper in half. This way each side would be right-side up once folded in half. On the front I put a little pirate inspired sea shanty which is the proposal and on the back is the Captain's Creed. It outlines a few promises that we make to our crew if they accept the invitation. (basically that we will try out hardest to be respectful of their time, energy and money. I think that can be a big worry for anyone who's being asked to fulfill a role in a wedding party)

Print your tags and trim them to size with a paper or photo trimmer (or scissors if you have a really steady hand for cutting straight lines)

Use glue or double sided tape on the back side of one half of your tags. I use a nifty crafting doo-dad that looks like a white-out wheel but instead dispenses as sort of double sided sticky strip. You can pick them up in just about any crafting aisle, school supply area or scrapbooking section.

Fold your tags in half and press firmly. If you miscalculated and the two side don't quite match up you can trim the bit that hangs out or just say "fuck it" and move on. Remember, it's going to be attached to booze so nobody is going to care about a shoddy glue job.

Next, grab your handy hole punch. I have both the old school kind shown here where you use a hammer to tap the punch through the paper and a hand held chomper kind called a Crop-a-dial. Scrapbookers have the most awesome little gadgets that come in handy for all the weird projects I end up making!

I then used a corner rounder to give the tags a little polish on the corners. (but mostly just because I already have the gadget for making my business cards)

Gather your Pirate themed booze bottles (we have a few larger bottle thrown in the mix to give to couples who live together instead of all little bottles)

Cut your yard/string/twine. You can make it just long enough to tie around the neck or handle of the bottle or you can go crazy and wrap it up to make sure it doesn't fall off.

**A note about going this route for 'proposing' to your wedding party.
I'm not sure if it's receiving a gift or being proposed to or the idea of a joint wedding party that was confusing but this is pretty uncommon so when I gave these bottles to our friends, I'm pretty sure every single one of them looked at me after reading the tag and ask "Ooooh, what does this mean?" So you'll probably have to clarify the situation. Plus, because you're taking away the defined roles that innumerable books and blog posts have set forth about the expectations of certain party members (the maid of honor and best man usually take a lead in a lot of aspects) you'll need to be sure that you're really good at communicating what you want or need from your Wedding Crew both leading up to the big day AND who should be doing what at the wedding.

Hope it inspires you to do something fun for your crew if you have the time and desire to do so!