Jaden’s Peter Pan Birthday Party was definitely one of my favorites we’ve done so far!
With Jaden’s 6th birthday coming up so quickly, I’ve been brainstorming and getting to work on his next party!
If you’ve read my other party posts (Paw Patrol Birthday, Toy Story Birthday, and Classic Baby Boy Birthday) you’ll know I love a good party!
Picking the theme, prepping for the party, the brainstorming, making the decorations, etc. all of it is so fun!
THE THEME
Peter Pan has been a family favorite since I was a baby! We watched the movie on repeat when I was little and my family quoted it ever since!
The songs, the characters, the lines, all of it is so incredibly nostalgic for us!
So naturally, it’s been a movie we’ve watched as a family with Jaden and Parker James as well!
As kids do, Jaden got on a Peter Pan “kick” for a few months. He didn’t want to watch any other movie but Peter Pan. Every night we had to read the Peter Pan story.
Everything Peter Pan for him!
This was right around the time he was about to turn 5 so it was an easy decision for a party theme!
THE DECORATIONS
Each of our parties have a similar system and layout, we just adjust for each theme.
I knew we would need a focal point with a backdrop and decorations. There were several ways I could go with a Peter Pan theme.
For a bit, I thought I would go the “jungle”, lost boys route or possibly more pirate or Captain Hook… until I stopped to think about my favorite part of the whole movie.
There is something magical about Peter Pan, Wendy, John and Michael flying around in the beautiful London night sky. The pixie dust sparkling with the stars.
Big Ben glowing as they land on the clock hands. The silhouettes of the London Bridge and city skyline. It’s all just stunning.
(I mean there’s a reason Disney chose to make that their opening for every movie with Tinker Bell sending her pixie dust up over the castle!)
So I decided to make the theme of the Peter Pan birthday party about their flight to Neverland!
THE BACKDROP
For the back drop, I decided I would make a starry night sky with silhouettes of Peter Pan and the kids flying.
At first, I thought I may make it more about the London skyline but decided it would be better to have the moon as the focal point.
I created an invitation for his Peter Pan birthday party that had silhouettes of the kids flying across the moon. This gave me the idea to create a giant moon and have black silhouettes of them flying in front!
I did still incorporate a bit of the London skyline on the backdrop by adding Big Ben on the side.
OTHER DECORATIONS
Even though the backdrop and buffet were the focal point, I wanted to add some other “magical” things around the room to add to the theme!
I had Matt put up our icicle twinkle lights around the room to give it a starry or pixie dust feel.
Also, I spray painted a toy pirate ship gold to look like the ship flying through the sky at the end. To make it look like it was flying, I tied some fishing line to the boat and hung it on our curtain rod.
Since Peter Pan loses his shadow, I thought it would be fun to have his shadow cut out on the wall and the ceiling like in the movie.
And of course, as usual, all the food had clever descriptions and the water bottles were custom labeled for the Peter Pan birthday party!
HOW I MADE IT:
The Backdrop:
This party was actually several months before I got my Cricut for Mother’s Day. BUT! I will tell you……. This party is the reason I asked for my Cricut!
A sweet lady from our church had a Cricut and was kind enough to make all the silhouettes and letters for me!
This meant I just had to make a moon and a “starry sky”.
If you’ve read my other party posts, you’ll know my love for Dollar Tree and their craft supplies! I’m the queen of turning poster boards into party decor!
To make the sky, I took 4 blue poster boards and painted a mixture of navy, purple and blue with some clouds. Next, I took a tooth brush and “spritzed” the sky with white and yellow paint for stars.
For the moon, I cut a circle out of white poster board and gave it a quick coat of ivory/off white spray paint.
To make a banner underneath the moon, I took a yellow poster board and cut out 3 separate pieces to make the shape of a ribbon banner.
(I thought that added a story book look for this Peter Pan birthday party!)
To frame the backdrop, I did what I normally do and draped plastic tablecloths as curtains. Naturally, I went with gold to fit the pixie dust theme!
THE GAMES
What’s a birthday party without games, am I right?!
I love a good themed party game!
For our first game, I had one of the older kids at the party lead the other kids around the house marching to “Following the Leader”.
While they marched, I called out different actions the kids had to do while marching. For example, jumping, flapping their arms, hop on one foot, etc.
It was a super cute game and the kids loved being so silly!
The other game we played we called “Captain Hook’s Ring Toss”.
I took a foam board and hot glued costume pirate hooks in staggering positions. We purchased a ring toss game from Walmart and used the rings to toss on the pirate hooks!
The kids played this forever! We played these games right before cake and ice cream and the kids kept playing even after dessert!
It was too fun!
THE COSTUMES
A Peter Pan birthday party wouldn’t be any fun without costumes right?!
Obviously, we knew Jaden would want to be Peter Pan. We went round and round about what the rest of us should be.
Finally, we landed on Wendy, John and Michael since Parker James was still such a little baby.
In the past, we’ve made some pretty spot-on costumes. However, for this party, I thought it would be easier to just make costumes work out of clothing we already had.
I knew John wore a white night shirt and a top hat. So I had Matt wear a white polo and grabbed a top hat from the party store.
Wendy wore a blue nightgown, so I wore one of my light blue, flowy tops and put a bow in my hair.
The baby wore one of his little classic outfits that had a “peter pan collar” and carried a little teddy bear to look like Michael.
And for Jaden, if you’ve read my halloween costume idea post, you’ll know Matt, Jaden and I all dressed up as the Peter Pan crew a few years back.
I was Tinker Belle, Matt was Peter Pan and Jaden was a lost boy. (Go check it out, it’s super cute).
SO! We made it easy and just reused Matt’s Peter Pan hat! Jaden also had Buzz Lightyear PJs that I stole the lime green pants instead of green tights.
(I don’t think Jaden would’ve gone for them…)
Lastly, I grabbed a green T from Walmart and threw one of my skinny belts around his waist!
THE CAKE
Over the past several years, I’ve developed a cake recipe that I use for all my parties.
I always make a 2 tier cake that has a vanilla top layer and chocolate bottom layer. This way, people can choose!
Now I’ll be the first to say, I’m no baker. I’ve learned a lot over the past several years but I’m not the best…
To make things simple, I try to find a design or decorations to match the rest of the theme that doesn’t require an expert cake decorator.
Since pixie dust was a large theme for the Peter Pan birthday party, I knew I could incorporate gold glitter into the cake fairly easily.
I decided to coat the sides of the cake in gold glitter sprinkles and I purchased a “Hello 5” cake topper that gave the cake the perfect finishing touch!
We had the BEST time celebrating sweet Jaden’s 5th birthday and we can’t wait to celebrate his 6th! Be sure to subscribe below so you don’t miss it!!
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I hope you enjoyed this birthday party post! We had a blast! Have you tried any of these games or crafts?? I’d love to hear from you!! Shoot me an email! Be sure to subscribe below as well as follow me on Instagram and Pinterest!
You did a fantastic job on all the decorations!