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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Twin Boy/Girl MICKEY & MINNIE MOUSE Birthday Party

What fun it was planning this Mickey and Minnie Party for my twins' 3rd Birthday!  My kiddos love (I mean, LOVE!) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I thought it would be a great Boy/Girl theme for their party this year.  And on top of that, we just took our first trip to Disneyland this summer, so it really summed up our year too!  

Mickey/Minnie Mouse is an age-old, classic theme for kids (pretty sure MY 1st Birthday Party was Minnie Mouse themed!) which means there are a TON of fun ideas out there... but that also creates a challenge to make it unique and different!  I decided to build the party around the Mickey silhouette using the classic Mickey colors of red, yellow, and black.  I wanted the party to be bright and colorful but also chic... it's easy for a Mickey party to go a little (or a LOT) cheesy, so I wanted to give the party a flare of classic sophistication!  (Okay... I need a synonym for classic!)

A few of my fav little details...
- The Balloon Wreath 
- The personalized Mickey Party Favor cups
- The Mickey/Minnie Centerpieces
- The Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake!

To welcome guests to the party, I made a Mickey-Inspired Balloon Wreath for our front door.  I could not believe how easy this was to make... I made it in less than an hour!  I took lots of pictures of the process, so I will be posting a HOW-TO soon!  
The glove pinned on the wreath was actually purchased on etsy last year as part of my twins' Halloween costume.  They were WAY too big for them to wear last year, but the felt gloves came in handy for this party BIG TIME!  I set them all throughout the party!  

The signs attached to the wreath were made using my new Cricut Expression 2.  This was my first time using this machine, and it was so much fun!  

The centerpiece of the party was the Cake & Treat Table.  I hung red tablecloths in front of the windows as a backdrop and used boxes draped with yards of "Mickey-inspired" fabric to create height and dimension.  The table was covered in a white tablecloth and then layered with black and white polka dot fabric... fabrics are such an easy and cheap way to add pop to a table!   I also used containers (such as the candy dishes) in varying heights and shapes to add interest and tied on lots of ribbon in the party colors to add flare to everything on the table.  
The "Matthew" and "Molly" decorations and the "Happy Birthday" Banner were made using my Cricut paper cutting machine.  I bought the Mickey Mouse and other yellow, red, and black papers at Hobby Lobby and Michaels, and used them (and my Cricut!) for decorations throughout the party.  The fun papers are another cheap way to add fun and continuity to your party with signs, food labels, etc.  The little red pails were from Party City and cost about $0.50 each with my coupon!  
I didn't want to go too overboard with sweets on the table, but I did want to make a couple of easy treats that would make the table look really special and whimsical.  

The Mickey Lollipop Mold came from Amazon, and I made the suckers with red and yellow candy melts.  These were a HUGE hit with my daughter... she ate 5 of them while we were waiting for guests to arrive!  A little over-indulgence on your birthday never hurts, right?!  I spray painted a little wooden crate, tied ribbon around it, and stuck a piece of styrofoam in the center to display the suckers!  

I make these pretzel twigs for almost every party I have, because they are ridiculously easy and yummy!  And it's so easy to customize them in the colors of each party.  They look so cute gathered together in little mason jars like this, and the kids loved carrying them around the party! 
This was my first time making chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treats, and I am so happy with how they turned out!  I made these AND the pretzel twigs in less than an hour!  
And now for the cake.... 
I looked at HUNDREDS of pictures of Mickey Mouse cakes online and on Pinterest.  I mean, HUNDREDS... twice!  The majority of the cakes I found were full fondant cakes- covered in fondant and decorated in fondant.  Now, I'm new to cake decorating, and I haven't ventured very far into the world of fondant.  Plus, with decorating an entire party and hosting it at my home, I knew I wasn't going to have the hours upon hours of time it would take me to figure out how to perfectly cover multiple layers of cake in fondant and do intricate fondant decorations.  In fact, I debated if I was crazy to even try to do a cake AT ALL.... and yes, as it turns out, I am crazy... but not for this reason alone!  

Anyway, I decided I would just stick with an all-white buttercream-iced cake and do simple fondant decorations.  Many of the cakes I saw online also had lots of different colored layers... I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of red icing.  It's messy and doesn't taste very good, so I wanted to just stick with all-white (other than the necessity of black icing for the Mickey hat which wasn't going to get eaten anyway!).

The Mickey ears were made from fondant a couple of days ahead of time.  I put a popsicle stick between 2 fondant circles and let them dry on the counter for a couple of days.  I stuck them in the cake the morning of the party, and they held up great!

I am really happy with how the cake turned out!  It's pretty simple, but I think it went great with my table, and my kids thought it was so cool!  


I had one other main area to decorate, and that was the all important FOOD TABLE!  
Going with the Mickey Mouse theme, we decided to serve Hot Diggity Dogs.  So, I created a Hot Diggity Dog Bar complete with all the fixins', chips, guacamole, and fruit.  
Also for the Hot Diggity Dog Bar... I had seen these styrofoam Mickey and Minnie Centerpieces on Pinterest, and I just had to incorporate them somewhere!  I found the Sytrofoam Balls at Hobby Lobby and painted them using black acrylic paint and sponge brushes.  I think they turned out so super cute!!
And now for the PARTY FAVORS!  
As you know, I got a little over-zealous with my new Cricut machine, and after discovering that it cut vinyl adhesive paper, I just couldn't help but make these personalized Mickey cups.  I knew this was going to be SO MUCH WORK, but I just really really wanted to make them!  (I told you I am CA-RAZY!) I was so happy with how they turned out and even happier with how much all of the kids LOVED them!  They all had fun searching for their initials, and I found some kids drinking from their new cups during the party!  I found the cups at a dollar store (well, actually 5 dollar stores), and they were surprisingly good quality... and I was beyond pleased to hear from guests that they went right through the dishwasher perfecly!  WOOT WOOT!  
Oh, I just love this little sign too... 
Of course, I spent all these hours making this party as cute as can be, and the real hit of the party was these SUPER FUN BOUNCE HOUSES!  
And the very best part is that the bounce house rental joint didn't come pick them up for a couple of days, so my hubby and little twins and I got to have our very own family bounce night the evening after the party.  Beautiful memories!
Seriously this party was such a joy for me to put together, and it was so fun seeing my sweet twins' little faces when they came downstairs for their party. I hope it will inspire you to add fun little touches to your parties and give you some easy ideas to make them special and unique.  

Happy Little Party ! ! ! 

Photography by Claire McCormack.
Party Decor and Design by Kelly Little.






Friday, September 13, 2013

Little Party Feature- Candyland 1st Birthday Party

I'm so excited to share this a-DOR-able Candyland 1st Birthday Party with you!  This was put together by my friend, Jennifer Lemmo, for her precious daughter, and I just love it!  This is such a fun and unique theme... classic, colorful and sweet!  

Some of my fav little details...
- The gumball topiaries!
- The colorful candy bar
- Amazing fondant cake
- Super cute candy themed party favors!



First and foremost, check out the topiaries made entirely of gumballs... so whimsical and fun!  And I also love the colorful oversized candies and lollipop center pieces.  

How fun is this candy bar?!  Filling containers with cute candy is such an easy way to make a party festive... and grouping it all together like this makes such a sweet statement!  Candy can also serve as a party favor for guests.

Wow, this cake is fantastic!  I love the gameboard details around the bottom layer, and of course, all the fondant candies.  Too cute!  And check out the birthday girl's smash cake below... love that darling cherry on top!


These party favors are so precious!  I love the big cans of tootsie rolls and the felt gingerbread accents.  

Jennifer did such a great job on this party, and I'm so glad she let me share it with you!  As you know, I just love all things colorful and sweet, and this Candyland Party is just my style!  Using the classic Candyland game as a backdrop is such an inspired twist on a candy party.  What a fun way to celebrate birthdays for kids of all ages!  

Happy Little Party ! ! ! 




Friday, September 6, 2013

Twin 1st Birthday- Unisex BOY/GIRL Owl Birthday Party

Right now I'm gearing up for my boy/girl twins' 3rd Birthday Party!  I can't believe how fast time has flown by and how big they're getting!  And as I'm working on this year's party, I'm reminiscing about parties past.  So, today I'm going to share with you my fav pics of my TWINS' 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY.  I had so much fun putting this party together, and I was beyond thrilled when it was featured on Kara's Party Ideas.  Check out the original post here!

For those of you that know me, you know all about my love (read: obession) with owls!  It was such a fun unisex theme for the party (and for me!).  I wanted the party to be whimsical and colorful, so a bright color scheme and sweet little owls were absolutely perfect.  I made all of the decorations and the invitations myself using clip art I purchased on etsy.com.  With this clip art, I made the invitations, signs, a birthday banner, etc.  The clip art "birthday papers" from etsy were the inspiration for the entire color scheme of the party!

Some of my fav little details:
- The colorful Happy Birthday Banner
- The Owl Tree wall decor behind the twins' high chairs
- The gorgeous (and delicious!) cake (which I can't take credit for!)
- The Owl Oreo Pops
- The cute and fuzzy plush owl party favors
- The gorgeous photography by Claire McCormack Photography
- My blowout... seriously, this was the first time I went to the DryBar, and it got me hooked!
This beautiful cake was from Dallas Affaires Cake Company.  This was before I had ever even considered making my own cakes, and, I must admit, I love it!  The fondant owls were just so adorable, and I love the colorful tulle on top.  And this was one of the best cakes I have ever tasted!

I started working on this Happy Birthday Banner a couple of months before the birthday party.  It was inspired by a number of banners I saw on etsy.  I love all the different colors and patterns and especially all the different fun ribbons I used to tie it all together!  I purposely made this banner so that it could be used for lots of different future themed birthday parties... and I did end up using it again for their second birthday!  All I did was cover the owls with the following year's theme, and voila!  Perfect re-usable banner!  

Another easy detail I love are the cute little vases of daisies on the mantel.  I have used these little bud vases over and over and over again... all I did was knot different color ribbon around the necks and fill them with cheap daisies.  I thought it turned out so fun and was such an inexpensive way to add fresh flowers into the mix!

One of my main focuses was the twins' high chairs.  I knew this would be the backdrop for the most important pictures of the party... the 1st Birthday Cake Smash!  So, I wanted to make it really cute and festive.  I realized that I had a blank wall space in our entry way across from the dining room where the food was going to be, so I thought that would be the perfect spot to set up... both out of the way and with lots of room for everyone to gather around!  Our high chairs were pretty plain (boring ol' neutral khaki), so I wanted to jazz them up as much as possible.  And it turned out to be so easy!  First I just folded a yard of colorful fabric over the cushion of each chair.  Then, I just printed out big letters, cut them into circles, and strung them across the front of their chairs.  For the backdrop, I purchased a cheap tree wall decal on Amazon.  Then I went back to my original clip art, and printed out two large owls.  I also found these cute rustic wooden plaques at Hobby Lobby that I "hung" from the tree.  I was so pleased with how it turned out!  It was a "make it up as I go" endeavor, and it turned out better than I could have originally imagined!  I just love the pictures of my twins "eating" their first cakes!



I also had so much fun making these birthday hats!  I just printed the "birthday papers" clip art out on card stock, and wrapped it around to form a hat.  The ribbons and pom poms were just stuck on with my trusty hot glue gun.  I knew there was zero chance my kids would actually let me put these on them, but they were just too fun to not make!  And they looked adorable sitting on their high chairs!  


So, I did actually make the smash cakes... my sister had taken a cake decorating class and given me a few tips, so in an effort to save a little money, I made these myself.  These were the first cakes I ever tried to decorate myself, and they actually turned out pretty cute!  The twins wanted NOTHING to do with them though... especially my daughter!  She just cried until we gave her a bottle of milk.  Oh well!  The pictures are priceless!

I tried to go low-key on the food since I spent so much time on the decorations, but I just couldn't pass up trying my hand at these OWL OREO POPS.  They turned out so stinkin' cute and were surprisingly easy to make!  All I did was put a popsicle stick inside the oreo, dip in chocolate, and let dry with 2 little mentos stuck on for eyes.  Then I piped the black and orange icing on them after they dried.  I painted these cute pots and put the Oreo Pops in the pots using planters styrofoam.  


These PRETZEL TWIGS are maybe the easiest cute thing you'll ever make!  Just buy pretzel logs, dip the top half in melted chocolate and cover in sprinkles.  Set on wax paper to dry.  Seriously easy and delicious!  I just tied a ribbon around mason jars and crammed them in there.  I have made these for many parties, and they are such a quick way to give your table some fancy!  
I also had a little CANDY STATION with bags and scoops for guests to pick up as much candy as they wanted.  I don't know if much candy got eaten, but it sure was precious!  These cannisters came from Michaels and are also something that I have used over and over!

Since there are always a variety of ages at a 1st birthday party, I wanted to cater to both the adults and the kiddos.  So, I set up a BIG HOOTIE BAR featuring Sangria and other adult beverages and a LITTLE HOOTIE BAR featuring kid-friendly snack items and drinks.  

One of my favorite things to do for a party is WATER BOTTLE LABELS!  These are so easy to make and give such an ordinary party-staple a fun little makeover.  Water bottle labels have become a party must-have and come with many of the printable party packages you can buy online!

I also had fun making this wreath for the front door... I really wanted to incorporate these lovable BlaBla owls that I had purchased before the twins were born!

And I just adored these sweet little handmade plush owls I found on etsy.com.  They were so soft and were the perfect party favor!  I had this old wire bird cage that turned out to be a fun creative way to display them.  I bought the little wooden crates at Hobby Lobby and spray painted them brown.  These are a great little containers to have on hand to display party favors, candy, snacks, etc at various gatherings.  Yet another item I have used again and again!

And finally, I want to show off the adorable little tutu and bloomers my daughter wore to the party... yet another etsy find (no longer available for purchase)!  They are one of my favorite things EVER, and they looked so cute with the tutu and my daughter's chubby legs.
Wow, I had so much fun putting this party together!  But more than anything, I loved celebrating this milestone with my sweet babies and all of our friends and family.  We worked so hard to bring these babies into this world... from conceiving to premature labor, hospital bedrest, a long exhausting NICU journey, and finally caring for newborn twins.  This day was such a huge blessing for us, and our hearts could not be more full with these two amazing children in our lives.  We praise God for them everyday and are so looking forward to celebrating another beautiful year with these two twinsies.  

Thank you for reminiscing with me!  I hope you'll be able to use some of these ideas for your own little party!

Happy Little Party ! ! !











Monday, September 2, 2013

Little Party Feature- BIG TOP CIRCUS 1st BIRTHDAY

 My sweet friend, Jill Couch, threw the most adorable BIG TOP CIRCUS party for her sweet girl's 1st Birthday, and I am so thrilled she is letting me share it with all of you!  The detail she put into this party is so impressive, and the colors are so joyful and vibrant!  And, it was such fun making the cake for this party... my first true layer cake and my first shot at fondant!

Some of my favorite little details of this party...
- The fun circus themed treats like Cotton Candy, Popcorn, and Circus Peanuts
- The bright colorful decorations... especially the circus elephants, clowns and lions
- The Big Top for little ones to play in
- Cute circus themed games
- And, of course, the BIG TOP CAKE!

First off... I love love love this cake table!  The fabric runner on the table added SO much to this table along with the fun details like the cute paper straws, gumballs, and lollipops!


The circus menagerie centerpieces were adorable and made from stuffed animals picked up over the years during family days at the circus.  And I love the circus-inspired name penant and clowns!





The birthday girl looked so cute in her colorful dress, and this circus big top from Ikea was such a fun playful touch!


Cute labels on bubbles make an easy and festive party favor!


The vintage popcorn machine was a super cute extra touch and made for yummy treats for all the kiddos to snack on.  And who doesn't love cotton candy?!  



And, finally, here are some more shots of the cake I took at home before delivering it to the party... this cake was really fun to make!


Doesn't this cute party make you want to have a circus party of your own?!  

Happy Little Party ! ! !