International Talk Like a Pirate Day

International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a parody holiday annually held on September 19. Celebrated for the first time in 1995, the fun holiday encourages people to talk and dress like the sea plunderers of yesteryears.

John Baur (“Ol’ Chumbucket”) and Mark Summers (“Cap’n Slappy”) created this holiday on June 6, 1995. Out of respect for World War II’s D-Day, Baur and Summers chose to move the date of the holiday to September 19.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day was a low-key event until 2002 when it received media attention via syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry. Today, it is celebrated around the world as a way to raise funds for charity organizations, such as Childhood Cancer Support and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

What to do

• Dress up like a swashbuckling pirate. Bonus points if you are able to carry a parrot or a monkey on your shoulder.
• Talk like a pirate the whole day long. Intersperse your speech with grunts and growls and slur your words. Call your friends “matey” and intentionally use bad grammar.
• Host a pirate themed party and ask your guests to come dressed as pirates.
• Watch movies and read books that feature pirates as central characters. Some examples include the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
• Read more about the history of piracy and famous pirates.

September 18 is Rice Krispie Treat Day, an unofficial holiday dedicated to the no-bake, quick to make yummy gooey sweet treat.

Thought to have been invented at the Kellogg Company in the late 1930s, the treats are made of Rice Krispie cereal and melted marshmallows, though sometimes the marshmallows can be substituted with caramel or syrup as the binding agent.

Today, any sweet treat that uses Rice Krispies and some form of sweet binding agent is called a rice krispie treat. In Australia and New Zealand, where the cereal is marketed as Rice Bubbles, the sweet treat is called rice bubble slices or rice bubble cakes.

What to do

• Make Rice Krispies treats and share them with your friends and co-workers.
• Add gourmet twists to the snack by adding nuts, saffron and cardamom.
• Make your Rice Krispies treats more colorful by crushing some candies or adding some sprinkles to them.
• Make Rice Krispies pops. Mold the treat into a shape of your choice, insert a stick in the treat and when it hardens, serve as is or decorate with melted sugar, icing or sprinkles.
• Staying away from sugar? What about making a savory version of the treat? Just substitute the marshmallows with cheese, flour and butter.