Come Inside, It's Fun Inside!

Reed has been talking about his birthday party since Drew's party.  He knew that once Drew's was over, his was next.  "When's my party?" "When's my party?" "When's my party?" "I can't wait for my party!"

You get the jist.

Although this was the first year I gave Drew the option of what kind of party he would have, I decided to let Reed have a go at it too.  When asked, he said, "I want a pink party."  A pink party?  Pink?  First, where did he even get that idea?  And second, what the heck does that mean?  He wants a party with pink everywhere???? (Which...random sidenote...reminds me of the movie Steel Magnolias when Julia Roberts' wedding is all pink and Sally Field says it looks like the whole reception hall is covered in Pepto Bismol.  HA!  Sorry, I just thought of that as I was typing and couldn't resist sharing.) :)

Anyway, I wasn't exactly sure how to pull off a pink party without having Reed look back on it in several years, questioning me as to why in heaven's name would I throw him a party meant for a girl.  {Thirteen year old Reed will thank me someday.}  So with more discussion and more *options* being presented to Reed, he decided that a Mickey Mouse party would be grand.

So, of course, I set to work finding inspiring ideas for how to pull this baby together.

I was focusing on Disney Junior's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when it came to the overall style of the party (listen to me...what am I, a party planning extraordinaire??  Uh, no.  Good grief.).  Reed loves that show, and it is where his love for Mickey comes from.  So I had that theme in my mind as I searched for ideas.  I ended up really liking this party set-up HERE.  The blues and greens and yellows are definitely very very cute, but it also keeps things very boyish, and reminded me of the Clubhouse.

Once I had some finds bookmarked, I went on a hunt for party invitations.  And when I found what I liked...everything changed. :)

I found these incredible invites HERE...and because I own a Cricut and the Mickey Font cartridge, I knew I could replicate it.  {Inspiration for the back of the invitation came from HERE.}

Of course, I could've modified the colors a bit and adjusted it to coordinate with the blue/green/yellow scheme...But I found THIS in my online searching and I.was.in.love.  This, too, could be made with the Cricut and Mickey cartridge, and I became absolutely smitten with the classic red/yellow/black Mickey color combination.  All other party planning then and henceforth began revolving about that.

So, the decor and food.  Because these are my favorite parts. :)

 I was able to make a reasonable facsimile of the banner I linked to up above.  I think that banners are my new favorite party decor item.  They're so fun.

 And here's the food set-up.

Isn't it great to know people???  I was able to borrow this cupcake stand from my sister-in-law, which turned into an awesome centerpiece for the counter.

 Cupcakes inspired by THESE.

 My mom has a Mickey cookie cutter, so it had to be used.

And I knew I wanted to make these when I saw them on a stick HERE...however, they ended up being quite difficult for me to make.  They probably aren't that hard, with a bit of patience and culinary fortitude, but for me, I'm just not fantastic like that.  So after several Oreos were sacrificed, I finally figured out a system that worked and ended up with some pretty delicious looking (and tasting) Mickey Oreos.

The rest of the snacks...

 Goofy's Goldfish & Pete's Pretzels

 Mickey's Mix

 Clarabelle's Candy

 Donald's Dips

 Pluto's Popcorn

 Daisy's Vegetable Garden

(And yes, there are only carrots.  I'm sure there are gardens out there, somewhere, with only carrots in them.)

Hot Diggity Dogs

Le-Minnie-Ade

{Food ideas/names taken from HERE and HERE.

Mickey silhouette tags with ribbon decor idea taken from HERE.}

When it was all said and done, I told my mom that it looked kind of feminine.  Maybe I could've pulled off that pink party after all. :)

So then, the cake.

I really liked THIS ONE and THIS ONE.  {And no, I could not have pulled off either one...hence why they are called "inspiration"}.  But I thought that I might combine ideas from both to create something "cute enough."  But then I thought better of it, and decided that with the other sweets I wanted to make (cupcakes and cookies) it would be best to downsize things a bit in the cake department.  In the end, I created a much smaller cake inspired by THIS ONE and ended up with this:

 When I was almost finished, I kicked myself for not saving any white frosting to put the two buttons on the front, like the invitations.  Ah well.

Goody bag inspiration came from HERE

 and they were filled with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse coloring books, a Mickey card game, and M&Ms.  I also made ears (of course!) for all the kids, with the pattern and instructions found HERE.

I am typically a game girl.  I like party games.  I didn't put too much effort forth in the game department for Drew's party (it was an afterthought) but I had intended on doing a couple for Reed's party.  I ended up only planning one, which turned out to be the perfect number.  Kids are incredible at being able to entertain themselves. :)

The game we did was "Hidden Mickeys."  I had placed several of these silhouettes throughout three rooms in the house and the kids were to count how many they could find and then report back to me.

They did great, with guesses ranging from three to 18.  :)  We didn't quite guess them all, so then we did it a second time and I had them bring the Mickey heads back to me when they found them.  They ended up snatching up all but one.  {I failed to get a good picture of all of the kids with their Mickey ears on, so this picture is the best I have.}

Gift opening was the highlight of the day.  Duh.  Reed is a pretty lucky guy as he was given some really awesome gifts.

And not to be left out (cuz it's hard to be the brother of the birthday boy), Drew received a couple small gifts as well.

And then it was time to eat.  Again.

{After the obligatory birthday-boy-with-party-guests pictures were taken.}

This was the moment Reed had been waiting for.  I think he totally classified "his party" with this moment right here!

And that's it.

My little man is three.

{Oh, the shirt.  I happened to find it at Walmart two days before his party.  Score!}

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Lest you believe that we didn't make it to Culver's for Reed's birthday meal out...

...we went for lunch before the party began.

And we were joined by much of our family, too.

We were all really happy about that.

:)

Annnnndddd, do you know what else turning three means?!?!

A new car seat!

Provided you're at least 30 pounds (ummm, yeah, no problem with that) and 30 inches tall.

We're all pretty excited about this milestone. :)