Peter Pan Party: DIY

Today is my niece, Lilianna's 3rd birthday.
Ever since she saw Peter Pan- Live!  on television, she's been hooked- ha, get it? She loves Peter Pan. When asked what kind of birthday party she wanted, her answer, with much excitement was, "A Peter Pan Party!"
My sister-in-law searched pinterest for ideas and to our surprise, there have been many a Peter Pan birthday party. She picked out what she wanted and it was my job to make it happen.

My to do list:

Draw/paint a crocodile on a board for a game

Make ring toss game using pirate's hooks

Make "Lilianna" banner

Make a Neverland map

Make centerpieces

Make little sails for hot dogs

 

 

All of the things on my list were seen on pinterest except for the centerpieces, we brainstormed the idea. (Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the finished product, but you'll see what it was like.)

 

 

Draw/paint crocodile on a board for a game.

We saw the idea of a crocodile with its mouth open and cut out for a bean bag toss game. The party that had it was way over the top and fancy for a five year old. The crocodile they had painted for the game was not; it was bad.

We used a foam, tri-fold display board. I found a picture of the Peter Pan crocodile with its mouth open and drew that on the board. I cut out the mouth, which was not easy with all the teeth, and then painted it.

 

 





 

Make ring toss game using pirate hooks.

The pin we saw of this used three plastic pirate's hooks that were spray painted gold and put on a burlap covered board. Puh-lease. Who does that?

I used a cardboard, tri-fold display board, painted it to look like wood and cut three Xs for the three pirate's hooks that were being borrowed for the party. I just stuck the hooks through the front and taped them in the back to make sure they wouldn't move. For rings, I took three cool whip lids and cut out the middles.

 



 

Make "Lilianna" banner.

We had seen a pin where someone made their entire food table look like a pirate ship. It was pretty cool. Across the top there were paper banners in yellow, green and red. I used the same idea for the banner, but put my niece's name on it. I punched two holes at the top corners and used twine to string it all together.

 



 

 

Make Neverland map.

There are many versions of the Neverland map. I picked one that I liked and copied it. I covered my dining room table with old towels and rolled out the paper which was 3' x 5'. I brushed black tea over the whole paper. It wasn't as dark as I wanted, so I brushed brown craft paint all along the edges. Because the paper was still wet from the tea, the paint was thinned down and blended in with the tea color. I let that air dry before I started sketching out the map. I painted along the edge of the island with thinned paint and then went along the outside for the sea. A black permanent marker was all I used for the details and the lettering. (I'm glad my niece can't read because some of the places on the Neverland map I wouldn't want her to know about: Hangman's Tree, Cannibal Cove?... jeepers!)

 

 

 

Make centerpieces.

Our brainstorm idea for the centerpieces was to have the silhouettes of Peter, Wendy, John and Michael flying in the air via wire stuck into a covered piece of foam. 

I printed out a silhouette of them flying and cut them out with a craft knife. I traced what I cut out four more times and then cut them out. (I needed to make five centerpieces.) Since they needed to be silhouettes, I colored them, front and back, with black marker. I used a hot glue gun to attach the floral wire I used. When I got to the party, I stuck them in the foam and wrapped each base with green plastic tablecloth and used a silver twist tie. I also used silver star stickers to have stars on each centerpiece.

 

 

 

Make little sails for hot dogs.

On this pin, the person had a platter of hot dogs in buns with a little sail sticking out the top.

I only made eight sails for decorative purposes. The mast was a bamboo skewer and the sail was a piece of cardstock that I drew "L"s on. I cut little Xs near the top and bottom for the skewer to go through.

 



 

Yes, that was A LOT of work, but it was worth it. It was my present to my niece and I think she and her friends had a fun time. At least, I won't forget it.

 

 

 

My nephew's first birthday party is in May. As I was finishing up late Thursday night, my husband walked into the craft room and said, "So I heard his party is going to be Peter Pan, too." If only it could be that easy.<3