Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

A Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

February 1013

 

 

Our little boy was growing up and it was almost his 2nd birthday. There wasn't much debating about the them for his party. Excitement always filled the room when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was coming on. Everything in his life seemed to be Mickey - clothes, pajamas, stuffed animals, blankets and toys.

 

This party was no different than his first. We knew that we could run out to the store and purchase all the party supplies that had Mickey and characters plastered all over them, but where was the uniqueness? We collected pages of ideas and started letting our own creativity to flow.

 

Since we were still in our apartment, we wanted out guests to not be confused about which door to come to. We went to the local Dollar store and picked up a few supplies to make a wreath for the door. It was simple and able to include our toddler in the process. Items you will need - foam wreath, crepe paper, balloons, and straight pins.

 

First - wrap the wreath in your desired crepe paper. I suggest crepe paper since it is much easier to push the pins thru.

Second - pick a balloon, place it on the wreath, and then push a pink thru the center. Proceed until you have the front and outside of the wreath covered in balloons.

Third - Add some spice. We found a birthday ribbon and placed in on the wreath along with a number 2 shaped candle (we cut the wick off).

 

After his birthday, we hung it in his bedroom on the wall.

 

No Mickey Mouse party would be complete with having ears, so this became our next task. We picked up packages of party cone hats at the dollar tree. We took black construction and cut out circles and then glued them on to the side of the hat for the ears. We had them placed on a shelf next to the front door so that guests could pick them up on the way inside.

 

Time to start on some easy decorations that kids can help with. We wanted to bring out the fun in the party. We wanted to keep it simple.

 

First on the list was paper chains. Cut strips of construction paper. Take your first strip and make a loop glue the ends together. Take your next strip and insert it thru the first loop and then glue the ends. Repeat this until you have your paper chain at the desired length. We made several of these to hang around in various places.

 

We made crepe paper wind socks. Took a piece of cardboard and cut several squares (I believe we made ours 5" squares) but you can decide what's best for you in the party space. Cut a very small hole into the center of your square. Put a piece of ribbon thru the hold to hang your wind sock when complete. Cut strips of crepe paper and tape the end to the top of your square. We made several of these to hang around the rooms.

 

Next was a birthday banner. We used card stock to cut squares in the party colors. We printed out letters with Disney characters on them. Cut them down and glued them to the cardstock squares. We punched holes in the top corner of each square and then used ribbon to tie them together. We hung the banner over our mantle and decorated the mantle with ribbon curls, character figurines and a couple of his favorite stuffed characters.

 

We kept the party food simple and thought about the age of our guests. We made tent cards with the food description and placed it near the food. We also kept to the theme of the party with having the following foods:

* Clubhouse Sandwiches

* Pluto's Hot Diggity Dogs

* Goofy's Cheeseballs

*Minnie's Cotton Candy

* Donald's Popping Corn

*Daisy's Drink Stand

*Mickey's Grand Cupcakes

 

We didn't want our guest to leave without a thank you. We did up favor bags for the kids and for adults. We picked up several items from the Dollar store for the bags.

 The adult bags (pictured above) had hand sanitizer wipes and a few pieces of candy.

 The kids bags (pictured above and below) had coloring book, crayons, puzzle, bubbles, paddle ball, punch balls, and some candy.

 

The 2nd birthday was again a success. Everyone had a great time. But most of all, the birthday boy himself was very happy.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



The Pirate Ship Cake

The making of a Pirate Ship Cake

February 2012

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite elements of my son Benjamin's first birthday party, was his Pirate Boat Smash Cake. When we were planning his party, the smash cake was at the top of the list. We wanted something unique and tied in to the theme. We had found several different boat cakes and started making our own sketches.

The week before the party, we went to our local Kroger grocery store. To save us time, we ordered a half sheet cake undecorated in marble. If your a little more confident than I was, a 1/4 sheet cake would work as well. They let our son taste the different icings - buttercream and whipped, so we would know what he preferred.

The day before his party, we picked up the cake. The cashier looked at us funny and even questioned if we knew we were buying a cake that wasn't decorated. We knew exactly what we were doing.

We got home with our cake that would soon turn into a masterpiece only to be destroyed by our soon to be 1 year old. Since he preferred the buttercream frosting, I followed the  Wilton buttercream icing recipe. I made a couple of batches so that I would have enough, especially with adding color. I mixed 1 larger bowl in brown, small bowl each of a lime green and light blue.

 

Since we were going to be putting the cake onto the high chair tray, we purchased cake board and cut it down so that it would fit into the tray. You could always use a very sturdy piece of cardboard.

 

 

I took the sheet cake and cut it into thirds.

 

 

I took 1 of the rectangles and cut it into thirds again. I pulled the center part out and put it to the side. The back 3rd, I cut it at an angle to use on the back of the ship. I used the green frosting and squeezed it onto my newly shaped squares to stack on top of my base. Be careful not to spread it to close to the edges so it doesn't run out.

 

 

 

 

Now that the front and back part of my ship was stacked, I gently cut the front pieces on each side to make a slight point. So far, my cake was looking just like a ship.

 

 

 

 

I moved my newly formed boat onto the cut cake board. Now the real fun begins. I pulled out the brown icing and started to cover the boat. To make it a little easier, I put the frosting into a cake bag with large tip and begin covering the cake. If you don't have a frosting bag, use a heavier weight quart size storage bag. Smooth the icing over the entire cake with a knife.

 

 

 

Once the boat was covered in brown, I used the blue frosting. I used a larger tip and made smaller strips around the boat so that it would appear it was in water. After getting the main water surrounding the boat, I darkened the blue a tad and added the darker as an accent. I also darkened the brown a bit more and trimmed the boat using a smaller tip.

 

 

 

Since my son was in the Cheerio phase, I used cheerios to trim the boat. I wanted to make sure that there was something on the boat that would encourage him to reach and touch the cake. The same with the pirate ducky. The little white piece is a candy sugar stick. It was left over from Halloween candy a few months prior to his birthday.

 

 

 

As you can see, the pirate cake looked adorable in pictures, leaving a very memorable birthday for years to come......

 

 

 

 

And you can see.....it was definitely a smash of a good time.

 

 

 

Hope your pirate ship cake turns out just as nice. Pretty simple and easy to do. And I must add that I have never had any cake training, just practice and creativity in the kitchen.