Throwing a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Birthday Party

Plan a fun birthday party for your favorite pint sized pirates with my tips for Throwing a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Birthday Party...

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I have to admit that my youngest surprised me this year when choosing the theme for her fourth birthday party. I was fully expecting to be planning a Doc McStuffins (can we say obsessed? ;) ) or maybe a Sophia the First princess tea party, but nope! I let her loose in the children's party aisle at our local party supplies store, and she ended up going in an entirely different direction- she asked for a Jake and the Neverland Pirates birthday party! :) Pirates? Okay! That is a party theme that I can totally get behind.

Planning this party was so much fun, and I couldn't believe how many awesome ideas there are out there for children's pirate themed parties! :) So let's get into the party details, shall we? 

Magical Essentials for a Unicorn Themed Party

Planning a unicorn themed birthday party soon? Here are all the magical essentials you will need for throwing an unforgettable unicorn themed party... 

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

Like most girls in grade school, my youngest is obsessed with all things unicorn. So it didn't surprise me in the slightest when she told me that she wanted a unicorn themed party for her 7th birthday last month. A magical unicorn themed party with all things purple & a fancy unicorn birthday cake.

Funny enough, I had a purple unicorn party myself for my 8th birthday many, many years ago. Maybe her obsession with unicorns & the color purple is hereditary? ;)

As soon as my daughter has settled on a birthday party theme each year, I get to work browsing Amazon for party supplies & decorations. You can find just about everything on Amazon, and you just can't beat the two day free shipping with Amazon Prime. 

Sparkling Pink Princess Party

From easy princess perfect recipes & simple decorating ideas to cake inspiration, here is everything you need to plan a Sparkling Pink Princess Party...

My youngest turned three this month- I am seriously still wrapping my head around that one, folks. I swear, it seems like I literally just blinked and three years have already passed! Birthday #3 was definitely a fun one for us. This was the first birthday that she was able to choose her own party theme, and the first year in which she really understood what was going on before and during her party.  

She knew months ago that she wanted a Disney princess party, so I started gathering up ideas and party supplies early on for her special day. 

While it was Disney princess all the way, everything was also pink... and very sparkly. ;) Totally princess appropriate...

Funfetti Cupcake Popcorn

Get the party started with this festive, cake batter flavored Funfetti Cupcake Popcorn...

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

Can we have a quick chat about kids' birthday parties for a moment? Up until my daughter's most recent birthday, we had always had a themed family party at our house & allowed her to invite three of her friends from school. For her sixth birthday just last month, we finally caved & decided to let her have a separate party for her friends from school. 

Having limited parking at our house, I knew we would have to rent a space somewhere local to host her party for her friends. After a little crowd sourcing on Facebook, we found a cute little cupcake shop in the next town over that rented out their bakery for parties on the weekends.

I put down the deposit and then started brainstorming party game ideas & searching Amazon for cute cupcake themed party favors. Everything was coming together. 

The invitations had been handed out to her classroom a couple of weeks before the party date. My mom (who happens to be much craftier than I) created an amazing pin the candle on the cupcake game. I bought a cupcake bingo game from etsy & found free printable cupcake coloring pages online.

But a week out from her party I started to get this sinking feeling. Only 2 of the 14 kids she had invited had RSVP'ed that they were coming. Panic started to set in. What if it was only my daughter & these two friends at her party? Did I really just spend *that much* money to rent a cupcake shop only for there to be just 3 kids at the party?

An Elmo Birthday Celebration!

I am not ashamed to admit it- I want to be that mom who throws the Pinterest-worthy birthday parties for her little one.

Like every single year.

Maybe I am a little overly ambitious, but I do plan to do the best I can with the time & resources that I do have each and every year.

I started planning my daughter's first birthday party like months in advance.   I scoured Pinterest and some of my favorite blogs and pulled together a pretty awesome Rainbow Birthday Bash for her last year.

The Rainbow Birthday Bash Round-Up

Whew!  This has been a fun week on the blog just full of rainbow hued goodness! :) Next week I will get back to our regularly scheduled blogging here, but I thought I would give you all a little round up post of all the Rainbow Birthday Bash posts from this past week first.   

(Psssttt... some of these ideas would also be excellent for some upcoming St. Patrick's Day festivities.  You know, rainbows. Pots of gold. Leprechauns. That sort of thing. ;) )

Let's start with cake.  I mean, a birthday party isn't a birthday party without some cake, right? 

CLICK HERE for the recipe and how-tos of making the Rainbow Bundt Cake & Rainbow Layered Smash Cake with Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting

And what is cake without the ice-cream??

CLICK HERE for the recipe for the homemade Happy Birthday Cake Batter Ice Cream

I made one colorful snack for the party...

CLICK HERE for the recipe for an easy Sweet & Salty Rainbow Popcorn from your microwave

Of course, there were plenty of colorful party decorations. (And all the ideas in this post were budget friendly as well.)

CLICK HERE to see exactly how I made a rainbow explode in my house. ;)

And there would be no birthday party without the birthday girl, of course...

And if you happen to be interested in just where I got everything for baby girl's gorgeous rainbow birthday outfit, you can CLICK HERE for baby girl's full first birthday fashion post. ;)

I also have an entire Baby Girl's 1st Birthday Party Pinterest board if you would like some more rainbow splattered inspiration.

I really had so much fun planning and putting everything together for my sweet girl's first birthday.  Even though I know she will not actually remember this day years from now, I know that she can look back on the photos and my posts and know just how special this day was for us all. :)

Are you planning a birthday party for a little one soon?  

What theme are you going with?

Sparkling Princess Popcorn

This easy & quick Sparkling Princess Popcorn is the perfect sweet & salty treat for your princess themed party...

I have a goal each year for little miss's birthday- to make her party as special and as beautiful as she is.

However, I am not one of those over-the-top Pinteresty moms. You won't find me painting little stools to look like toadstools, or setting up extravagant photo booths, and I don't even hand out party favor bags (gasp! I know...).  

But you will find me going above and beyond the simple cake & ice cream and balloons. I want her to have a memorable party that makes her feel special, but not one that will put my sanity to the test or empty out our bank account. ;)

Being her third birthday this year, this was the first year that little miss was able to pick out her own party theme. And this little lady wanted Disney princesses all the way! 

After poking around on Google and Pinterest a little, I found a few ideas for making pink or purple popcorn for a princess party and loved it. 

We had rainbow popcorn for her very first birthday party, and that was a huge hit with the guests.  I knew I had to make a sparkling pink popcorn that would be fit for a birthday princess for her third birthday this year...

Northern Designs Party Invitations Review {& a Giveaway!}

Baby girl's first birthday party was the picture of rainbow perfection.  I mean, I didn't get every little thing that I had wanted to have done for the party.  (Like the rainbow on the wall made entirely of balloons, but no one missed it. ;) )  

There will be quite a few posts next week chock full of rainbow & birthday inspired recipes & decorating ideas, so be looking for those very soon if you need some colorful inspiration.

But we all know that the perfect party starts with the perfect invitation, right?  I have to say I couldn't have been happier when the opportunity to work with Robert from Northern Designs presented itself.  He creates gorgeous personalized invitations in his etsy shop.  You pick the design, send him the photo and the party info, and he has a proof to you of your possible invitation in no time flat! :)

Actually, I was very impressed with how quickly he got the PDF file of baby girl's rainbow birthday party invitations to me.  I may have procrastinated a little (or kind of forgot about the invites amid all the other party planning details), and Robert got the file right over to me.  

You do not get actual printed invites from Northern Designs.  You get a PDF file emailed to you, and then you may do as you wish with it.  I actually used the image of the invite on my Facebook event I created for her party.  And then I printed out several invitations on some good quality card stock.  They came out beautifully!  

Of course, you could always take the file on a flash drive to your favorite print shop and let them print them up for you.  :)  But I went the more budget friendly route.  

In addition to the colorful rainbow invitations you see above, Robert has many other printable invite options in his shop.

Like this adorable baby shower one...

Or this monkey birthday party invite...

And guess what? Robert wants to give one of my readers a customizable invitation of your choice from his etsy shop! :)  All you have to do is use the Rafflecopter widget below to get entered. 

*The opinions above are strictly my own.  Yep, all 100% me, myself, and I.  I was provided a product in exchange for an honest review, and was not compensated for my review in any other way.  If you are interested in having me review an item, please see my Sponsor Page for contact information.

*This giveaway is open internationally.  All entries for the winner will be checked and verified, so please make sure you are doing what you are claiming in the Rafflecopter or all your entries will be voided.  No funny business, folks. ;)  Please see the Rafflecopter widget below for additional Terms & Conditions.  Good luck, all! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rainbow Bundt Cake & Rainbow Layered Smash Cake

My sweet baby girl turned one this month.  I still can hardly believe this first year with her has already come and gone.  

For her first birthday party, we decided to go all out rainbow.  My main inspiration for her first birthday party came from a term that is used with great hope and love in the infertility community... rainbow baby. 

A rainbow baby is the first baby you are able to give birth to, to hold after the loss of a previous pregnancy or little one.  

Baby girl is our rainbow baby after two previous consecutive miscarriages.  

The rainbow birthday party theme was just destined. :)

When I first started looking for inspiration for her party, I stumbled upon the blog Wine & Glue.  I have had a bloggy "love" affair with Lisa and her blog ever since. ;)  She was definitely the inspiration behind baby girl's smash cake with her Rainbow Heart Cakes, although I went a slightly different route with how I created mine.  (Plus, I think her's are so much more brightly colored and pretty than mine so you should click over & check out her post too. ;) )

For baby girl's party, I created a rainbow bundt cake, a heart shaped layered smash cake, and also baked extra rainbow swirled cupcakes when I realized my guest count was a *a little* higher than I had originally anticipated.  The bundt cake will serve about 12-15.  I made about 18 cupcakes as well. If you plan to make cupcakes, just pick up another box of cake mix & double the recipe. But if you are having a smaller party, the bundt cake should be sufficient. 

What you will need:

1 box of your favorite vanilla cake mix

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sour cream

various food coloring (I would suggest gel food colorings if you have them.  The liquids can get kind of messy with a project of this undertaking.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, water, oil, and sour cream.  Divide the batter into 6 different bowls- putting the most batter in the first one and then progressively putting less in each bowl as you divvy it out.  

Now color each of your bowls of batter with your food coloring.  I did yellow, orange, red, purple, green, and blue.  I added a few drops at a time until I had the color that I was going for.  

Be sure to grease and flour your bundt cake pan and your heart shaped pans.

Before you start the bundt cake, pour your batter into a heart shaped baking pan (similar to the one I have pictured below). I just did four layers for her smash cake. This is probably the perfect time to look for heart shaped pans since many of them will be included with the Valentine's Day clearance sales. ;) 

After you have your smash cake layers poured, start with the layering of your batter for the bundt cake.  I started with my red since it was the batter I had the most of and poured it into the bottom.  Then I layered all the other colors in.  I do suggest that you make sure you pour each of the colors of batter from the outside in so that the rainbow layers also show up on the outside of the cake.

I found a lot of helpful tips for layering the rainbow bundt cake batter from this post on Shane's Killer Cupcakes.

You will bake the bundt cake for about 35-40 minutes.  After 30 minutes or so, check the cake with a toothpick.  When the toothpick comes out clean, it is done.  The heart shaped cakes took about 20 minutes to bake.

Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pans, and then turn them out on wire racks to cool completely before frosting.  If the cakes won't come out very easily at first, just work a butter knife along the outer edges of the cakes & then try turning them out again.

I had an idea in my head that I wanted the frosting on the bundt cake to just run along the bottom so that it would look like clouds at the end of the "rainbow" when you cut into the cake.  I needed a buttercream that was fluffy, but that was stiff enough to not slide down.  I remembered seeing a recipe for a Marshmallow Buttercream on Shaken Together that she had used on Rocky Road cupcakes, and I knew it would be perfect!

What you will need:

2 sticks of butter, room temperature

One 17 oz jar of marshmallow fluff (I actually used two 7 oz jars because that is what I had on hand, & it worked perfectly.)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Just cream the butter and sugar together.  Then hand stir in the marshmallow fluff and vanilla. 

I simply used a pastry bag & decorative frosting tip and piped the buttercream in 2 thick layers, one right on top of the other all along the bottom of the bundt cake.  I then carefully tossed on rainbow sprinkles all around on the "clouds".  

For the rainbow smash cake, I used the same frosting tip and simply piped heart shaped dollops of buttercream between each heart shaped cake layer, and then put a pretty dollop on top with a dash of rainbow sprinkles.

Voila!

If you opted to make cupcakes in addition to the bundt cake and smash cake, this frosting recipe is almost enough for all of them.  I actually had 3 cupcakes that were not frosted because I ran out of the buttercream.  But they were not actually needed for the party, so no biggie.

I couldn't wait to cut into the rainbow bundt cake to see how it looked on the inside!  It turned out beautifully even if they colors were not perfectly rainbow layered.

The smash cake was also a huge success.  Well, with everyone but baby girl. ;)  She really wasn't sure exactly what to do with it, I think...

Be looking for the next colorful party post on the blog soon.  Here is a little hint...

It just may go hand in hand with birthday cake.  ;)

How Becoming a Blogger Has Bettered Me

As a blogger, I think we often worry if our time blogging, networking, promoting is taking too much time and attention away from our families, friends, our in-real-life lives.  Sometimes especially in the beginning when you are small & just starting out, it is hard to justify the effort and sweat you are putting into your little space out here in the blogosphere.  I know I spent a lot of time and energy justifying my blogging efforts to friends and family.  I knew that the cost of eventually building a "successful" blog (and we each have our own definition of what that just may be exactly) meant a lot of up-front work and time.  I am at a point now where I actually feel successful. Though my blog has not ever really been about making money and getting free stuff, I am now at a place where I am starting to bring in a little cash flow and I feel very accomplished in that.  I am by no means a "big" blogger.  I am well aware that there are blogs out there whose page views just last month were triple that of my all time page views.   But I have come a long way from where I was when I first started this little blog.

I came to the realization the other morning as I was photographing my baby girl's first birthday party invitations, that blogging has done so much more for me that I had ever anticipated when I hit the Publish button on my very first blog post over two years ago.  

I realized blogging has made me care more.  To put forth more effort.
Here are just a few of the ways I know I have grown personally since I started blogging...

I now write down recipes of meals I throw together on inspiration.  I didn't do this before, and often would be asked by my husband or son to make that one thing with the rice and chicken again, but I wouldn't remember exactly how I made it.  Now because I know my new recipe idea could become a blog post, I write down everything- the ingredients, the directions, any tweaks I make.

I am preserving my legacy of recipes, my story for my children down the line.

I pay more attention to and care more about the details.  For instance, I noticed this as I was planning my daughter's first birthday party.  The fact that I knew that I would blog about her party made me pay more attention to all the little details.  I spent the time to take detailed photos of her party, and I know I won't be asking myself 10 years down the road why I didn't take more photos of her first ever birthday party.

I have become more involved with causes that mean something to me.  Why?  Because I now feel like I have an impact.  I can see that impact better now.  I finally feel as if I have a loud enough voice.  I know if I blog about something, if I tweet about something, if I pin it, thousands will see it.  

I am pushing myself to learn new things that had I not become a blogger I might not care all that much about.  Like learning more about HTML code.  (Yeah, I am not a huge fan, but I know SO much more about it than I did a year ago.) I am pushing myself to try new DIY projects and crafty things.  And I care more about the lighting and composition of my photos.  I have been pouring over countless online photography tutorials.  Not only does this translate into better food photos for my blog, but better cherished photos of my children.  

My first ever photo for a recipe post

From one of my recent recipe posts 

Blogging has returned me to one of my first loves... writing.  There was a time before I decided to study history that I entertained the idea of becoming an English teacher or even a journalist. Since the time I fell in love with reading my second grade year, I have loved stories.  The stories that people tell.  How they tell those stories in writing.  Blogging has allowed me to return to my writing, to telling my story...

I have become more connected, and I just don't mean to the online world.  I know people. (Okay, I don't like Tony Soprano know people.  But I have made definite connections.)  I may be able to hook up a small shop owner who is looking for exposure with a fellow blogger who is more their niche than myself.  Or I might see of someone I know on Twitter who is looking for something specific blog design wise and I can send them to one of my many talented friends who work wonders in blog design.  

Blogging has made me more accountable.  And what I mean by that is that I am less likely now to blow off some recipe or project idea I have, especially if I have let my readers and followers know that I am considering attempting something.  I feel better motivated to be creative, to complete projects, and document them as they are happening.  Before becoming a blogger, I would come up with what I would think was a pretty neat idea for something and then often talked myself out of attempting it. 

It is easy to feel guilty about the time you may spend blogging, editing photos, brainstorming post ideas, tweeting post links each week. There is always a give and take with everything we do in life.  But have you asked yourself lately what your blogging is doing for you, what it has done for you?  

Those of you out there who blog- How has becoming a blogger bettered you, friends?

WIWW (Scratch That... What the Birthday Girl Wore)

I almost died of cuteness when I dressed baby girl in her rainbow birthday party outfit on Saturday.  

Seriously.

Are you looking at these photos??

Okay, okay. I know... I am biased being her proud mama and all.

But every piece of her adorable outfit came together perfectly.

What is most awesome about her birthday get-up is that it is almost 100% all handmade!

The rainbow tutu was handmade by Laura from Tutoodles Tutus.  She carries a variety of hand tied tulle tutus for children & adults, and can also accommodate your custom order (like my baby girl's gorgeous rainbow birthday tutu!).  We absolutely adored this tutu.  Baby girl pretty much wore it all day, & you could tell she was absolutely smitten with it.  It held up beautifully through crawling, toddling, the ripping open of presents, being passed from one family member to the next, even a pre-party nap... you get the picture. ;)

I couldn't have possibly asked for a more perfect birthday onesie for my little girl!  My good friend Denise of Ainsley's Closet makes these custom onesies & children's clothing as well as pretty hair bows.  I told her the size, the colors, & what I wanted on the onesie, and she did all the rest! :)  

A wonderful surprise detail was the little yellow stitched heart on the bottom- Adorable, right??

I so love this rainbow colored shabby chic fabric flowers headband from Kristine at J&M's Eye Candy Shoppe.  It is no secret that I adore this lady's hair pretties. ;)  She has such a gorgeous selection in her shop, but if you are looking for something custom she can definitely make that happen for you!  She did for me.  I just let her know what colors I wanted, gave her an idea of how large I wanted the actual floral piece to be, and then Kristine worked her magic!  

I cannot recommend all of these fabulous ladies & their lovely shops enough!  They made my baby girl's first birthday party just all that much more special.  If you are in the market for the perfect little birthday outfit or just need a few handmade custom frilly things, then you know where you need to go.

Custom rainbow birthday tutu courtesy of Tutoodles Tutus.

Custom cupcake first birthday onesie courtesy of Ainsley's Closet.

Custom rainbow shabby chic floral headband courtesy of J&M's Eye Candy Shoppe.

*The opinions above are strictly my own.  Yep, all 100% me, myself, and I.  I was provided with some of these products in exchange for an honest review, and was not compensated for my review in any other way.  If you are interested in having me review an item, please see my Sponsor Page for contact information.

Marvelous Mondays Link Party #62

Good evening and welcome to Marvelous Mondays! We hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend! :) We are so happy to have you join us each week. We really enjoy your recipes and projects and we enjoy giving you the opportunity to share your creations with the blogging world. We’d love for you to spread the word about the party and invite your blogging friends to join the fun! We thank all of you for linking up each week and we welcome any new bloggers who linked up! Let’s keep this party growing!

And In Case You Missed It Earlier This Week on the Blog...

I started off my birthday week properly with a toast and a recipe for my Blueberry Ginger Mojitos. :)

And I am ending Birthday Week on the blog with a gift for one of you- a Little Birthday Pampering Giveaway! Enter to win a $100 SpaFinder Gift Card, a $15 Jamberry Nail Shields Gift Certificate, and & Mary Kay Satin Hands Pampering Kit! 

Just for my birthday weekend, I am offering the A Tablespoon social media promotion packages in my Ad Shop for 15% off with promo code happybirthday !   My Pinterest-focused A Tablespoon package will put your blog or shop in front of over 12,400 Pinterest Pinners each week! And it is budget friendly- less than $8 for a full 30 days when you use the promo code!

Join the Frugal Foodie Mama team for September today!  Click on over to my Sponsor Page to check out testimonials from my current & returning sponsors and to get started with your sponsorship!

Now, let's move on to the party.

Your Hosts Julie from This Gal Cooks ~ Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama ~ Paula from Call Me PMc

Last week's most viewed link:

Lemon No Bake Pie from Cooking on the Front Burner

A few of my favorites...

Famous Fast-Food Chicken Sandwiches from O Taste and See

How to Get a Toddler to Play Quietly for 30+Minutes a Day from Beauty Through Imperfection

Apple Crumb Cake from Baking in Pyjamas

Be sure to stop by This Gal Cooks and Call Me PMc to check out their favorites from Marvelous Mondays #61! :)

Also make sure you check out My Marvelous Mondays Faves Pinterest board!  Just because your post wasn't featured doesn't mean that it didn't catch my eye. ;) 

Party Rules

• Please follow your hosts and co-hosts via Twitter, Blog Lovin, Facebook or RSS Feed. Please leave a comment stating how you followed so your host can follow you back. Your host and co-host links can be found at the top of the party post.
• Please visit at least 2 other links. I suggest leaving a comment to let them know that you stopped by.
• Grab a button. It’s not mandatory but it helps get the word out about the party.
• Link up your recipes, crafts or DIY projects. Please link something that you made. No giveaways or shops, please.
• Please note that by linking up your posts and projects you are giving This Gal Cooks, Frugal Foodie Mama, and Call Me PMC permission to use your photos in the featured posts and possibly on our social media outlets. All photos will be linked back to your sites and your posts.

**Julie, Paula, and I please ask that you ONLY link up posts that you have not linked up before to Marvelous Mondays.  We have been noticing some repeat posts being linked up recently.  To be fair to all party-goers, please only link up NEW posts or posts that you have never linked up to our party before.  We will not be "policing" post link-ups, but please note that repeat offenders' posts will not be featured on Marvelous Mondays.  Thank you, all.