Party Prep

Planning and decorating for parties is something I love to do.  Tessa's birthday theme this year was Minnie Mouse.  We started buying Minnie things months ahead of time.  And since this was our first "girls only" party, everything could be pink.   

I found super cute cupcake wrappers and toppers that matched the invitations.  I love to cook, and so does Tessa, so I thought this would be a fun pre-party activity for us.  But, the day before the party, my oven broke.  I was more than a little frustrated.  We packed up and went over to my parent's house to use their oven.  Visiting with my parents helped me chill out a little and then we were back on track with party prep.     

For the party I set the table with kid friendly food.  Minnie Mouse PB&J sandwiches with strawberry bows, little flower sandwiches of turkey and cheese, grapes, chips, pretzel cones, white chocolate snack mix with M&Ms and Minnie confetti.  And let's not forget a mouse's favorite food, cheese! 

The sandwiches were surprisingly easy.  I made them the morning of the party using frozen bread, cookie cutters and a bottle cap.  The bread cuts nicely when it's partially frozen and the bottle cap was just the right size to let the center of the flower show.  By the time the party started, these little snacks were thawed and ready to eat. 

This fun little craft is something I copied from another blog.  Three styrofoam rings held together with lollipops to form mouse ears.  I bought several bags of lollipops because I only wanted to use the pink, red and purple ones.  The kids loved this and I used it as a prize for one of the games.  The only trick was getting it to balance on this plate holder, it's heavier than you would think. 

We had banners all over the house.  My mom did a fantastic job compiling all of our Minnie pictures -Minnie and Tessa, Minnie at dinner, Minnie in the parade, Minnie on stage, there was even one of me with Minnie from when I was little.  Plus we added pictures of Tessa and Anabelle in their Minnie costumes. 

The little Minnie heads in the pots on the mantle are made from painted styrofoam.  I had styrofoam balls pre-painted and bows pre-tied for the girls to make there own Minnie topiaries at the party.    

For some reason, this sign project took me forever.  I got the idea on Pinterest, a website I have not fully explored yet but think I will love.  It's simply small pieces of tissue paper fluffed and individually glued to a foam board.  The large bow is two pieces of tissue paper tied together and glued to the board.  Perhaps it wouldn't have taken me so long if my tissue pieces were not so densely packed together.   

I gathered all of Tessa's Minnie toys, stuffed animals, games, puzzles and books and set them out for the girls to play with.  We blew up a million balloons and then it was time to party.