You too could be saying this

"We held our son's 5th birthday party on the last weekend in November this year just as the snow arrived!  Gordon made the journey to our venue despite the bad weather, which eventually took him around 2 hours, and still arrived in time to set up and start the party at 10am as planned!

This illustrates how committed he is to providing an excellent service and is typical of the very high standard we experienced when dealing with Gordon, from planning the party through to the day itself. He is very flexible and totally focused on creating the best experience for the birthday child and their friends.

He made our son feel really special and was so skilled at involving all of the children in the fun! The magic and entertainment was of a high standard-the children and adults had a ball!

So many parents have commented on how much their children enjoyed the party, even those who normally don't participate in such events! Pirate Pete was an invaluable addition to our Peter Pan party and meant that we could relax and share in more of the event, instead of being completely stressed out!

Can't recommend Gordon highly enough - worth every penny!"
Gillian Estebanez, Kinross, Scotland
 

DECORATE YOUR HOME /HALL
Let me say right off there are many advantages to hosting your child's first "real" theme birthday party with friends and guests from nursery in your own home.   It really is much easier than you imagine so think carefully before hiring a hall.

Creating the Peter Pan theme in your home as the children arrive is easy and here you have a number of choices.   If you look at the maps of Neverland you'll see rainbows everywhere.  You can decorate your home with rainbows made out of crêpe streamers.  Place these on the walls and on the doors coming into the party.

Suspend glow in the dark stars and Christmas lights on gold ribbon pinned into the ceiling creates a very visual impression. Remember child safety and do not hang them too low.

Alternatively you could go more towards the Captain Hook pirate theme and have a pirate arrangement in your home.   See also Pirate Pete’s page for more ideas.

Another idea continuing your Peter Pan theme is to arrange an area of your room as a Peter Pan “hide out” for the “lost boys and girls”.   Use either a cupboard say under the stairs or a child’s small tent for a “hide out”.

Completely clear out your cupboard or tent and fill with toys which fit the Peter Pan theme.  If your child wants a Peter Pan theme for his birthday party then chances are you will have lots of suitable toys.  Think fish, little mermaids, nautical toys, pirate items, Barbie dolls for the girls etc.   

Children love to squeeze into small spaces.  Remember when you were four years old?  Everything was an adventure.

Better still why not combine all three?

Outside, if it is a nice summers day, have a paddling pool filled with suitable toys and let the children’s imagination carry them away to Neverland to face Captain Hook on the high seas.

PETER PAN COSTUMING
The Birthday girl of course has got to be Tinkerbell.  Either a specific Tinkerbell dress-up outfit or a Fairy/Princess outfit  with wings.   Girls love to have their face painted and hair made “fancy”, sparkly earrings and please don’t forget…….glitter all over!   Everybody knows that no fairy is complete without ample quantities of fairy dust.

The Birthday boy loves to be Peter Pan dressed in green or indeed as a big, bad brave pirate.   Guests should be invited to come  appropriately attired.   Children love to dress up.  Most will come as the main characters, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Captain Hook or as pirates, fairies, lost boys, crocodiles, princesses and mermaids.

Those with even more imagination can dress as Wendy or Jane dressed in a long pink nightgown similar to both girls style, John  can wear a men's white shirt lined and for the very young brother or sister pink pyjamas just like Michael.

PETER PAN INVITATIONS
You can purchase theme birthday party invitations or make your own easily on your computer.
Using clip art either chose a picture of a Tinkerbell type character if a girl party or, if a boy, a Pirate as the main character. The other characters can be incorporated to add to the Peter Pan theme.

Using a Pirate Map as a background word your invitations to say:

"Think of the happiest things, it's the same as having wings

...............(GUEST'S NAME).......................

is invited to a Peter Pan Birthday Party to celebrate (your child’s name) 5th Birthday Party.
Neverland can be found at (birthday party address)

The magic will be from 2pm until 4pm on Saturday 5th March

If you like, come dressed as a character from Peter Pan: a fairy, a pirate, a mermaid,
an Indian Squaw, a lost boy or a crocodile......the choice is yours!

You provide the faith and trust and we'll provide the pixie dust."

RSVP to ..........(name and telephone number)

Consider decorating your invitations with pictures of a Captain Pirate and a pirate ship or fairies.

Roll up your invitations into a scroll and secure each one with gold ribbon.  For a nice touch you could use the small plastic water bottles you keep accumulating to place the scrolls inside!  Remove the label and add a small amount of  sand and pixie dust glitter and place the invitation inside.
Leave the end of ribbon hanging out for easy removal.

PARTY FOOD
The big message here is to keep things simple.  Simple food is the best and easiest for you. Fish fingers are the obvious first choice, The main thing is to keep the food simple and little.  After all the party children will be very excited and more interested in your party games and other activities.

However be creative. Call your eating area Mermaids Cove or Treasure Bay.   Use green and blue streamers to depict seaweed and hang green and blue balloons out of reach.  Cooking foil suitably placed could create  the effect of water streaming down to a pool on the table. Disguise the edges of the foil with sand or small rocks to create a cove and maybe have a cave for the pirates to hide their treasure.

You could purchase a theme party table cloth to match your napkins, plates and invitations or alternatively decorate a plain table cloth as a pirate map. This could double up later for “pin the flag on the hidden treasure” game.

Your centre piece could be a small pirate chest with jewels, necklaces and other pirate booty such as chocolate coins flowing out onto the table. Inside you could place the ubiquitous booty bags for handing out at the end of the birthday party.

Alternatively your centre piece could be a birthday cake made in the shape of a pirate ship or desert island.

If your child is really into Peter Pan then chances are that they will have toys with a Peter Pan Theme which could easily be used as a feature of decoration.

PETER PAN PARTY ACTIVITIES
With this age group safety must be your first priority. Young children adore hands-on activities. When guests arrive and after they have had their face painted lead them through your imaginary Neverland to an area where they can colour in suitable pictures you have purchased of Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook and other suitable images fitting the Peter Pan Theme.

It is possible to purchase very reasonably small wooden or plastic pirate chests.  Spray painted them gold for the children and let them glue on jewels. They can take them home after the party filled with their booty bags and other items made.

Make toilet roll telescopes, pirate patches out of card and bandanas from strips of cloth.  These are especially useful if a child comes without a costume.

Arrange to play Pin the Feather on Captain Hook/Peter Pan using a poster or your Treasure Map.

Walking the Plank can encourage imaginative play.  Just mark out a "plank" on the ground using a piece of rope.  The game can be made more demanding for older children by introducing a blindfold. 

Try and create both quiet spots and exiting spots in your theme birthday party.   When things calm down a bit we you may wish to give the children feather dusters to use as feather swords.   Sit back and watch them chasing each other (and their mothers) around the room with their feather swords giving some serious tickling and loads of laughter.  If hiring Pirate Pete to entertain at your themed birthday party ask him to make balloon pirate swords, parrots butterflies etc for all the children to take home after the party.

Have a Peter Pan video at hand for those times when you want to calm the children down and to stop them becoming overly hot and exited.
 
Hunt the Treasure is always a firm birthday party favourite for three and four year old children.   They love to explore.  Explain to the children that Peter Pan has hidden Captain Hook's treasure somewhere in the house and you need their help to find it.

Hide it somewhere easy to find.   Use clues that four year old children can relate to.   Four year old children know their colours so incorporate that into your clues eg “If the treasure is going to be seen then look for the colour green”.  Or “You won’t create a stink if you find the colour pink”.

In the film, Captain Hook’s treasure was hidden inside a cave at Hangman’s Cove so why not create your own Hangman’s Cove.  This could be the space beneath your stairs.  Place a large Skull and Crossbones on the door and when the party children arrive at where the treasure is hidden build up the atmosphere by telling the children someone must have placed it there when the children were eating.  Get the children totally involved. Ask them “Who do you think it was?”  Feed their imagination and watch their fantasies explode. 

Line your Pirate Treasure Chest with gold or silver fabric and fill with goodie bags, dress-up beads and jewels. Let the children wear their treasure jewels to join in the spoils of the loot.

When the children are eating you could place giant footprints leading to the treasure and “plant” the treasure box inside.  Say to the children when they are finished eating  “Did you hear that?”   “It sounds like someone walking.   I wonder who it?  We are all eating, it cannot be one of us!  Sounds like Captain Hook walking.  I wonder if he is hiding his pirate treasure.  Shall we try and find it?  Shall we be brave?  Very, very brave?

Lead the party children slowly and please remember some three and four year olds may be a little afraid so don’t over act here.  Most children however will find this very exiting .

PARTY FAVOURS
A goodie bag is almost obligatory these days at birthday parties.   Let the children take home the pirate chests they decorated at the beginning together with their coloured in pictures.  Fill the goody bags with some sweets, a couple of tattoos, some glow-in-the-dark stars a balloon and of course a bit of birthday cake.

HIRING PIRATE PETE CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINER
Hiring a professional children's entertainer who specialises in this young age is a wise decision as he or she will be properly trained and should have the necessary experience to enhance the children's natural sense of fun and imagination.  It also leaves you free to relax and enjoy your child's birthday party.  Make sure however that your entertainer has, like Pirate Pete, much experience, with this age group as they do present a special challenge to an entertainer.

 "We were absolutely delighted with how beautifully smooth Charlotte's birthday party was - it was, to say the very least, the easiest, non stressful party I have organised and everyone who attended commented on your absolute professionalism and wonderful way with children.  Charlotte had a wonderful time and she clearly felt very comfortable being the centre of attraction - not something very easily achieved with my first-born!  Thank you so very, very much, for the care and attention you provided and thank you for making my job and my husband's very, very easy on the day.
V Smith, Cambuslang, Glasgow, Scotland

GUARANTEED FANTASTIC TIME
A Total Success!   People will  talk about your party for months afterwards and the best bit is
when your son / daughter and all the guests tell you that this was the best birthday party EVER!

Believe me there is no better feeling than discovering the precious gift of seeing your child enjoying their birthday party and don't forget, take lots of precious birthday party photographs.

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You avoid pitfalls by engaging
"Pirate Pete"
The professional children's entertainer

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Member of Equity

SO...RIGHT AWAY while you're thinking about it, before another mum asks for the date that you want, pick up the phone and CALL NOW for cost, availability and enjoy your best Pirate Theme birthday party experience ever
0141 886 2905

Pirate Pete is based in Glasgow, Scotland

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