A successful "Jake" Party...

[JoshAndEvsMom]

...and I couldn't have done it without the DIS!!!

I first found these boards because I googled "Jake and the Never Land Pirates Birthday" and I stumbled upon Milliepie's DISigns. I am so happy I did! Not only did we have a FANTASTIC birthday party, thanks to the DIS, but I found my people

To thank everyone, I thought I'd share the details of the party and some pictures.

And a special thanks to Millie & Mel for your wonderful DISigns

Next post... Party planning, Invitations & Thank you's

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

So months ago, my son decided that he wanted a Jake and the Never Land Pirates birthday party. Awesome!... except that there's no "official" stuff yet... rats.


The birthday boy! My DS, turning 5 at his party

I googled "Jake and the Never Land Pirates Birthday" and I found the DIS!! and Milliepie's DISigns for J&tNLP. But the thread was closed I started to snoop anyway; her DISigns are amazing

A few weeks later I checked back and she was taking requests again!! I bit the bullet, signed up for an account and submitted a request. Honestly, I wasn't expecting anything because I couldn't believe that people would do this stuff without pay! But after a few days, she posted personalized invitations, candy wrappers and two signs. WOW!!


Personalized birthday invitation & thank you DISigned by Milliepie

I couldn't believe it... now my wheels were turning. This was going to be a great party!

 

[Lisa]

So happy to hear he had a great birthday!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I love, love LOVE planning parties! So, once we settled on the pirate theme, I really wanted to go all out. The invitations told all the kids to "wear their Pirate garb" but I made sure to specify "no swords please"


My brother, SIL, DS and one of his buddies. We all got into the spirit!

I took a hint from the Pirate's League in the Magic Kingdom and wanted to do pirate names for all the kids. I turned it into a game that the kids did as soon as they arrived at the party. I purchased scull & crossbones craft necklaces from Oriental Trading Co and wrote a unique "ending" on each. Such as "-fish", "-bottom", "-beard" & "-wing". Then I coordinated pirate "first names" to the numbers on a dice (Pixie, Bart, Finn, Scervy, ect.). Last, a "middle-ending" coordinated with colors on a spinner (Dimple, Fluffer, Pickle, etc). So how it all worked is:

1. The child picks a necklace out of a box. It has the unique "ending" (-fish)
2. The child rolls the dice. He gets his "First name" and an adult writes it on the back of the necklace (Scervy)
3. The child spins the spinner to get the "middle ending". The adult writes it on the back of the necklace (Dimple)
4. Put it all together and you get a new Pirate Name!! Scervy Dimplefish!

It was so much fun. The kids were laughing so hard at their silly names!

Sorry, this picture is so bad... it's the only one I got of the name station!


Some of the kids getting their Pirate Name

I also had face paints available so kids could get a scar, scull and crossbones, stars... really whatever they wanted.

The next activity was to make a treasure bag. I ordered white canvas treat bags and fabric pens from OTC. I made one mistake... I thought I was ordering fabric MARKER PENS but accidentally ordered fabric PAINT PENS. Oops. My plan was to use them for the treasure hunt but with the paint pens they took FOREVER to dry. They were still a cute take-home craft.


Craft station


The weather was so nice, we moved it outside!


The finished products

After doing their crafts, we let the kids play outside as it was actually a really nice day. We set up a bowling game with a toy bowling set that I cut out "Jake" clipart and taped to the pins. The kids LOVED this! It was so simple but occupied them for a good 20 minutes! It was nice to be able to talk to the other moms & do a little more set up inside.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

So the next part of the party was a a surprise! We told DS that we only had time for either a piñata OR a treasure hunt... and "unfortunately" we had already purchased the treasure chest piñata. Little did he know that SOMEONE was going to steal it!!

When we announced it was piñata time, this is what the kiddos found...

It was a bag of goodies and a note from Jake! Jake "told" them that he had seen Captain Hook steal the Piñata and left the kids some treasure hunting gear. Pirate hats for everyone, small swords for the boys and pixie wings for the girls.

All purchased from the Dollar Store.

Next the kids were told to follow their Captains who would lead them on a treasure hunt to get their piñata back from Captain Hook. My brother & his wife were gracious enough to organize all the clues around the yard and be the "Captains" for the day


At each new clue, there was a Gold Dabloon for each kid to collect

Then, for the surprise!! My DH borrowed a Captain Hook costume from the Civic Theater!! He was waiting for them at the last clue holding the treasure chest piñata. Their reaction was classic!!


DS didn't even recognize his dad at first! He was all ready to defend his friends!



Captain Hook finally agreed to give the piñata back, only if the Birthday Boy walked the plank... or jumped off the planter in the back yard



Luckily, his fellow pirates wouldn't let DS walk the plank alone! They all jumped together.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

After the treasure hunt & piñata, we brought the famished pirates in for some grub.

I decorated the basement playroom with a pirate ship cut-out from the party store, clip art of "Jake" characters and posters DISigned by Milliepie.



The tables were set with pirate cups from the dollar section at Target (thanks to a tip on the DIS!!), a mini bucket filled with goldfish crackers and a mini sign that said "Joshua and the Never Land Pirates" - again DISigned by Milliepie - and a "Bucky" dog.

I cut striped scrapbook paper and poked a straw through to make "sails" for the Bucky dogs. They were so cute!!

For the cupcakes, a friend of mine let me steal an idea of her's that she used for her son's pirate party. We made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, dipped them in crushed graham crackers to look like sand then topped them with a treasure chest made from a Ho-ho! I used cupcake wrappers from Milliepie. I loved how these turned out!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

After cupcakes we let DS open his gifts. I covered a chair with a blanket that had a red X on it and let him sit in it to open gifts.

When it was time to say goodbye, we gave each party guest a goodie bag with an eye patch, pirate figurine and a Hershey bar with a personalized Candy wrapper DISigned by Milliepie. They also received a certificate designating them an Honorary Pirate and a member of Jake's Crew, DISigned by Mel (Can't remember her DIS name )


They also got to take home their hat, sword/wings, cup & mini bucket.

It was such a great party!! We all had so much fun and its all thanks to you at the DIS. :group hug: Thanks again!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

So happy to hear he had a great birthday!

Awah! Thanks! We really did have a great time

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Love the Jake Party stuff!!

 

[JohnsonsLoveDisney]

Cute Stuff!!

 

[morgansmom2000]

What a cute party!

 

[mycutiepatooties]

That looks like such fun! You really went all out to make it super special...I bet your DS will remember his birthday forever!

 

[cburnett27]

That turned out great!! I loved the idea for the treasure hunt and Capt Hook stealing the piñata, so fun!!