Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Party

About three months before Brian turned four he was introduced to Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He immediately became obsessed with the show singing "Yo Ho Mateys Away" wherever he went and acting out adventures with Jake and Izzy. When it came time to come up with a theme for his birthday it was a no brainer.  We had to have a pirate party.  

Invitations

When I received an email from Shutterfly noting I could get free 5x7 cards, I immediately looked for an invitation to match Brian's pirate theme.  I found this cute "Ahoy there Mateys" invitation and thought it was the perfect way to kick off the Pirate fun.  

Decorations

Brian was not shy about his love for pirates. When we were at one of Matt's 5K races, we were talking to our friend Scott when Brian spotted a pirate ship in one of the windows of a Valley Junction shop.  Scott immediately picked up on Brian's pirate enthusiasm.  We were telling him how he was soon turning four and we were going to have a pirate party.  Little did we know that every year Scott and his friends entered a competition at the lake and turned their boat into a pirate ship.  They also dressed up in full pirate gear. Scott generously offered to loan us costumes and decorations for the party.   

We put up one of Scott's flags in the entry way and used the other to turn our playset into Jake's pirate ship Bucky. 

We even put up a board and blue tablecloth at the end of the playset so kids could "Walk the Plank."  In addition, we hung a beach scene on the fence to make them feel like they were out on the Never Sea. 

Activities

Sword Decorating:

When kids arrived and while I was getting lunch ready we gave them the opportunity to decorate their own pirate swords.  We had a table full of stickers, markers, and crayons.  We created the swords by using old cardboard boxes.  We drew a sword shape on the box and then used a utility knife to cut out the shape.  While this was a fun activity, I will give a word of caution that the process of cutting out cardboard swords took forever.  I’d make sure you start this in advance of the night before the party.  We did not think ahead on that one.  Special thanks to my mom for getting these all cut out while I got ready for the rest of the party!

Treasure Hunt:

Before Brian opened presents we sent the kids on a treasure hunt.  I downloaded a treasure map template off the Internet and printed pictures of 5 stops on their treasure hunt.  We placed Gold Doubloons at each stop so the kids could add to their treasure at the end.  The treasure map led to a plastic treasure chest filled with goody bags for all the kids at the party.  It was a fun way to give the kids their party favors.  Included in each goody bag were chocolate Gold Doubloons, Jake and the Neverland Pirates favors, and a pirate eye patch. 

Food

A Pirate Feast:

While we had a typical kid’s birthday meal of hot dogs, chicken nuggets, chips, and fruit, I had a lot of fun of fun putting a pirate twist on our meal. 

We made pirate boats out of the hot dogs.  I purchased little pirate flags off of Amazon and added one to each hot dog.  Brian got a huge kick out of these.  Months later he still asks me to put flags on his hot dogs or on top of a pile of chicken nuggets (Gold Doubloons).

With a little help from Pinterest, I got creative by giving the rest of our meal pirate inspired names. To share these names with guests, I downloaded a pirate map template off the Internet, labeled each item, and attached them to card stock. We turned chicken nuggets into Gold Doubloons, created a “Berried Treasure” out of strawberries and grapes, made seaweed out of a crunchy Asian pasta salad, fish and chips out of goldfish crackers, potato chips, and dip, and topped it off with having cannon balls, otherwise known as cheese balls.  

For our thirsty pirates I made a pirate punch out of my favorite punch recipe. The recipe calls for 2 refrigerated bottles of Cream Soda, one 16 oz can of thawed orange juice, and a 1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream.  It is delicious!

The Cakes:

When Brian was 3.5 we discovered he had a peanut allergy.  This made this year’s birthday cake a bit of a challenge.  I could no longer order a cute designed cake at our local Hyvee bakery for risk of cross contamination.  Luckily, through the power of the Internet, I found a peanut free bakery in Ankeny, IA.  Chris’s Custom Bakery is a small shop where Chris built on to their house and has a separate commercial, state inspected, peanut free kitchen only for the bakery.  I didn’t know much other than it was peanut free, but Chris was great to work with and had some awesome ideas when I mentioned we were having a pirate party. 

I had mentioned my son really wanted a pirate ship cake.  She suggested that she could use an old Noah’s Ark cake mold to create a pirate ship. That sounded great and my son was very excited when he saw the result. 

As the pirate ship cake wouldn’t quite feed all of our guests, Chris suggested a treasure chest for another cake. She recommended buying beads, gold coins, and skittles to place in the chest and around it.  This cake turned out AWESOME.  It looked so great, we almost didn’t want to cut into it.  But of course we did!

I purchased a few Jake Figurines to add to the cakes.  Also, I was able to find peanut free chocolate gold coins at peanutfreeplanet.com.  Brian hardly ever gets to eat chocolate due to peanut concerns so for him the gold coins were a huge hit! 

Costumes

What pirate party would be complete without some pirates.  As Brian was obsessed with Jake and also loved dressing up as his favorite super heroes, he asked every day to dress up as Jake for his Jake party.  I found this adorable Jake costume on Etsy and knew it would be perfect for his party.  

The costume wouldn't have been complete without Jake's pirate boots and Brian made sure I knew that.  (Those did not come with the Etsy purchase).  Amazing what you can find on the Internet though.  I happened to find a tutorial on how to make felt Jake boots. My mother-in-law did an awesome job.  She dropped them off Thursday before the party and I don't think Brian took them off until Saturday.  

I originally thought I'd just have Brian dress up, but when Scott offered up some Pirate costumes, I knew this party would be something special.  I quickly spread the word for others to come in their pirate gear. Brian was beyond excited for Matt to dress up as Captain Hook.  Grandpa Les and Grandma Vicki also made good use of our borrowed pirate costumes.    

Knowing I"d have to cook, I wanted to go a little light on the pirate dress up.  When my mother-in-law dropped off a skull and cross bones bandanna, Brian found me my costume.  I paired it with a pirate shirt and soon became the "Pirate Mommy."  




We couldn't leave Gwen out so I found her a cute little pirate girl dress.  She was sporting one of the mini pirate hats Scott provided but of course I couldn't grab a picture of it.  Instead, it somehow ended up on Matt!

We had a great time at our pirate party and most importantly Brian loved it.  Here's part of his pirate crew helping him celebrate turning four!