Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

Our little girl turned 2 this past weekend. I started planning for her party last summer. Knowing I would give birth a week before Christmas and 5 weeks before her birthday I wanted enough time!

For months I collected anything and everything I could find. Anything that was red, black, polka dot or Minnie Mouse and was on sale or a great deal came home with me. I had so much red and white polka dot ribbon to work with I didn't even use it all!

It was all worth it and the party was a success :)

I started by making my own invitations. I found the idea and the instructions here. Except I had a Mickey Mouse paper punch for the ears. I watched for scrapbook supplies to go on sale at JoAnn's and also used one of my % off total purchase coupons so it wasn't as pricey. So many people told me how great they thought they were!

I found ideas via Pinterest too and ran with them. This one was really easy to figure out and cheap too! I bought the wreaths at Dollar Tree and used wire to connect them and then added some hot glue for good measure. I wrapped it with a bit of polka dot ribbon and was sure to cover the wire with it. I made the little pennant myself with the leftover paper from the invites and attached it with white ribbon. I actually free-handed the two, backwards on the back of the page and cut it out. I was impressed with myself!

I also found the supplies for this one at Dollar Tree and filled in with some other things I had at home. I spray painted the styrofoam balls blacka after I glued them together. I made a bow with some more ribbon and attached that too. I had bought a set of graduated boxes to make a card box long ago and had the two smallest ones leftover. I took the smallest one and wrapped some tissue paper around it and glued Minnie to it. It was the perfect touch on one of our tables.

Those were the most I did in terms of decorating. I bought plain red tablecovers at Dollar Tree, red and black plates and napkins too! I found polka dot balloons at Hobby Lobby way back in the summer on redline markdown and they were PERFECT! I put the birthday banner I made last year out once more and I found a huge Minnie at a garage sale for $1 last summer and it looked great as decor. 

Along with the balloons I found cupcake wrappers that were red polkadot and since I always make cupcakes instead of a big cake I was in luck. I used a white cake mix so the color would soak through them and ruin the look and frosted them with chocolate icing and stuck two mint cookies in for ears and the kids loved them. I made half my cupcakes that way and the rest I frosted and topped with white pearl sprinkles. 

I also made these cute Oreo Pops. I found them over at The Idea Room. They were very time consuming but worth it in the end. I put them in treat bags and tied them with some more ribbon. I put them all in a bucket that I found at Michaels and it completed the dessert table.

Of course I made the birthday girl a set of ears too, but she refused to wear them. She doesn't let me do much with her hair! I bought an inexpensive black headband and glued the ears to that. I cut four circles out of an old file folder and glued two together to make it really stiff. Then I sandwiched that between two pieces of felt and had my ears. I made my own bow and glued that to the center. I wore them for the party and will be holding onto them for a future trip to Disney World. :)

I found Mickey Mouse ears at the party store and got 8 of them. Since this was a Minnie Party and I had yards and yards of ribbon i turned half of them into Minnie ears myself and the kids loved them. \

Of course, the birthday girl had to dress the part as well. I found a Minnie Mouse costume from the Disney Store at a mom2mom sale for $3 and it was perfect for her to run around in at her party. Everyone thought she was the cutest!

And, because I am growing to despise thank you notes I made her help me this time. I found a Minnie Mouse coloring page and sized it down to fit under my WordArt and put four on a sheet. I let her have at it with every red and pink crayon she owns and then cut it out and glued it to a piece of red cardstock. I wrote the sentiment on the back and they are ready for mailing!