For John's 1st Birthday Party, I went down the route of doing an In The Night Garden party to celebrate. But in this past year, John's new favourite has become Mickey Mouse! Honestly, the boy is obsessed with the Disney icon. So it only seemed sensible to go for a Mickey themed party for his 2nd birthday.
Like all mothers planning a kids birthday party, my first stop for inspiration was Pinterest. And as always I wasn't let down. I started with the invitations, opting for a nice simple Mickey silhouette with one of my favourite photos of John, along with a quip of the saying "Oh Toodles!" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (& not a misspelling of "oh twaddles" like Iain first thought!).
Next up was the decorations for the house. I knew I wanted balloons but the cost of helium balloons nearly blew me away. £6+ for a string of 3 balloons!? So instead I opted for buying some red, yellow & black balloons from eBay (£1.59 for 15 here) and used some of my leftover red Christmas ribbon to tie them into bunches of 3 and hung them from the ceiling, nicely finished off with a little Mickey silhouette cut from black card stuck to the ribbon.
Then there was the hanging decorations. I got the idea for the paper chains from Pinterest but thought I could do a better job than the ones I'd seen. Using some cheap card from Hobbycraft, I spent hours cutting, sticking & taping make a whole load of Mickey inspired chains to hang from the ceiling above the table. These are probably my favourite decoration & I'm so pleased with how the turned out. In fact, they're still hanging now as I haven't got the heart to take them down just yet.
Something I'd planned to make since finding a tutorial a few months back was the Paper Ball Chain. Such a simple concept but looks fab hanging amongst the other decorations, particularly when made with Mickey Mouse colours (that being said, I can see myself making these every year now, regardless of party themes). Unfortunately I don't have a big hole punch and wasn't willing to pay £10+ for one, so I instead drew & cut every circle, which lets face it, was pretty tedious! Thankfully once I had all the circles I needed, it was straight forward enough to put together, with a little help from my trusty sewing machine.
Finally there was the "Happy 2nd Birthday" banner I threw together, similar to the Iggle Piggle inspired "Happy 1st Birthday" one I did last year. It involved a little playing around with my computer to get the right sized letters, in the alternating colours, in reverse, to print onto the right (or wrong?) side of the card before adding a few Mickey ears and cutting our & sticking to some string... Simple in theory but a bit of thought has to be put in, so not one to attempt after a sleepless night!
And how could I write about John's 2nd birthday party without mentioning the cake? The boy's Granny (my Mum) - a professional baker & cake decorator of 30+ years - did another fantastic job in creating a perfect cake for the occasion. Featuring the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse around the bottom tier and a big 2 right on the top. Then there was the surprise inside! I pestered her for a rainbow cake for John's 1st Birthday and boy did she deliver! I was disappointed when she said she wouldn't be doing one again for John's 2nd birthday but was pleasantly surprised when it came to cutting the cake. Oh and she also made the Mickey Mouse cupcakes too! The boys are very lucky to have such a clever Granny.
Like all mothers planning a kids birthday party, my first stop for inspiration was Pinterest. And as always I wasn't let down. I started with the invitations, opting for a nice simple Mickey silhouette with one of my favourite photos of John, along with a quip of the saying "Oh Toodles!" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (& not a misspelling of "oh twaddles" like Iain first thought!).
Next up was the decorations for the house. I knew I wanted balloons but the cost of helium balloons nearly blew me away. £6+ for a string of 3 balloons!? So instead I opted for buying some red, yellow & black balloons from eBay (£1.59 for 15 here) and used some of my leftover red Christmas ribbon to tie them into bunches of 3 and hung them from the ceiling, nicely finished off with a little Mickey silhouette cut from black card stuck to the ribbon.
Then there was the hanging decorations. I got the idea for the paper chains from Pinterest but thought I could do a better job than the ones I'd seen. Using some cheap card from Hobbycraft, I spent hours cutting, sticking & taping make a whole load of Mickey inspired chains to hang from the ceiling above the table. These are probably my favourite decoration & I'm so pleased with how the turned out. In fact, they're still hanging now as I haven't got the heart to take them down just yet.
Something I'd planned to make since finding a tutorial a few months back was the Paper Ball Chain. Such a simple concept but looks fab hanging amongst the other decorations, particularly when made with Mickey Mouse colours (that being said, I can see myself making these every year now, regardless of party themes). Unfortunately I don't have a big hole punch and wasn't willing to pay £10+ for one, so I instead drew & cut every circle, which lets face it, was pretty tedious! Thankfully once I had all the circles I needed, it was straight forward enough to put together, with a little help from my trusty sewing machine.
Finally there was the "Happy 2nd Birthday" banner I threw together, similar to the Iggle Piggle inspired "Happy 1st Birthday" one I did last year. It involved a little playing around with my computer to get the right sized letters, in the alternating colours, in reverse, to print onto the right (or wrong?) side of the card before adding a few Mickey ears and cutting our & sticking to some string... Simple in theory but a bit of thought has to be put in, so not one to attempt after a sleepless night!
And how could I write about John's 2nd birthday party without mentioning the cake? The boy's Granny (my Mum) - a professional baker & cake decorator of 30+ years - did another fantastic job in creating a perfect cake for the occasion. Featuring the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse around the bottom tier and a big 2 right on the top. Then there was the surprise inside! I pestered her for a rainbow cake for John's 1st Birthday and boy did she deliver! I was disappointed when she said she wouldn't be doing one again for John's 2nd birthday but was pleasantly surprised when it came to cutting the cake. Oh and she also made the Mickey Mouse cupcakes too! The boys are very lucky to have such a clever Granny.
Stay tuned for more photos from John's party later this week...
This looks fabulous! I considered doing a Minnie inspired birthday party for my girl's 6 birthday, but changed my mind at the last minute. Seeing this I kind of wish I had. Off to look at the second part, and check out the In the night garden party from last year.
ReplyDeleteHi, nice party. Just dropping by to say i love your mickey mouse party theme and
ReplyDeletebirthday invitations. Great job on the decors and invite. Have a blessed day!
Ah this is such a fab idea! Looking for ideas for my nieces first birthday next week and will be passing this onto my sister! Definitely a party to remember!
ReplyDelete