"A Pirates life for me"

Why would anyone not like role play?, It's fun to not be yourself every now and again and when the boys are in the mood for dressing up and acting out whatever crazy scenario's they can come up with i like to think i fully embrace it. Ive opened the door to the postman in all manner of outfits. Opeie is really starting to get into it more and wants to be involed in what ever his big brother is doing. Seth's been going through his 'i want to be a Goonie' phase at the moment and it came to my attention that you cant have Goonies without pirates, we were definitely short of any Pirate attire so after finding out about The Toadstool a few weeks back we put in an order for their Haba Captain Charlie Pirate Hat and Beard and Captain Charlie Pirate Sword.

The postman knocked today and Opeie jumped up and ran to the door and when i saw the stickers on the package i knew it was his new dress up items. When we opened the package Opeie shouted 'Pirate' and 'arrrggghhhh'. This was going to be a fun afternoon.

The beard is really soft, detailed and beautifully made, you can tell just by looking at it that it is a well made and safe product which i loved as it meant it was comfortable for Opeie to wear and there was no itching. The beard could be unattached from the hat and moved around by velcro which is great for getting the positioning of your face right. The sword is also soft and flexible too which is great for those overly energetic role players that get carried away in battle (there will be no tears on our ship). What i love most about Haba toys is the fact that they are eco friendly and have a great ethos which is really important to us as a family as we like to do our part when it comes to being green. Opeie was one happy little pirate and after running about wielding his sword for a while we decided to get down to some pirate themed craft, still wearing his hat of course.

It then came to my attention that when Seth came home from school he was going to want to be a pirate too so after reading a facebook status update from The Toadstool earlier in the day about their 'Earth day competition' and keeping in with the Haba ethos we used the packaging that the items came with to make another pirate hat and Sword. Genius if i do say so myself. two hats and swords for the price of one and two very smiley boys.

Well it turns out that Captain Seth was having big problems with his crew. Everytime his back was turned they were all after his bottle of rum. Boldhead blackbeard (that would be me) especially likes a tipple (helps with the scurvy) and he was doing the best he could to remove it from his possession with the help of his helper Jollypinkboots (Opeie)...

Captain Seth was having none of it and things soon became heated...

Luckily i invoked the the right of parlay! According to the Code of the Brethren and the fighting was over and we all became friends and sat down to a glass off rum...

*Giftsfromthepirates in no way encourages underage pirate drinking!!!

Turns out Captain Seth can't handle the strong stuff so in no time at all we were brawling again...

Seth has informed us tonight that as soon as he is back from school tomorrow we are having a pirate battle again (can i make a cardboard pirate ship in that time?). Its got me thinking of other role playing items we need so i went mooching on thetoadstool.co.uk again and found some great items including the Haba Knights Helmet and all its medieval counterparts and a great looking Doctor's Suitcase.

Haba Captain Charlie Pirate Hat and beard for ages 3 - 33