My future SIL is having a Pirate themed Bachelorette party next weekend we are going to iron on pirate like symbols on our shirts(black) and everything. We are having a potluck and I am wanting to bring Pirate themed cupcakes so far I plan on making devils food cupcakes with Bailey's SMBC I was wanting to go with the pirate theme for decorating but am not sure what to do any ideas would be greatly appreciated!! I was thinking about going with something simple like maybe cute black liners or something pirate like and sprinkling them with some sort of black edible sugar or jimmies... I am really not sure though so any help would be great!

gold foil wrapped chocolate coins -- 1 per cupcake?

black fondant cut to look like eye patch?

I like the patch idea... I wanted to keep some kind of classy edge to it but I amnot sure how possible that is with pirate cupcakes

you could make the cuppies in a mini-loaf pan and make each one a small treasure chest- now, it is a lot of work, but still very cute.

You could do some really classy ones with these skull and crossbone wrappers:
http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp?pn=PP2021-SKL&sid=CHAMP

This could be another option but to me says kids pirate party more than classy!
http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?ShopId=38&CatId=629&SubCatId=1602&productId=635885

You could do jewels or treasure on top of the icing, like Doug suggested, but go for more than one coin, maybe make some isomalt/gumpaste jewels to have them dripping with the stuff.

I also like the actual treasure chest idea, that would be cool too.

What about the girly cross bones or the cross bones in pink. Then on the cake board you could put jewels on it.
Or you could get the mini rectangle cakes and then make those into treasure chests with jewels handing out of them.
Good luck

go here
http://thecakemistress.com/blog/freerecipes/cupcakes/planet-cake-cupcakes/
scroll to the 6th pic. I did it and it was easier than it looks.

I love all the ideas! Now just to decide.... Thank you all you are all so very creative!
bakencake: I love the pirate faces!

I have a girly pirate cake in my photos. Maybe you could get an idea from it? Good Luck!