(I can't believe how different Josiah looks just 7 months later! He's lost all baby fat and just looks like a little boy now rather than a toddler!)
I thought I'd post the party in sections, focusing on various elements at a time. That way, I can tell you how I did a lot of it too. Don't you want to hear my secrets?
So, when it comes to party planning, once I've got my idea, I always start with making the invitations first. Sometimes, you have to wait to completely finish them, let alone send them out, until more of the details about the venue and time are pinned down. But cutting out all of the paper and assembling the invites can take awhile, and the invitations are more time-sensitive, since the guests need to receive them in enough time to arrange their schedules.
When it came to Josiah's 2nd birthday, no other theme but Mickey Mouse would suffice. If you know my kid, you know the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is his absolute favorite show. So, I browsed the internet for Mickey invitations for inspiration, and I found that many parties use the same invites. However, when it came down to it, these invitations were so adorable that I couldn't pass up doing them myself too.
(Front)
(Back)
I started by first finding an outline of Mickey's head. I googled it and found one that suited what I was looking for. Then I pasted it into Microsoft Word and sized it to the size of my invitation, which was roughly 6.5" X 5.5". That's a large invite and I ended up having to pay double postage after getting all 30+ of my invitations returned to me! Lesson learned!!! Having the outline this size worked for fitting 2 heads per letter size page. Plus it fit in my envelope without looking small.
I then used this shape as a template, tracing two heads on each sheet of black cardstock.
For the wording on the invitation, I created a circle in Word that was slightly smaller than the outline of Mickey's head. I made sure it had a white border to set it apart from the black head. Then I downloaded this Minnie font and this Waltograph font to type out what I wanted to say. It always helps to incorporate your theme into every little detail, including the font used on any documents. Searching google will often give you a free font to download for a wide variety of themes.
I just printed these out on regular printer paper, cut them out, and used scrapbooking tape or glue sticks to adhere to the Mickey head.
For the front of the invitation, I created a circle that was the same size as Mickey's head, without ears. I printed this out the same way as the outline, and used it as a template, cutting 2 large circles on each sheet of red cardstock. Once each circle was cut out, I then cut the circle in half, creating two half circles. And I glued each half to the bottom of the black Mickey head to create Mickey's pants. I then glued on 2 white buttons using glue dots. However, if I did it again, I'd use hot glue instead, as I found that sometimes the buttons shifted or came off. Finally, I created the number 2 by downloading this Mickey font and using Microsoft Word to type up 35 yellow 2's on each page. I had a lot of invites to send out, though! I glued these above the pants with a glue stick.
After this, I created a separate insert, one side containing directions to the park and one side with info out the swimming pool and park use, about the facility and food, and about gift ideas for Josiah. (The gift ideas don't fit with common part etiquette, but in my family it is common practice as we WANT to know what the kid might want or what size clothes he/she wears.) I glue each of the pieces of info to a piece of rectangular cardstock and stuffed the envelopes with the invite, the additional info, and some photos of my sweet toddler. Even the envelopes were addressed using the Waltograph (Disney) font. Remember, every detail!
Stay tuned... soon I'll share the details of the party decor, food, and favors!
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