How To Throw A Tinkerbell or Peter Pan Themed Birthday Party

My little girl just turned three.  She’s been talking for months about her birthday party, and wanting Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to be there.  So we planned a Tinkerbell and Peter Pan themed birthday party.  Here are some ideas and resources to help you hold a similar party that your child will love.

First of all, you need invitations.  We found a picture of Neverland http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/images/upload/Off-to-Never-Land-web.jpg on the internet and used it as the background for our home designed and printed invitations.  We invited guests to join us in Neverland, and told them that ‘to get to Neverland they would need “faith, hope and pixie dust” and to follow the second star to the right and straight on till morning, or alternatively to follow a map to (insert your address)’.  If you print the invitations yourself, you can download the Disney font http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/Walt_Disney.htm to really make them look special.

Alternatively, you can download invitations to print yourself (like these http://disney-stationary.com/greeting-cards/birthday-invitations2.php) or just buy premade invitations from a party store or website (click here http://www.childrenspartyshop.co.uk/Partyware/Tinkerbell/798-Tinkerbell-Party-Invitations.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Product+Search for an example).

To make the party special, make it a fancy dress party.  Encourage all of the children to dress up like characters from Neverland.  There are many choices: fairies, pirates, Indians, mermaids, Lost Boys, etc.  We wrote on the invitations that if parents wanted to stay with their children, they had to dress up as well.  If you want, you can keep a few bandanas or fairy wings handy for last minute costumes for anyone that has forgotten.

You can put as much or as little effort into decorating as you want, but it really is fun to transform your house (or your yard if the weather permits) into Neverland.  You can buy more expensive decorations, but it is easy to make your own.  We bought a roll of Tinkerbell wrapping paper to wrap presents in, and used the leftover paper to decorate with (we cut out the fairies and taped them up all over the house).  Put up stars and a sign welcoming your guests to Neverland by the front door.  A really great way to decorate is to divide up your house and/or yard into areas of Neverland.  For example, create mermaid lagoon either by your bathtub or with a paddling pool.  Visit this site for more ideas http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/tinker_bell_parties_6.html.

You can cater the activities to match the age of the children attending.  Pinatas are fun with children (and adults) of almost any age, and one like a pirate chest http://www.latestgifts.co.uk/product/102/2900/pirate-treasure-chest-pinata fits in well with a Neverland theme.  We printed off pictures of Tinkerbell and Peter Pan and had a table set up with markers and crayons so that the children could colour; if you wanted to, you could even have a colouring contest.  For free Neverland colouring pages http://www.tinkfanatic.com/tinkerbell_coloring_pages/color1.htm, click here http://www.coloring-book.info/coloring/coloring_page.php?id=48.  Kids will enjoy playing follow the leader, or having a treasure hunt.  If you’re really ambitious, you can have different activities at each different area.  Click here http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/child-birthday-party-idea.html for more activity ideas.

For food, you can have just normal party food, but there are easy ways to make it more Neverland themed.  We used a butterfly cake mold to make a Tinkerbell cake, but you can also buy them at stores like Asda http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/home/homecontainer.jsp.  This site has great ideas for pirate themed foods http://www.uk-entertainers.co.uk/articles-public/16_09_2008Pirate-Party-Food.asp.

Finally, you need party bags to give the children as they leave.  You can buy Tinkerbell and Peter Pan designed party bags at places like Just For Fun, or at websites like this one http://www.funpartysupplies.co.uk/children-s-birthday-party-themes-1/disney-tinkerbell-fairies-party-550/.  You can fill it with things like eye-patches, magic wands, stickers, little vials of glitter (fairy dust), etc.

Be creative and have fun!