Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Centerpiece #2

While browsing ideas for Josiah's birthday party decorations, I was inspired by this site. Coincidentally, it was another Mickey Mouse party for another little Josiah! I used their idea for both the centerpiece of Josiah's name and for the hot air balloons centerpieces I am about to show you, as well as some signs that are still to come. Of course, I added my own personal touches!

I tried to make mine as much like the cartoon's version as possible. So, I used ceramic pots and painted them all red. I then used wire and twine to make the strings holding the balloon. The balloon was cut from a glove shape I found online, sewn up, and stuffed with cotton batting. Then black felt was glued on to create the accents on the glove. I also wrapped the twine around the edge of and created sandbags out of brown napkins and batting. I filled the pots with marbles to weigh them down and to have something for the toys to sit on. However, I learned later that they were not heavy enough! They kept falling down with every gust of wind at the party! EEK! So, for anyone replicating this (especially outside), I highly recommend making sure your centerpiece is heavy enough to withstand the wind! Finally, we used the extra batting underneath each balloon and spread out to create the look of clouds. I loved the look of them! Ready for pictures???

And, finally, these are the centerpieces in the midst of being made, but shows all 5 characters that we had:

Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Centerpiece

I had a few different centerpieces, but right in the middle of the party, I bought letters and arranged Josiah's name for all to see.

This was a fairly simple centerpiece, and yet made a big statement. Furthermore, after the party was over, I could repaint the letters and hang them in his room... or if your kid's room is the same theme as their party (or you don't care about themes) then you can use them as is. 

Supplies:

• Letters for child's name
• Base (or 2) for letters to sit on
• Scrapbooking paper (green)- I believe 1 sheet is enough)
• Black, red, and green acrylic paint- I use this paint for everything!
• 2 white buttons
• 3 styrofoam balls (1 large, 2 small)
• Hot glue & gun
• Paintbrush

The letters came from Michael's and were somewhere from $2-3 each. I don't know exactly. The base that the letters are sitting on was also in the same section, made specifically for those letters. I needed 2 in order to space the letters out properly. Then I painted each letter black and only half of the "O" black.

I glued the 3 styrofoam balls into the shape of Mickey's head with hot glue and then painted them black. The Mickey head, once dry, was glued on top of the "I".

Next, I painted the bottom of the "O" red and glued two white buttons on the "O" as Mickey's pants.

Once the letters were done, I moved to the base. I painted the entire thing green first, and then I cut the green scrapbook cardstock paper into strips and then cut it in half with zig-zag cuts, so that each strip became 2 strips of grass. Make sense? Sorry I have no pictures of the process, but hopefully the picture seems clear enough to figure it out on your own.

The grass was glued all around the edge of the base:

And, when arranged at the party, I added a few small Disney figurines around the back of his name, since the guests on that side were only seeing the back.

The final result was a large centerpiece that was easy to put together and can continue to be used in Josiah's room after the party!