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 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!
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!
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.
