Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Mickey Ears

One of the biggest hits of Josiah's party were the Mickey and Minnie headbands I made for each kid. I was in constant contact with the invited guests to make sure I knew who was coming and who wasn't. I LOVE making customized favors/gifts for friends and guests. Who doesn't love something specially made with their name on it?!?!

I got the tutorial from The Suburban Mom. This tutorial is perfect, and I can't think of anything noteworthy that I really did differently. One tiny adjustment was that I assembled the bow a little differently by wrapping the bow in the same ribbon and gluing it in place, rather than using ribbon to attach the entire bow to the headband. (You may be able to see the subtle difference in my picture compared to her's.) And the only other exception is that I also made tiny headbands for the newest little babies that were coming to the party. I found out the approximate size of the babies' heads, cut a piece of elastic accordingly, and used black felt to cover the elastic band. Then I glued the ears the same way I did the older kids' headbands.

Finally, for my own personalized touch, I used pink or red fabric paint to paint each kid's name on the ears. I tried my best to match the Disney font. And I made a few extra ones that were blank in case someone showed up that I wasn't expecting or in case an adult wanted one as well.

All of the guests enjoyed the headbands, from young to young-at-heart. My mom even insisted on having her own with "Nana" printed on the ear. Several adults took a blank one for them, and I even had a special request for some headbands for people who weren't even at the party. Two of my cousins had just returned from Disneyland weeks earlier. I was most worried they wouldn't appreciate the headbands, being the oldest kids at 7 & 9 years old. However, they were thrilled, saying that it was a reminder of their trip. They even helped model the headbands while I was still in the midst of production, helping me to ensure that everything was the right size for all ages.

Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Banners

Oh man! I wish I had better pictures of these banners because they turned out so great!

This was one of my favorite elements of the party!

I started with cutting out white cardstock into the size rectangles that I wanted. Next, I cut the black to go over it, cutting a wider stripe on the top and bottom and thinner stripe on the sides. I cut white squares and glued these over the black paper to make the film strip look- this was much easier than trying to cut out squares from the black with an x-acto knife or scissors!

Next, printed out pictures of each character from the computer after cropping them to be the right size for the rectangle. I made sure to print them in black and white and color them myself. This was so they would appear more uniform, rather than some color printed ones and some hand colored ones.

Then I printed out the phrase from Microsoft Word using the Minnie font and cut each letter out as well as some yellow stars. Then it was just a matter of gluing it all together and attaching the rectangles to each other with brads.

This picture is not very good since the banner was too large to photograph head-on. So, here are the 3 photos pieced together. At least you can see how it all hung together...

Oh! It was so cute!!!

Next, I used the same pattern as I did for the invitations and made a bunch of Mickey/Minnie heads. I left the Mickey ones blank (no pants) because I thought they'd be too busy looking if I had letters and pants. On the Minnie ones, I made a bow to top each one. I then printed out the phrase "Oh Two-dles" and glued each letter to the heads. I punched 2 holes in each ear and ran red ribbon through the holes to string the entire banner. The only pictures I have of the process and of close up are terrible ones from my phone:

At the party, I strung this banner on the opposite side of the table from the other banner- right where everyone could see it upon entering the party!

Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Food

In addition to cupcakes, we also had a cake. My mom found the cake pan and decorated it herself using pictures online as a guide for colors and details.

(It looked great! I wish I could've gotten a picture of it more straight on so you could see the whole thing.)

When it came to the rest of the food, we needed to have lunch food since the party was from 11am-1pm. And, when you think of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, you know that hot dogs are a must! Hot dog! Hot dog! Hot diggity dog! So, we grilled up hot dogs for all of the guests with a special label:

(These were framed and posted by each item of food.)

With the hot dogs, we also had individual bags of chips:

"Mickey Ears" (Oreos):

and Mouska-Cupcakes:

 

Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Cupcake Toppers

One of my favorite things to make for any party is cupcake toppers. They are SO EASY and add in an additional personal touch to any event. I use punches to cut out these circles (scalloped and not) and they are a lifesaver!!!

I punch the outer layer with this punch, on any color cardstock of your choice:

 

(This is not the same size as mine- I think mine is 1 3/4" to 2"- but is the same style and brand)

Then I cut a slightly smaller circle with a circle punch, and finally cut my picture out with an even smaller punch  (both like this) :

 

My designs are created on Microsoft Word, by adding any clipart or word art to my page and outlining it with a circle the same size as my punch. Then you just turn the punch upside down (I'm not sure why they make it that way!) and punch it along the lines. You can glue the papers on top of each other or use scrapbooking tape. Then, the papers are glued onto a toothpick, sucker stick, or popsicle stick. All done and super easy!

For Josiah's party, I made 3 different Minnie themed toppers, 3 Mickey ones, and 2 generic ones. 

Josiah LOVED his cupcake...

... to put it mildly...

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- Favors

One of my absolute favorite things to incorporate into birthday parties and baby showers are candy bar favors.

The process is pretty easy. I buy regular-sized Hershey bars in bulk. These don't have the foil wrapping and the extra paper around it. Instead, they just have a plastic wrapper around them.

  

I leave them wrapped in their original wrapper, but cover the outside in white wrapping paper. This hides the brown plastic and gives my bar a nice, clean packaging. Wrap it just like a present, and I highly recommend using white wrapping paper from the $1 store. Then I cover the candy bar with the wrapper that I designed, fitting the theme of the party. Because I've done this so many times, I've got the template saved to my computer, and I just customize it according to the theme of the party, printing it out on cardstock paper from my printer. You can use scotch tape over the edges but I prefer double-sides tape beneath the edge to have a cleaner look.

For Josiah's party, I couldn't resist creating these adorable candy bar favors. I made Mickey Mouse for the boys and Minnie Mouse for the girls.

You can't see the buttons or polka dots when the wrapper is folded, but they're an extra cute element when the bar is unwrapped.

 

 

These were a big hit with the party guests and turned out great.

*Template is available for sale at my Etsy shop.

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!

Josiah's Mickey Mouse Party- Invitations

I can't believe that in the last 7 months, the only place I have posted pictures of Josiah's party are on my personal facebook page. Oh man! I'm behind! And you guys are missing out on the cutest little 2 year old's fantastic birthday bash!

(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!