This past week was Ronnie’s second birthday party. I wanted to make his party extra special, so I put in a lot of time making sure I didn’t overlook any details. Unfortunately, wind got in the way of most of our decorations. We had to nix the streamers and tablecloths at the last minute because it was so bad. I think the party still turned out well, though. I know Ronnie had a blast – and I have the pictures to prove it!
I am so in love with apothecary jars, but I never thought I’d be able to get them for the party. Everywhere I looked, they were at least $50.00 – that is, until I went to TJ Max and scored these for $6.00 a piece! I was so thrilled that I could do a candy bar for the party! We had homemade marshmallows [recipe by Prudent Baby], cotton candy, party pretzels, caramel popcorn, m&m’s, and orange candies.
We also had sack lunches for everyone. For the kids, we had organic peanut butter & jelly sammies, Snikkidy Snack cheese puffs, and raisins. For the adults, we had ham & swiss sammies, pretzels, and a pickle. I sprung for Panera bread for all the sandwiches and it was well worth it! The stickers were printed on label paper and punched out with a 2″ punch.
No sodas here. We had juice boxes for the kids and for the adults we had tea, lemonade, italian soda, and crystal light packets.
Do you notice the little plaque made by my friend, Megan? She hand painted it to match the invitations!
This mickey decoration was made with floral balls and tissue paper flowers. I followed this tutorial at We Met In A Bar for making the flowers and securing them to the balls. Then I used kebab skewers to connect the ears to the head. My original plan was to make six of these to use as centerpieces for all of the tables, but that didn’t necessarily work out. I underestimated how long it would actually take to make even one. Literally, I added the last flower just before guests arrived.
For favors, I decided to make Mousketools boxes. On the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mickey and the gang use Mousketools that Toodles brings to them to solve problems throughout the show. I had all the kids scream “Oh, Toodles!” and gave them their boxes. Each box had mickey ears, white gloves, a puzzle, a ball, organic shark gummies, and a coloring page with crayons. The coloring page looked like this:
Although the park served as an activity in itself, I had a few extra things planned for the kids. The first was a Mickey Art craft similar to the car party craft at Jack and Izzy. Instead of a car, I cut out a Mickey shape and instead of frames (which would have cost a fortune!), I used clear photo sleeves with magnet tape attached to the back. This way the kids could put it on the refrigerator. I wish we had taken a photo of one of them, but it got missed.
The second activity was a “photo-booth”. Originally, I was going to make a booth out of a refrigerator box like I had seen somewhere online, but I later decided that it was easier and more practical just to put up a piece of fun fabric for the kids to stand in front of. It worked out better, I think, because the lighting wasn’t restricted and my photographer was able to get some great shots! We put out some hats, party glasses, and a feather boa for everyone to use, but I think this photo of Gracie in her Mickey ears is just priceless. Unfortunately, by this point Ronnie had lost interest in the party and went to play on the park, so we didn’t get any of him.
In researching for the party, I found that there isn’t much out there for a Mickey theme that doesn’t use the licensed junk they sell at party stores. For this reason, I’m sharing some of the printables I created so that anyone can use them. Because things will need to be personalized, you’ll need Photoshop and a working knowledge of how to edit .psd files. You’ll also need the following fonts that I used:
Click on thumbnails to download PSD & PDF files:
“Thanks for Coming” Coloring Page
Don’t have Photoshop or would like a customized party package for your next party? Email me at shay@dumplindesignstudio.com! I’m hoping to have a package available soon for purchase, but until then, just let me know what you need and we can work something out.
I’ll leave you with a few photos of us at the party to show off how happy Ronnie was!
Shay works with small businesses & bloggers to create unique sites with a creative, clean, and feminine flair. 
I love the article. The party was GREAT! Even the big kids had a blast! It was well planned and very put together. The set up was great! The food was awesome!
This looks like the most amazing birthday party!! I can not wait to have kids… so that I can get all crafty with them! haha And the flowers take forever, right?! I totally thought I would have enough… and only had about half of what I needed at my (self created) deadline. Anyways, super cute party!!!
I just wanted to say how fantastic of a job you did! I love all the details you put into it and didn’t do it over “cartoony”… but the floral ears are my fav!
hugs
Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
party inspiration
Shay, that is one super cute party! I’m with Heather in the previous post – I want kids just so I can throw them cute parties like this!
Adorable! I’ll be sharing this on my blog:-)
You have a very nice birthday party! I am assuming your kid is so happy with this, you are a very loving mom. Your lucky to have a very cute son!
I love this party theme. Very cute thanks for the insporation. I am going to do a Mickey and Minnie theme later this year.
LOVE LOVE LOVE all of your creative ideas!!! Such an inspiration for the party I am planning for our 2 year old Connor. Did you make the mouse ears yourself?!
Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone!
Melissa,
I did make the ears myself and it was VERY time consuming! lol. Follow that tutorial that I linked to and make one big ball and two little balls. Then, just stick them together with kebab skewers. It was actually very simple to do – just took up a ton of time.
Everything looks great. My daughter is 5 months, but I’m downloading your templates and saving them for a future birthday. Just be careful, I’m sure you’ve heard of Disney sharks suing daycares and such for having unlicensed artwork.
Wow, what a fantastic party – well done! (and thanks for sharing your templates – they might just come in handy!)
I’m off to explore the rest of your lovely blog – I came via ohdeedoh.
Actually I was referring to the mouse ears they got to wear on their heads! I can’t decide if I should try to make them or just buy?! =/ Thanks again for sharing your inspirational ideas!
Melissa,
Sorry I was confused! Yes, we made the ears out of black headbands and felt. I started by hand-stitching the ears together and onto the band, but I’m terrible at sewing. I ended up just gluing them. You can find a tutorial for this at familyfun.com. We looked around for good ears to buy, but couldn’t see spending $5.00 on each kid in addition to all the other favors. Making them was a good cost-effective option. Good luck!
I love this and love how it’s not commercialize, it’s personal with so many awesome details, I’d would love to have you check my monkey party out that was shown on TJ too along with yours, I’m also your newest follower, would love to have you follow back if you can.
http://texasmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/08/happy-birthday-monkey-themed-birthday_03.html
I love your post and all your decorations. What a wonderful party!! I tried to download your free printables (water bottle labels and coloring page) but when I tried to open the file it said that I don’t have a certain software program. I have photoshop so I am not sure what to do. Is there anyway you can email them to me?
Thanks for all your help!
Your ideas are great! I love the banner you made! I think I might try that but add mickey mouse ears!
really cute party ideas! thanks for sharing. love the color scheme with aqua and red. so much BETTER than the disney crap they sell in stores.
Hey thanks for sharing your great ideas! I’m planning a Minnie party for my daughter, I’m sure going to use some of your awesome ideas, thanks again!
Love this party! I am doing a similar theam for my daughters 2nd b day. I was wondering for the centerpeices do you remember about how many flowers you had to make for 1. I am trying to figure out how much tissue paper to buy. Also what size balls you used for the inside of them?
You are AWESOME! Thank you so much for sharing!
Doing a Mickey Party for my 3 yr old and am totally using these. Sooo much cuter than what you can find out there. Thanks for offering to share them! New follower
i love all this! i am doing a minnie and mickey theme for my two kids upcoming party. hopefully i can find apothecary jars at good prices. i will be checking out tjmaxx for sure. i love the tissue ball decor as that i what i want but in a full ball shape to hang up. i love how the color scheme for ronnie’s party look.
thanks for some great ideas!!!!!
I have loved this for a while and ultimately was drawn to the idea of Mickey without commercial Mickey, color scheme, and your centerpiece. Thanks for the inspiration, my son’s birthday party was fantastic! If you want to take a look (since I gave credit and linked to you), please feel free to check it out.
http://bitsandpiecesofthebetterlife.blogspot.com/2011/10/mickey-mouse-birthday-party.html
I love this party! I’m planning a Mickey party for my soon to be three year old and love the centerpiece!!
Super cute. I am planning my son’s second birthday and I was luck enough to stumble across your blog. Thank you for sharing.
I can’t wait to use these for my sons 1st bday party! Thanks a bunch they’re perfect!
I´m planning a minnie mouse party for my daughter, and your post helped me a lot!
thank you for sharing!