Minnie Mouse Birthday Party--DIY Decorations

For Hazel's half birthday party, I have some store bought Minnie Mouse decorations and some from Oriental Trading to review that Hazel picked out. However, I wanted to keep costs down and make some of our own. I have seen so many fun ideas online and have been pinning them to my Minnie Mouse Party Pinterest Board. I loved the idea of making Minnie head decorations from styrafoam balls. The first time I saw this was on The NY Melrose Family's Minnie Mouse Centerpieces. We did this. I glued them and Hazel painted them black. After the paint dried, I stuck a lollipop stick into each one.

Minnie Mouse Party Food

 So the party is this weekend and we finally figured out what to serve. Our menu includes:

• Minnie's Bow-tique Pasta
• Mickey's Meatballs
• Hot Diggety Dog Hot Dogs
• Oh, Toodles! Pizza
• Daisy's Garden Vegetables and Donald's Dips
• Goofy's Grapes and Fruit Bow-quet
• Minnie's Bow-tique Fruit Bows
• Minnie's Pink Polka-Dot Punch
• And of course a Minnie Cake!

Minnie Mouse Party Foods and Activities -- The Details

Since the my post the other day became so long with sharing our decorations, I thought today I would share the details of what we served and what the kids played. Let's start with the cake since every birthday party needs a cake. Our cake was the strawberry cake we have made for most of Hazel's parties. The original recipe is found at Confections of a Foodie Bride. I have made changes over the past couple of years. At some point I will have to actually write down my changes and post about them. We made an eight-inch round cake and three small round cakes. I bought these pans at Joann Fabrics with a coupon for the ears.  We bought a container of chocolate frosting since black frosting is hard to come by and has so many chemicals for colors. 

DIY Easy Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse Cake Plates & Free Food Label Printables

So when I bought all the Minnie Mouse stuff on clearance I did not get cake plates. I had pink cake plates we could use and Hazel was willing, however I kept seeing plates with ears on them as I researched for ideas. I realized how easy it would be to make them. I bought a pack of black cake plates at the Dollar Tree. Supplies to make the Mickey Mouse plates is just a pack of plates, black construction paper (two large sheets gave me enough ears for sixteen plates), a 3-inch circle punch and a glue stick.

DIY Minnie Mouse Pinata & Free Party Activty Sign Printables

Disclosure: I was sent the black jumbo streamers to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

DIY Pin The Bow On Minnie Mouse Game

We have been working on final things for the Minnie Mouse party. It is this weekend! Today among other things, I made the Pin a Bow on Minnie Mouse game. Hazel really wants to play this one! To make it, I used a piece of black poster board, a white piece of paper and some polka-dot cardstock (I found it at Target). I used a large bowl and a small/medium bowl to make the head and a yellow-green colored pencil to show up on the black poster board. On the back of the poster board I traced the large circle bowl. Then I put the small bowl roughly where I wanted an ear and I had it overlap the large circle just a bit and traced it. Then I put it on the other side for the other ear. Once I got it how I liked it, I cut it out.

Minnie Mouse Party & Decoration Product Review

 Disclosure: I was sent the decorations to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation.


So yesterday was the Minnie Mouse Half Birthday Party. Hazel had a blast. Now we spent a lot of time getting ready for this party and have posted many DIY ideas already. We also received five items from Oriental Trading that we used for the party. A few weeks ago we shared our Minnie Pinata and the black streamers we used to make it.

DIY Mickey and Minnie Mouse Ears and Free Printable Party Signs

Our next craft for the Minnie Mouse themed upcoming party is ears of course. I tried to make ears last year before we went to Disney World. However they came out floppy. I decided to go back and figure out what I did wrong. I followed the tutorial at The Suburban Mom: How to Make Mickey Minnie Mouse Ears for a Party. She provides a free downloadable pattern. I used this pattern with some adjustments. I found the space between the two circles was too big for the size headband I used. I folded my pattern a bit to shrink it. This definitely helped in getting them to stand up. I also used the foam this time. I used two pieces of sticky foam and I used my 3-inch punch to make the circles instead of her pattern (which is a 3-inch circle).

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Tote Bag Craft

So for Hazel's actual birthday party we had received these wonderful yellow tote bags from Oriental Trading for us to review. Our plan had been for guests to make handprint flamingos on them, however the guests did not want to, so we still had many of the bags. I thought they would be great favors and we could paint Mickey and Minnie Mouse heads on them. My original idea was to get a large sponge and cut it in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head, however I could not find a sponge large enough. Then I thought of the bottom of cups or plates or jars. I tried a few and asked Hazel which size she liked best.

DIY Minnie Mouse Napkin Rings for Party

Well, Hazel's half birthday is at the end of June. Because of school ending mid-June and some of her friends take off for the entire summer the day school is out, we are having her half birthday party in the beginning of June. (We decided to have a half birthday party for her since her birthday is in the middle of December holiday season.) She decided ages ago that the theme for this party will be Minnie Mouse. (Unfortunately there many more boys in her class than girls, but they will have to deal with lots of pink.) When she made the decision last summer, it happened to be when they were changing the Minnie Mouse theme party supplies and I was able to buy a bunch on clearance. We got the invitations and thank you notes, dinner plates, plastic cups, and a banner as well as treat bags. As we were looking at what we have and do not have, we decided we could use some of the other supplies we have and do some do-it-yourself projects. Today's is a simple one. I did not buy any of the napkins and decided not to buy special napkins. I did however have some bright pink napkins left over from her flamingo party (well actually I bought them for either party). Since this is her first child-focused birthday party, it is a lot of fun to plan.

As I was looking at ideas on line, I thought of making individual silverwear settings with a Minnie Mouse head on a napkin ring. I bought one of those Mickey Mouse head punches ages ago with a coupon and when I opened it yesterday, it did not work. Ugh!! Then the idea came to me to use pom poms. I searched for black pom poms last night and found three. I found some pinkish polka dot scrapbook paper and cut some strips. Then I glued the two smaller pom poms onto the bigger one and got a Mickey head. Then I glued the whole thing to the paper. (This was my first one and of course I had the head spinned in the wrong direction, but it was actually easy to spin after it dried.) I left it out to show Hazel and of course she asked if we could add a bow to make it a Minnie head. I explained I just didn't have the ribbon yet. Today I went to Michaels and bought two pacakges of black pom poms (small and the next size), some skinny pink ribbon and I found some cell phone charms shaped as bows in a clearance bin. I showed Hazel how to make the Mickey heads and she glued most of them for me though she did say it was boring. I poked the plastic charms through the paper to add the cell phone bows.

Then I wrapped a spoon and a fork in a napkin and wrapped the holder around it and sealed it with a piece of scotch tape. Didn't they come out cute?

If you do not have the cute bow cell phone charms, a small ribbon bow works great as well. The hardest part is tying the bow. Then you just glue them on. This is actually easier than the others since the others are a pain to poke through and get to stay in (I didn't want to glue them in case anyone actually wants a bow cell phone charm) and they break rather easily. I made a few of these as well since I only found ten of the charms (five packages of two at forty cents each).

Now we are set to have the tables set for the kids and possibly for the parents though I probably will need to make a few more. Since she wanted a Minnie and Daisy theme, I used lavender plasticware.

I think they look great with the Minnie plates. What do you think?

Looking for more Minnie Mouse ideas? There will be more coming between now and the party and you can also check out:

• DIY Party Decorations Product Review
• Minnie Mouse Outfit
• Minnie Mouse Dress
• Minnie Mouse Purse
• My Minnie/Mickey Mouse Party Idea Pinterest Board

Shindigz Party Supplies & DYI Ideas Review

Disclosure: I was given a gift certificate to purchase the items I share here. All opinions are my own.

Now those of you who have been following know how excited I get for Hazel's birthday. I tend to go overboard with the party. I jumped at the opportunity from Shindigz Party Supplies to be given a gift certificate to review some of their DIY Supplies. Now Hazel's birthday is not until December and we often have the party in January--well New Year's Day. This year we are planning on the big family and family friend party then and doing a half birthday party for her school friends (and friends her own age). 

A Minnie Mouse Dress

We are getting ready to take Hazel to Disney for the first time. We have reservations to have breakfast with Minnie Mouse our first day there. I thought it would be fun for Hazel to have a Minnie Mouse dress to wear to the breakfast. I found some smock fabric at Joann and it is so easy to make a simple sundress with it.

First they sell it by the inch. Measure your child's chest so you know how many inches to buy. I added one inch on just to have seam allowance. Then you sew the seam so it is a circle. I serged mine, but if I had used my regular sewing machine I would have zig-zagged the edges first. This smock fabric tends to be on the cheaply made side. 

To finish the dress I cut for equal pieces of grossgrain ribbon. I used pink with white polka dots since we are talking Minnie Mouse. Then it is complete and ready to meet Mickey and Minnie. What do you think?

I don't know what Hazel was doing in the pictures, but she was being a bit goofy.

Sharing Saturday 14-23

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! Once again I was blown away with the ideas! If you have not had a chance to check them all out, please do. We will start our features tonight with the most clicked from View from the Fridge: Think Outside the Toy Box: Glow Stick Ideas for Kids.

My features this week are in two categories. The first is June/Summer and holidays (remember in the US Father's Day is next weekend!!), and the second is just a few of my favorites from last week.

Summer and June Features

1) From Mamas Blog Central: 50 Father's Day Ideas

2) From  Just a Touch of Crazy: His Little Girl, Father's Day Print

3) From Stella 123: Ten Card Making Ideas for Your Child's Teacher 

4) From Tot Schooling: Free Birthday Printable Pack 

5) From Living Montessori Now: Montessori-Inspired Age and Birthday Activities 

A Few of My Favorites

1) From Sparkling Buds: Watermelon Printing

2) From Dabbling Mama: Princess Rocks 

3) From Excite and Explore: DIY Farm Play Mat 

4) From Planet Smarty Pants: The Magic of Chocolate 

5) From Teaching Every Day: Ten Ways to Learn with Water Beads 

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

Featured Button Code:

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From Your Hostess: This week we shared many DIY ideas for our Minnie Mouse party which is tomorrow. Here is a preview of the cake we made today. I tried to burn one candle half way since we are celebrating her half birthday.

 Ok, for Minnie DIY ideas we shared Easy Minnie & Mickey Mouse Cake Plates, DIY Pin a Bow on Minnie Game, DIY Minnie Mouse Decorations, and our Minnie Mouse Party Menu! We also shared this week Angkat: A Cambodian Cinderella and our review of The Air Plant Shop and we are hosting a giveaway for $30 gift certificate from this wonderful shop!!

Make sure you enter our giveaway for the $30 gift certificate to the Air Plant Shop!! They have such neat things and  fun easy craft ideas!

Our Air Plant Craft

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Minnie Mouse Ears and Dress for Doll (and Girl) Crafty Weekends Projects and Link Party

Oops!! With the spotty internet on our vacation I missed writing my review for Earth Day!! Be sure to check out tomorrow's post for some great Earth books!!

Disclosure: Target links in this post will give me a small percentage of your purchase at no cost to you. 

After the crazy March we had weather wise and for Steve work wise, I really needed to get away to somewhere warm. Steve on the other hand just wanted to stay home and rest. We decided Hazel and I would go down to Florida (we have a time share there) and he would stay home. Since we were going to be in Florida we decided we would spend a day at Magic Kingdom and a day at Universal Studios. I found this fabric in my stash. It has beautiful flowers and Minnie Mouse heads on it. I showed it to Hazel and suggested I make a dress for her to wear to Magic Kingdom. I used Butterick Pattern 3860 to make her a dress. Since Hazel wanted to bring two of her dolls with us I thought I would make her doll a matching dress. I checked out the patterns I have downloaded and found one that used the slip pattern from Molly's Pretty Clothes. I didn't put on a ruffle and lengthened the pattern for the dress. I also wanted her doll to have Minnie Mouse ears. 

Minnie Mouse

Today we went to a Minnie Mouse birthday party. The party was for the daughter of Hazel's godparents. She turned two and LOVES Minnie. I figured Hazel should have the right clothes for it. I saw on A Girl and a Glue Gun this adorable shirt and on Disney Family the tutorial for the Minnie ears (and Mickey ears).

We had a red child's t-shirt, so I made the Minnie face black. I took the pattern for this Mickey tote bag and blew it up until it was the size I wanted it. I used my machine and zig zagged it on without worrying about finishing the edges and then added a red polka dot bow. She wore her red tutu since I didn't get around to making her a skirt like I had planned.

Then the ears are very easy. They provide you a pattern and you make them with a headband, glue and felt. I added some cardboard to try to stiffen them a bit more. They still need some more stiffening, but they worked for the short time she wore them. The party was outside so she had her Minnie Mouse sunhat on most of the time. Needless to say her outfit was a hit at the party. Oh she also had on her Minnie shoes that her grandmother bought for her at Target to finish off the outfit. Here are some other ears I made as well.

Sewing School 2 Book Review and Giveaway

I am so excited to be participating in part of the Sewing School 2 blog tour! I have been eying Sewing School by Amie Petronis Plumley and Andria Lisle for several years, but I kept reminding myself, that Hazel was too young for it still. Then I was asked to review their second book for kids which includes machine sewing. I of course jumped on the offer and they are also willing to give me a copy for a giveaway!

This book is written for the child who has not sewn on a machine. It goes through thirteen lessons from how to use the book, choosing a sewing machine and fabric and much more! Then there are some great projects that include something every child will love. Finally it has a review of hand sewing and more! Since Hazel cannot read, I could not have her go through the lessons, so we went straight to the projects. I looked through them first and picked some I thought she might like and gave her those to choose from. She chose a couple to try with me and I made a few without much help from her. Hazel was so excited to get to use the sewing machine for the first time!

The first project Hazel wanted to do was make the felt microphone. I took her to the craft store so she could choose the colors she wanted for her microphone. Then we found the pattern pieces. Now one of the things I love about this book is how the pattern pieces are clearly marked and have a picture of the finished project on each one. The pattern pieces are also well organized and in the project instructions it tells you on which pattern sheet (a total of four) you will find the pattern. Hazel helped trace the pattern, and she helped cut it out. Then we did a practice sewing machine run on one of the scraps. Then we tried it with the real piece. Next I showed her how to turn it the right way. She got a bit frustrated and had me finish it. Then she helped me stuff it, and she got one of her rhythm sticks to help with it. She even helped with the start of the hand sewing, but she got bored and had me finish it. I added a button so she would have an on-off switch or volume control. Needless to say she loves it! She is such a little diva.

Extra Pocket Belts

Next we looked at the zipper pouch, but since she had lost interest we did not make one right away. I started to make her the extra pocket belt. Now my daughter loves clothes that have pockets and always wants something special in them. Since so many girl clothes do not have pockets, I thought this would be great. I used wool felt for the project and then embellished it with a wool felt flower I had bought on clearance. I also put a piece of Velcro in it so it could close. We tried it on one of the belts I made her ages ago, but she never uses since she had trouble with the D-rings. The book suggested D-rings as well, but Hazel suggested making one with Velcro, so we went to the store and bought some webbing and Velcro. Then she got her belt. I also made an extra pocket belt with the other half of the square of wool felt and another embellishment for one of her friends from the Waldorf School. We went to her birthday party this weekend. I made her a peg doll to keep in her extra pocket as well.

I also looked at the snack packs. I thought this would be a nice easy one for Hazel. I had some Disney Princesses fabric scraps, and I made her a lined one with a ribbon so it could be a purse or a snack pack on the go. I also added a ribbon to the front of it. Then I made her two of the basic snack packs from the same fabric. I used my serger just so the edges of the fabric would be finished, but it is not necessary. Then I used the sticky back Velcro the book suggested. I am not sure how that will hold up, but I figured I can always replace it with the sew in kind later.

Our final project is the zipper pouch. Since going to Disney World, Minnie Mouse is Hazel's favorite character. I had bought this fabric before our trip in hopes of making her a dress, but never quite got to it. (She still wants me to.) We made the zipper pouch into a Minnie Mouse purse. My mother gave me a bag full of zippers awhile ago, so I looked in it for a 7-inch zipper and we found a lavender one. The book suggested hand sewing the zipper in, but we used the machine with my zipper foot. I can understand why the book would suggest to kids sewing on their own to hand sew it though. We added the Minnie Mouse head and the ribbon so it would be a purse. Hazel was dressing up as Minnie this afternoon. Since I have not made her a costume yet she wore her polka dot dress with her homemade mouse ears and her purse. Needless to say she loves it!

So those are the amazing projects we have attempted from this great book. Hazel is really wanting to make the guitar, but I keep saying when she is a little older. I guess I may have to break down and try that one next. She also is asking why she cannot have her own sewing machine. Hmm, I think she needs to master mine first and be able to actually do it on her own.

Make sure you stop by all the blog tour stops to check out the other great projects that are made (and more chances for winning your own copy). Here is the schedule!!

July 7 – Our Busy Homeschool

July 8 – scrumdilly-do!

July 9 – Crafty Moms Share

July 10 – Jane of All Trades

July 11 – Windy Lou

July 12 – Adventures of a DIY Mom

July 13 – Improv Diary

July 16 – He Sewed She Sewed

July 17 – Teach Beside Me

July 18 – All Things with Purpose

July 19 – The Crafty Crow

July 20 – Family Style School

July 21 – Such Designs

July 22 – Red Bird Crafts

July 23 – The Long Thread

July 25 - mayamade

Also if you want more information on the book or project ideas, stop by Sewing School's blog and their Facebook Page.Or of course you can go purchase it or if you can wait, enter to win it below!

Now for the fun part. The Giveaway!! I now am happy to say that one of you can have a copy of this great book. You do NOT need to know how to sew for your child to be able to learn from this book or for you to learn together. The giveaway is open only to residents of the United States. (My apologies all of my international readers.) Please also follow all of my regular Giveaway Rules.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For this post I received a copy of the book. All opinions and photos (except the book cover) are my own. Linked this post to CashNet Sweepstakes.

Summer Craft Kits Product Reviews

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Point I get them to for Hazel

Shed to Clubhouse Transformation

For as long as I can remember Hazel has loved little playhouses. She has really wanted one, but we never got around to getting one. We kept wanting to get her a special one that she would want to use for many years, but we never found the money since those tend to be so expensive. Since we added a garage to our house, Steve has not been storing as much in his shed and decided to give Hazel the shed as her clubhouse/playhouse. She was excited for this and we talked about decorating it with curtains and a rug. While out shopping Hazel chose the pink shag rug for the clubhouse. I pulled out pink sparkly curtains I had bought on clearance and planned to use for a birthday party, but never did. We hung them with a thin branch from a tree that had fallen in the yard and used nails to keep them up.