I don't pretend to be a crafty woman. I wish I was. However, I'm one heck of pinner and can find pretty much anything on Pinterest. Especially party ideas.
So as we approached two monumental birthdays for my kiddos with my daughter turning 2 in August and my son turning 5 in June, planning began by February 1. However, when my son was granted his wish to go to Disney World from A Wish With Wings, everything became Mickey Mouse. I mean everything. So of course, so did the birthday party.
Thankfully, with just a little help from some lovely bloggers on Pinterest & Etsy, some Amazon.com purchases, a few local party rentals and 1 lovely neighbor who happened to have some leftover Mickey Mouse decor, we had a party to make Walt Disney proud - or at least make my little ones excited!
Invites:
Oh Etsy, how do I love thee, let me count the ways...Thanks to MyCelebrationShoppe, I had these adorable invites made!
Then using the following graphic and downloading a similar Disney font I downloaded online, I addressed the invitations.
Best of call, since we had the invited printed before our trip to Disney, Jackson was able to person give his invitation to Mickey Mouse personally at Disney World to his Mickey Mouse-inspired birthday. It was such a precious opportunity!
.JPG "HOTDOG! Mega Mickey Mouse Birthday Party Plan")
Clothing: Like any good mama going to Disney, I had personalized clothes made for my kids. We then repurposed them for their birthday outfits! Adorable and affordable from Etsy's ThePolkaDotLollipop (she was amazing, quick and so easy to work with!) Decor:
As I mentioned I had a neighbor who had balloons, a Mickey cardboard standout and some banners to start with, so I was already in good business.
But mama never stops at that.
Thanks to Amazon I was able to order plates, napkins, tablecloths, a little polka dot material for a tablescape and even a photo backdrop to stick up on the fence to welcome families when they arrived at the party. (They also made for great photo backdrops!)
Borrowing an idea from the Mickey Mouse Playhouse attraction at Disney's Magic Kingdom, we added a balloon drop from Amazon to pull after signing "Happy Birthday." I mean, who doesn't love balloons? And it's was less than $12.
So I wasn't selling out completly, Jackson and I spent an afternoon making a Mickey centerpiece for the refreshment table from a post I had found from The Simple Life using styrofoam, a terra cotta pot, a dowel rod and spray paint.
Refreshments:
My favorite part of the party is always the food! However, this year we made it easy, hotdogs of course had to be on the menu (Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog!) and chips for each munching.
Since we always do AM birthday parties, we needed a little something healthy, my grandparents sent over this adorable Edible Arrangements (perfect!)
At this age cupcakes are a mandatory since cake + 2 year-olds just makes a big, sticky mess on me. Just purchasing cupcakes from our neighborhood market, we put cute Mickey Mouse toppers I found on Amazon.com and then this adorable cupcake stand from Wilson. (Easy enough I could do it)
I tried to make our drinks easy, but it actually took a little tracking down from Langers on Facebook. They actually let me know where to find these Mickey Mouse apple juice pouches, so I bought around five cases just to make sure I didn't run out!
But I had to do one more thing when I came across some photos of some cute cake pops and cupcakes featuring Oreo cookies for Mickey Mouse ears. While I found several different versions of how to do them Mickey Mouse Oreo Cookies on a Stick, I ended up with my own shortcut version (I'll be posting soon!) But, let's face it, if I can do it, anyone can!
Entertainment:
On to the fun! Since bounce houses are the way to go with kiddos at this age, we were able to find a everything Mickey Mouse 5-in-1 combo playhouse for a great price from Affordable Bouncehouses. They did everything from set up to breakdown. We kept it dry while the party was happening, but afterwards I let the kids go crazy when we hooked up the hose to slide for a little water action!
But the real entertainment of the part was a special visit from Mickey Mouse himself! A sweet invitation from Jackson (and a call to It's a Party Today) made sure Mickey was available to come by for a special birthday treat! After the party had started, Mickey showed up with his own DJ to play fun birthday games and music to get the whole party going for around an hour. He even stayed for birthday cake, photos and passed out restaurant gift cards to the kiddos! We had a blast with Mickey and his friend and the kids couldn't get enough of him either! (Even if you aren't doing Mickey Mouse, don't worry, they do a little bit of everything!) 
And you can't forget the favors! What's a Mickey Mouse party without ears? Unfortunately, most the ones I found rather expensive ($5 at least a pair.) Thankfully I found an international online company called AliExpress.com that was able to send me a package of 30 Mickey and Minnie ears with bows for less than $1 a pair! While I had to order these well in advance of the party (two months), they sent them over in no time and with no issues.
Since the party was at 10 AM, we had a lot to put up and get up early that morning. So to keep all the details in check, I took a template from Vertex42 and reformatted it to my own needs! Feel free to use this birthday plan checklist downloadable in Google Docs for day-of birthday deliveries, pickups and must-dos. The whole party was so much fun and we are so thankful to everyone who came to celebrate! You can find more Mickey Mouse party ideas on my Pinterest page!
