Aaarrrrrggghhh! Blow me down! Avast ye thar, me Hearties! It be that time of year again where ye need to batten down the hatches and don yer best Captain’s poet shirt or ye fanciest wench wear, and leave yer dubloons and pieces of eight in ye purse!

Who doesn’t love doughnuts-especially when they’re free? You definitely can’t beat a bargain like this from local Krispy Kreme Doughnuts locations engaging in this unique, and fun promotion to honor International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

On Monday, September 19, Krispy Kreme will once again be recognizing “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, rewarding all doughnut-loving scallywags with a free doughnut just for talking like a pirate. Those brave enough to dress in their finest pirate garb and visit any participating location will take home a whole box of one dozen tasty treats at no cost. For costumes to qualify for this freebie, they must include at least three “pirate” items, such as a pirate hat, a “hook” for a hand, or an eye patch.

A list of all acceptable items that count toward the three required elements, according to the doughnut chain, include the following items: Eye patch, Pirate hat, Pirate flag, Bandana, Peg leg, Parrot on shoulder, Pirate shirt or loose white shirt, Knickers, Leather belt, Silver and gold necklaces and earrings, Pirate hook, Pointy black boots or ragged brown sandals.

This year, a new option has been added to help you dress like a pirate. Krispy Kreme will allow you to bring in your smartphone or tablet and show your Snapchat picture using their pirate filter in the app to digitally dress yourself as a pirate. You will still qualify for the free dozen of original glazed doughnuts just by sharing your picture at a participating Krispy Kreme. All you have to do is pull it up, and show it to a team member working to claim your booty.

In addition to the free doughnuts, they are also offering two special doughnuts designed especially for the holiday. The Pirate Doughnut is a filled doughnut with a pirate face decorated on it, and the Skull and Crossbones Doughnut is topped with chocolate and white icing and a candy skull. While only the original-glazed doughnuts are given free, these custom doughnuts offer another whimsical way to recognize this relatively new holiday.

Long John Silver’s restaurant is running a similar special, offering a free piece of fish or chicken tender for using pirate talk, and a free two piece chicken or fish basket for those in full costume.

Considering that this holiday was created more as an inside joke than with the actual intent on creating an internationally recognized holiday, it is hard to believe that after only 14 years of being recognized, it’s gotten this much attention and participation from franchised industries.

John Baur and Mark Summers came up with the idea playing racquetball together on June 6, 1995 when they came up with the idea, and chose the date because it was Mark’s ex-wife’s birthday. They celebrated themselves for about seven years until John happened upon Dave Barry’s email address. Barry is a syndicated columnist and author of over 6,000 books, and also the one person they’d jokingly declared spokesman of their holiday during that racquetball game in ‘95.

Just days after sending an email to Barry, they received a response from him that he loved their idea, and in September, their new holiday took off for the first time. They even wrote a song called “Talk Like A Pirate Day”.

Mark your calendars, and if for some reason you miss it this year, be sure to take advantage of the after Halloween sales and take full advantage next year! Krispy Kreme can only honor the offer as supplies last, and only until close on Monday, September 19.