Chloe’s Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

Finally, I’m ready to share the Minnie Mouse birthday party we threw for Chloe last month for her 3rd birthday.  There’s a shopping list at the end of this post if you’re throwing a similar party.  You got a sneak peak when I shared how I made her invites…

…and party-favor DIY Minnie & Mickey Mouse ears.

So how about the rest of the party?  First of all… It. Was. Awesome.  I know many parents gawk at parties like these saying it’s competitive, over-done, all-in-all “too much”.  I enjoy throwing birthday parties because my children love them and all of the details are what makes the party fun and festive for everyone.  I wasn’t planning to go this all-out for this party (although that is my habit), but Chloe was so excited helping me with everything that she got me hyped-up.  Despite a horrible cold, I wanted to make this the party she was dreaming of.

Guests were greeted with this sign on the door and a tray of ears to pick from.

For a while there, she couldn’t decide between a “blue Cinderella” theme & Minnie Mouse.  In the end, I’m happy she picked Minnie Mouse since I was able to take it in this fun retro direction, one of her friends had a Cinderella party the day before, and this was our first non-girly party.  Our new kitchen converted into a food station easily.

I wrapped the island in wrapping paper left over from a previous Christmas that happened to be red with metallic polka-dots.  Fabulous look for free!  The cake was done by HEB, our local grocery store.  I love having them do our cakes because it’s affordable, great-tasting, and I can still have custom details on the cake.  I know cake-pops and more sanitary cup-cakes are all the rage these days, but the girl specifically asked for a cake so a cake she got. I made cupcakes as well for anyone worried about germs and topped them with these Mickey Mouse sprinkles from Amazon.  It came in a huge package so we have plenty left over for future baking.  The candle is from this Etsy seller.

I haven’t gone to the trouble of labeling food before, but it was a fun touch that guests really enjoyed.  The kids really enjoyed the cartoon pictures on the labels and went by each one naming them.  I made the labels by folding some small black card stock and gluing cut-out labels that I made in Microsoft Word.  I used the built-in business card template to quickly get scaled spaces to work in.  The cartoons are from image searches.  I used scrapbooking scissors left over from another project to cut them out with fun edges.  I used the Waltograph font I downloaded for free for the invites.

All of the food had festive names (there’s a list at the end of this post) and festive shapes when possible.  I happened upon some discounted Mickey Mouse burlap at Joann’s Fabrics and cut it onto strips for the kitchen counter.  Chloe helped bunch out Mickeys in black card stock (same as used for the food labels) and some scrapbooking glitter paper.  She thought this was one of the coolest tasks ever and I ended up with a TON of them.

We made club sandwiches with thin sliced bread and had a few PB&J made with a sandwich cutter.  I also cut out cheeses with a cutter set and it was more work that I planned but turned out super cute.

I was able to order pretzels from Disney land online, but the link is no longer active.  They were shaped like the clubhouse characters.  The yogurt covered pretzels were a last-minute Target find in their Christmas section.

One of Jason’s specialties is his banana pudding.  It’s whipped and extra-delicious.  Apparently the clubhouse gang says “Banana Pudding” when they take a photo.  I included this tie-bid on the card in front of it.

I used mason jars with a bit of Washi tape around them to make them festive.  I mixed the theme colors, red, white, and black plasticware.

We always have our token tub of refreshments and beside it, I had Minnie’s Party Punch.  I was going to do a red punch, but a cold front forced the party inside and I was developing a nervous tick from the thought of red drinks + 1-4 year olds in the house so I switched the Lemonade at the last minute.  The yellow still fits in with Minnie Mouse!

I LOVED watching Chloe walk around and look at all of her birthday details.  She was so in awe and so honored that this was all for her.

At the last minute, I got this idea for a big party banner.  Chloe was asking for some sort of banner, and I remembered that I had this Mickey-ear font from when I made the invites.  I typed out “Happy Birthday Chloe” in Word, cranked up the size, and put colored circles behind some letters to give them some color.  I printed these on nice paper that I use for real estate brochures and have this multi-function printer.

Chloe wanted balloons everywhere so we bought a Balloon Time at-home helium tank and went nuts.  We used a “Hi-Float” balloon additive so we could blow them up the night before and still have them around.  All but 2 balloons made it through the night, through the party, and well into the next week.

I used a vintage egg basket for party favors (temporary tattoos & a Mickey-cut-out Rice Krispy treat).

Each kid got a balloon to take home with their party favors.  Jason even put on “Mickey’s Clubhouse” while guests were arriving.  My mother brought the Hallmark Mickey band members to entertain the girls while we finished setting-up.

We also had a temporary tattoo station which the kids loved!  It had a tray of pre-cut tattoos, a tub of water, and a stack of white napkins.

3 year olds are starting to get to the age where they are into party activities, but I wasn’t expecting to get them all organized at one time.  I set up a “Clubhouse Coloring” station by bringing in our outdoor kids picnic table, which I also wrapped in the same red-polka-dot paper.

I also set up our mini ball-pit in the corner (hens the random silver balls at the table).

I also set up a “Pin the ears on Minnie” activity.  My father printed this on his plotter, although it could also be printed out on regular paper and taped together.  I took a standard image of Minnie & photoshopped her bow out.  The kids had a great time with this, although getting the bandana over their eyes didn’t really work out.  Some throw-away blind-folds would have been better for sanitary reasons and because they can be decorated to be fun for kids to wear.

I wrote guests’ names on the bows and had blank ones + a pen as well for 2nd turns & and unexpected guests.

We also decked-out the dining room table since it became the center of the party.

It’s where we sang “Happy Birthday” and had Chloe blow out her cute candle from Etsy.  Clearly, she was really into the Temporary Tattoo station!

And it was well-enjoyed!

Our tradition is to give the girls the gift of a fabulous party and special outfits to wear.  For this party, Cora’s was Daisy-duck inspired and sewn by my mother.  They love to dress-up in their party dresses still… so adorable!  They call them their “big, big bow” dresses.

The birthday girl wad decked out in a Minnie Mouse inspired look from head-to-toe.  I had picked up these Minnie Mouse shoes at a Disney Store sale long ago, and they happened to just about fit her just in time.  Girl loves her high heels!

She wore ears that I had picked up a while ago from Target and her hair in pigtails with red bows (her choice).  Part of her special birthday outfit gift was the Minnie Mouse earrings.  I’d post the link, but one already broke and they are crap.  My children are spoiled and I am replacing them for her.  The pearls are from Sam Moon and originally purchased for our 2013 Family Photos.  She loves to wear her pearls and it’s so adorable!  Her dress was also sewn by my mother with fabric that I picked out.  She did an amazing job!

Chloe LOVED her party and getting to have friends over, some of them for the first time to our house.  It was so perfect for her!

Here’s a list of supplies and ideas I used.  If I’ve missed anything, comment below and I’ll get it added for anyone looking to do a similar party.

• Invites – read more on how I did these here.
  • Created in photoshop & printed by a local print shop, they can also design invites for you.
  • Glitter, glue, & a paint brush for the glitter part of the invites.
  • Black envelopes from the craft store (I got mine at Hobby Lobby).
  • White gel pen for addressing the black envelopes.
  • Festive stamps, we used “Sealed with a Kiss” from the post office.
• Decor
  • Left-over wrapping paper to cover the island.
  • Retro Mickey-Mouse burlap on sale at Joann Fabrics.
  • Glitter red, black, and pain red card stock + Mickey paper punch.
  • Black, white/clear, red, + polka dot balloons and a Balloon Time at-home helium tank.  We also used “Hi-Float” so we could blow up the balloons the night before.
  • Assorted Washi tape.
  • Black card stock, scrapbooking scissors, printer paper for food labels.
  • Mickey-ear font cut out banner strung together with baker’s twine.
• Cake & Cupcakes
  • Custom cake from the grocery store.
  • Cake mix, frosting, red polka-dot cupcake liners for cupcakes + these sprinkles.
  • Custom candle from Etsy.
• Food
  • “Hot Diggity Dogs” – Hot dogs.
  • “Mickey’s Clubhouse Sandwiches” – used thin sliced bred, also a few PB&J cut out sandwiches using this cutter.
  • “Clarabelle’s Muska-cheese-and-crackers” – cut-out cheese (using these cutters) & Crackers.
  • “Donald’s Dip & Chips” – salsa & chips.
  • “Pluto’s Pretzels” – I was able to order some character pretzels online but the link is no longer good and found some yogurt-covered ones in the Christmas section of Target last-minute.
  • “Goofy’s Clubhouse Crackers” – Mickey’s Clubhouse Animal Crackers from Costco.
  • “Banana Pudding” – because apparently that’s what the gang says instead of “cheese” when they take a photo, I included this tie-bid on the label card.
  • “Daisy’s Garden Veggies” – because you have to offer something healthy ;-).
  • “Minnie’s Party Punch” – was tempted to do a red punch, but since weather forced the entire party inside, I opted for the much easier to clean  lemonade.
• Party-ware
  • Red polka-dog paper cups.
  • Polka-dog red & white paper straws.
  • Black dinner plates.
  • Black dessert plates.
  • Red dinner napkins.
  • White dessert napkins.
  • Mixed black, red, & white utensils.
  • Mason jars to store utensils.

I’ll be posting more on Cora’s Farm Party soon!  I just loaded photos onto my computer and can’t wait to share.  You haven’t even seen the invites to her party since I was making & mailing them while throwing this party for Chloe and prepping for Christmas.  It was such a cute party as well and I can’t wait to share!