Dylan's Pirate First Birthday Party!

I can’t believe that my little man has been One for 2 ½ weeks already! How did the last year fly by so fast? We, of course, had to have a big birthday party here for the little man. So we decided on a ‘Jake and the Neverland Pirates’ theme.

The great news is that ‘Jake’ is a super-cute show on the Disney Channel that all three of us enjoy. It has Captain Hook & Mr. Smee and some really great pirate music. The bad news is that the show just premiered a few months ago, so there is absolutely no merchandise anywhere. Not in stores, online, the Disney Store, or Disney World. So I really had to great creative and do some DIY stuff.


I made the invitations myself and also crafted a few other things. Then I went to a party store while Dylan & I were in Illinois and picked up some cute Pirate Party Supplies. We also DVRed lots of ‘Jake’ episodes and played them in the background during the party.

I worked really hard on the décor. I know that Dylan didn’t really care, but it was a big deal for me and I wanted it to look great so I went all out. I even handcrafted sails for my Pirate Ship watermelon fruit salad. I used colored sand pails for chip bowls, and I had a bowl of Gold Doubloons (er, I mean, chocolate coins). We also had a pirate Birthday banner and  several hanging decorations throughout the house. It was a lot of work, but I think it was well worth it!

Dylan was wearing a shirt with a treasure map across the front and he carried an inflated sword around all day. I think he was loving the pirate theme! He also sported a pirate ship tattoo on his right arm. What a stud!

And it wouldn’t be a birthday without CAKE! Like I mentioned before, there was no ‘Jake’ cake available, but we ordered a really cute generic pirate cake from Publix. And because it was a First Birthday cake, they provided a Smash Cake for Dylan for free. I thought they were adorable!

And Dylan loved making a mess out of his Smash Cake. The blue and gold frosting mixed together to make a fabulous brownish/black mess! But he was the center of attention and got the sticky sweetness everywhere…success!

Nice Pirate Tattoos!

I really want to thank everyone for coming over to help celebrate my little man’s big day. We had a really great turn out and everyone spoiled Dylan rotten. I was so happy that so many people cared enough to come and be there with our little family. We even had out-of-towners make the trip - Thank you to Matt, Brittany & Danielle! It was so amazing to have you here for our special little guy!


I love that little boy so much and I hope that (even though he won’t remember it) his first birthday was as wonderful for him as it was for me.