Meeska, Mouska, Minnie Mouse

Planning Dakotah’s 2nd birthday was so much fun. First we were deciding on Elmo, but that phase quickly changed when she discovered minnie mouse! I didn’t realize how many ideas were online for this theme. It was an overload. Minnie Overload

Of course miss koko has a wild personality so we decided to go with a non-commercial minnie mouse theme with zebra & hot pinks.

I made these on photoshop. I had a more elegant one but i let my hunny, mother, & sister vote on which to use & this one was the winner.

I first started by making a piñata. I used the tutorial found here. Mine didn’t turn out exactly like hers, due to the fact I only did this project while koko was napping & she woke up so I rushed in the end.

Since there were going to be a bunch of little ones at her party, I converted this into a pull-string piñata, but everyone insisted on smashing it!

And with a little help from mommy the kids go wild!

Next I made the headbands. This was pretty simple, I used the tutorial here. The longest part was cutting all those circles. Then I made removal bows for the girls’ headband. I made  small pinks ones for them, then a special polka dot one for the birthday girl!

This next project was pretty fun & entertaining. I made a Dum Dum Pop Topiary. It started with a bubblegum topiary but I wanted something that could double as a prize & was edible. It’s traditional at Koko’s party to have a counting game. Last year was a vase full of caterpillars (gummy worms), this year Minnie Head of suckers.

The supply list was simple, (2) 5 inch styrofoam balls, (1) 10 inch & dum dums, LOTS OF DUM DUMS, I used a dowel rod  & that easter basket filling to cover the flower pot.  I started with one bag of 300 but that only covered the ears! I ended up having to buy another bag for the head.

If you do this project I recommend you use popsicle sticks to hold the ears on. They get heavy after all the suckers are placed on it. Hot glue didn’t work very well!

Also, you should cut the stems of the suckers. Only about an inch or so. I got blisters from doing this. UGH!

I used the fish bowl for support, it helped a lot.

I AM NEVER THE PHOTOGRAPHER AT HER PARTIES OTHERWISE THIS PHOTO WOULDV’E BEEN BETTER.

I used a vase instead of making it like the topiaries because it was way to heavy for that. It has a really cute pink zebra bow on the front side. I believe the total # of dumdums was over 300!

Sorry I didn’t manage to get a photo of the favor cups but it was just basic black cups with silver writing on them. I filled it with crayons, a homemade coloring book with Minnie & Mickey, silly bands, homemade slime & my very own s’mores creation marshmallow pops. (Just marshmallows covered in chocolate, rolled in graham crackers.) Those were a HUGE hit at the party! I put all the cups in a polka dot goody bag then tied pink ribbon around them . 

We did cupcakes, I made a a stand just for this occasion. It was AWESOME! I was especially proud of those!  

The party overall was a huge success. Despite our tardiness & the fact that we forgot the cupcakes, it was a wondering day & I am so thankful for everyone that got to share this day with us.

NOW TIME TO PLAN NEXT YEAR!

Flutter on over to celebrate Dakotah's 1st Birthday.

   My daughter's 1st birthday party was a such a huge hit. I put so much detail into everything from the food, to decorations, to the games. Even with strep throat the party was very successful.

   First off I started planning for her party months in advance. We started by buying caterpillars online & growing them so we could have live butterflies at her party. Grow Your Own Butterflies  It seemed like a good idea at the time. Since it was early spring we didn't have any butterflies out yet. It was much more than we bargained for. The experience was nice but next time I would rather just send the kids out to catch them instead of growing them in our home. :) We had them displayed from a tree in the pavillion that it came with. Everyone at the party thought it was very neat.

  Our invitations were custom made from an invitation company. They did an ok job. Since we got a huge discount we couldn't complain too much. We bought a banner (which we later had everyone sign) for our daughters party & used it as the background, & took some photos with our daughter holding some flowers. It was a postcard type of invitation. Every one loved the detail in them. It said "Flutter on over to Celebrate Dakotah's 1st Birthday" & the back had all the information on it.

  The decorations took a little time but it was very easy. We made egg carton caterpillars for the table decorations. We also made butterflies out of egg cartons with some piping. It was very easy to do and inexpensive. We hung those in the trees to make the illusion the were flying.

We bought the party supplies from birthdayinabox.com. The price were average but I found this style & just fell in love with it.We had purple, pink , and blue balloons, tablecovers, plasticware. We also bought these planting pots that looked really cute. They were attached with butterflies on them. We used them to hold the plasticware.

We had a few games. I got a huge jar & filled it with gummy worms. I cut some wrapping paper and placed it around the jar. I had all the guest guess how many were in them. It was a big hit. Everyone wanted them.  We also played a game with toliet paper. I had the guest pair in twos & they had to wrap a partner using two rolls of tp to look like a cocoon. This one was alot of fun to do & watch. Everyone got into it. We played a game called drink like a butterfly. We made foam pettels at placed them around the neck of a little hugs juice. The rules were you had to drink all the juice first to win, but only from a straw. We had a tie so them two went head to head. We also made butterflies out of clothespins & if any guest said the birthday girls name the guest that heard them got their pin. We gave out bug kits that we purchased from the dollar tree.

Food. We did hamburgers & hotdogs. I would recommend anyone to skip the hamburgers. It took to long to make 60 hamburgers! We also had chips & dip. We made butterflies out of ziploc bags & had candy in them. We placed them around the whole party so they could be at arms each of all the guest. 

For favors we Purchased some red buckets from valentines day clearance. We made some homemade rice crispies, cut them into butterflies, & drizzled them with white chocolate. We bought some butterfly bubble wands, We also made scented playdoh. That was very easy but after awhile the playdoh didn't smell that great. We used to original recipe for playdoh & just added a pack of koolaid which also changed it colors. 

The party was a great success & we are already planning my daughter's 2nd birthday party. I love to plan parties. :)