Planning a Minnie Party: The Outcome

It's been over a month since Gretchen's Minnie theme party, and I've put off blogging about it! Sometimes, I do that when I have long blog posts that I want to write, but that I'm also kind of dreading, just because of the length and detail that could be involved...

But, I'm sure you've all been anxiously waiting to see how it came together- or you just forgot and that's fine too. For the dining room decorations, I made zebra print and red tissue paper balls, and I also hung paper decorations that went with the mantle banner.

My idea for the actual centerpiece flopped- I had wanted to make a Minnie Mouse head out of spray painted styrofoam balls, but the spray paint ate the styrofoam, so I had to come up with something last minute! The flowers were going to go around the base of the minnie head, so I cut them from the bush, stuck them in this white vase that I had, along with some red glittery hearts to make it more 'cartoonish', and tied zebra ribbon around the neck of the vase. I also had an extra Minnie Mouse resin, that matched Gretchen's hair bow, so I hot glued it on.

I found these zebra print bags at Hobby Lobby- they're filled with Disney fruit snacks, Mickey Mouse clubhouse silly bands, Minnie and Daisy stickers, kazoos, and a Minnie & Mickey box of chocolates that I found in the Valentine's section!

We served Coke, bottled water, and juice boxes for the kids.

I used scrapbook paper to make this banner- simply trace shapes onto the back, cut them out, and punch holes in the side, and tie them together with grosgrain ribbon. I'm also selling these on my facebook page, because not everyone has the time to make them! This one features zebra print balloons, yellow flowers, and the red and white polk-a-dot hair bows.

Each child received a set of mouse ears to wear. The girls each had a detachable mini-clip. Gretchen's ears came from Disney World (a big thanks to my mother-in-law for picking those up for us!) I cut off the red bow that was attached, and made a detachable hair bow for Gretchen.

My cake plan also flopped, so I ordered this one from a local bakery. It's very difficult to find bakeries in our area that work with fondant, and the last two years, I've driven 30 minutes away to pick up the cake, but decided that I did not want to do that this year. I kept it simple by having the baker ice the cake in red, placing white polk-a-dots on it, and adding a yellow border at the bottom. The cake said, "Golly Gee, Gretchen is 3" which mimic'd the wording on our invitations. The cake was a delicious chocolate with raspberry filling and I'm sure the adults loved it more than the kids!

I made these dipped oreos that I blogged about earlier in January. And, they were super simple. Simply add mini-marshmallows to an oreo cookie using melted chocolate, and let dry. Then, dip the entire cookie into melted chocolate.

I also served cheese & crackers- you can find Mickey shaped cheese at Wal-Mart.

I made chocolate covered potato chips as well, and chocolate dipped pretzels that had a zebra stripe to them.

Gretchen wore zebra ruffled pants that GG made. I also applique'd a zebra print minnie mouse head with a detachable bow that matched her larger hair bow.

Here's a close-up of the birthday girl!

One of Gretchen's guests wearing her Minnie ears- the guests were able to take these home as part of their party favors!

We played 'pin the bow on Minnie" for our game. I just cut a large Minnie head out of black poster board, and used the same scrapbook paper and stencil for the bows. I also wrote each of the guests name on them before hand, so we could see who 'won'.

I think the party was a success! Gretchen made her wish and blew out her candles, and we're hoping for a fabulous third year!

And yes, I'm already planning her party for next year!