Jake & the Never Land Pirates 2nd Birthday

JAKE & THE NEVER LAND PIRATES AND ME!

So, our little man LOVES Jake & the Never Land Pirates. Here are some pictures and ideas for throwing a Jake birthday party.

We were able to host a party that looked cute, provided fun, AND didn't break the bank!

Everybody had a blast dressing up like a pirate, getting tattoos, playing with their pirate swords, walking the plank and digging for buried treasure. AND, each child received a gold doubloon after finishing each activity - just like Jake and his friends in the show!
I hope the notes and pictures will give you some ideas for your puny pirate's next birthday party!

Yo ho, let's go!

Costume: Disney.com for $45.47 (This WILL be utilized again at Halloween and many playtimes to justify the cost! It was worth it though, he loved his Jake costume.)


INVITATIONS

I downloaded these invites from Disney Jr.'s website. They looked great and considering that most people throw out an invite once they get the details on their calendar, I thought the price was right - FREE.

I wrote in the details, but if you have the right Adobe software (which I do, but was acting up the day I decided I just HAD to get these invites out), you could even print out the details to give the invites a cleaner look. 

THE PARTY FAVORS

Here's a shot of the party favor bags along with pirate maps. Throughout the party, items were added to the bag for kids to take home with them.

The bags were $1.95 for a dozen at ustoy.com. 

For the image, I used pictures I found online; Izzy for the girls and Jake for the boys and then added a text box at the bottom where I included each kid's name - that way they could keep track of their bag during the party! 

For the pirate maps, I just did a google search for maps and pasted the image on to a word doc. On the other side, I pasted a Jake Happy Birthday coloring sheet from DisneyJr.com.
Then I tied them with some kite string we already had in the garage.

THE PARTY: ACTIVITIES + DECORATIONS

FRONT DOOR SIGN...
To set the tone, we used this same background on all signs throughout the party. I again just did a google image search for blue and white stripes and found this image that I pasted on a word doc. I chose blue and white, of course, because that's the color on the mast of Jake's pirate ship, Bucky.
We also used the same font on all the signs, from the front door to activities, goody bags, and food. I feel that using the same background and font for all signage really pulls everything together.

GOODY BAGS RIGHT WHEN YOU WALK IN THE DOOR...
Here are the bags waiting for the pirates arrival! The bags were standing up with the pirate map inside.

DRESS LIKE A PIRATE...

The sign tells kids how to dress like a pirate.
For the sign, I just took out a picture from one of the 8x10 frames we have around the house.

Each guest had a stack of items to dress like a pirate that included:
*a pirate patch - $5.25 for a dozen at orientaltrading.com
*a bandana - $.99 each at Hobby Lobby
*a pirate hat - $3.49 for a dozen at ustoy.com
*blow up swords - $13.95 for a dozen at ustoy.com.

THE JOLLY ROGER TATTOO PARLOUR...

We had Jake & the Never Land Pirates tattoos - $6 for 24 tattoos from orientaltrading.com

a small bowl of water and sponges and in moments, the pirate look was complete!

WALK THE PLANK...
The sign reads "Walk the Plank, if ye dare!"
A 4x8 piece of wood and 2 milk crates secured with some packing tape made the perfect plank!
We also had a toy crocodile in the yard that we named tick-tock croc who was "hungry for puny pirates who don't make it across. Arrgh"!

The kids had a lot of fun walking the plank...some needed a little more help than others!

DIG FOR BURIED TREASURE...
The sign read:
"Dig for Buried Treasure!
Each Pirate's Booty:
1 Jewel
1 Spy Glass
3 Necklaces
3 Rings
5 Gold Doubloons
7 Dinosaur Bones"

We just let the kids dig and take whatever they found and we still had TONS of treasure left over! The sand pit was our blow up pool that we purchased at Target last year.

Cost for these items:
Jewels - $5.90 for 24 pieces from ustoy.com
Spy Glasses - $3.50 for 12 from orientaltrading.com (we could have done without these)
Necklaces - $8.50 for 48 from orientaltrading.com
Rings - ringpops from Sam's Club - $11.43 for 40
Gold Doubloons - $5.25 for 144 pieces from orientaltrading.com
Dinosaur bones - $14 for 96 dinosaurs from orientaltrading.com


FOOD + DRINK

TABLE DECORATIONS...
-Jake plastic tablecloth $3.24 on orientaltrading.com (I normally prefer to buy fabric as a tablecloth, but this worked just great!)
-Jake napkins $7.36 for 32 napkins at orientaltrading.com
-Pirate ship was a gift that arrived early. It's a Melissa & Doug pirate ship. We added some of the Jake figurines from the set we used on the cake to tie it in to the Jake theme.

CAKE...
It turned out great. We added Jake figurines we bought at the Disney Store.

COD FISH...

Swedish Fish

PIRATE SWORDS...

Pretzel Rods

NEVER LAND ROUGHAGE...

Veggies

CORAL COVE DIP...

Ranch Dip

PIRATE ROPE...

Twizzlers

 CATCH O' THE DAY...
Goldfish

PUNY PIRATE FINGERS...

Pigs in a Blanket

Here's the birthday boy blowing out the candles!
The "Happy Birthday" pirate sign was bought for $1 and stuck to the wall with 3M Poster Strips. The Poster Strips are my favorite!! I seriously hung everything with those things.
Below the sign are printouts of Cubby, Jake + Izzy. I just printed them on heavy stock paper and they looked great.

DRINKS...
-Pirate Rum - which was unsweet tea
-Sea Water
-Pirate Punch - lemonade

For the kids, we had Capri Suns in a cute red ice bucket. I forgot to get a picture, but it was just on the other side of the sink from these drinks and worked just great.



PLACE FOR PRESENTS

Our coffee table happens to be a chest, which worked great for presenting the birthday boy's presents.










COST-SAVING TIPS:

1. Keep an expense spreadsheet. I can't tell you how much this helped us keep our spending in check - it's amazing how quickly $10 purchases add up!

2. Cost compare. We purchased a number of our items from orientaltrading.com and ustoy.com. 

3. Figure out what you are and aren't willing to spend money on. Since my little guy and his friends are only 2 years old, I decided I'd rather spend more on the party favors rather than the food and decorations. Last year, for his first birthday, which was really all about celebrating with our adult friends that we'd made it through year one, I placed more focus - and money - on decorations and food.

4. Time of day. By having our party at 10:30 in the morning, not only were the kiddos in a good mood, but we also could avoid having to serve a full lunch and we didn't have the cost of alcoholic beverages.

DECORATING TIPS:

1. Don't spread out your decorations to thin throughout the house. Have a concentrated area where most of your decorations are set up. I also take down pictures that will distract from the backdrop in the dining room, since that's the focal point of the party.

2. Find a pattern and font to tie together your event. 
3. On the food table, have serving pieces that work well together. I think this really makes a table look complete. We stuck with glass and silver pieces for the pirate theme.

4. Don't be afraid to move around furniture for the party. By reorganizing our entire living room, it was more comfortable for our guests - little ones and adults alike - to eat their food and celebrate with Little E when he opened his presents.