Mickey Party Part 3: Recipes and other fun

These are some of the recipes we used. I don't have links to all of the yet, but I will get them and update the post as soon as I do. We simplified this year by only having desserts on the menu. All of these recipes are really easy and most can be made in advance. You can freeze cakes and frosting, jello will keep for day before hand and cookie dough can be frozen as well.  

My boys love cupcakes, then again, what kid doesn't?As I mentioned before I wanted to simplify and I knew most of the kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference between cakes made from scratch and boxed mix so my Mother in Law made the cupcakes with a strawberry cake mix and I topped them with this Swiss Meringue Buttercream that I had frozen left from Liam's birthday dinner, I added a teaspoon for strawberry extracts and red food coloring and topped them with red sugar.

Once again, we had jello. We've had it in some form at Caleb's 2nd and 3rd birthday parties also. We used Food Librarian's Finger Jello Recipe (again) except we used Pineapple Jello and Strawberry Jello to make it in our color palette. 

If you know Caleb you know that boy LOVES doughnuts so we made Fudge Doughnuts (recipe to follow in a separate post) and Cherry Lemonade Doughnuts. I made a double batch the the recipe and baked it in a full size doughnut pan for about 8 minutes. I made the glaze thinner as well but that is just my preference. These doughnut are delicious and I high recommend them! 

Caleb asked for an orange cake and I don't have the exact recipe to share since my Mom made it out of a few different recipes but it was a white cake with orange zest and orange extract with orange curd between the layer and a basic buttercream scented with orange zest and orange extract. It would be an easy thing to replicate with your favorite cake recipes and you could use this lemon curd and swap lemon juice and extract for orange.  

My Mom made these cookies. I know they were a cream cheese sugar cookie and they were delicious! But, I don't know what recipe she used on these either but when I find out I'll update and post it. We got the cookie cutter from The Disney Store. 

The punches were a Berry Lemonade and a Pina Colada Punch that was similar to this. The lemonade was a mix (simply because of sheer volume needed) with frozen berries stirred in that flavored it as they thawed.

Well, that is it for the food. This year was pretty simple. Of course most of the fun came in the form of the bouncy house. We love having it and so do the boys. We also love that my in laws do that for the boys as their birthday gift too. We may need to start looking into investing in one since we would be a third of the through paying for one by now. :) I believe the conclusion is that we need a slide next year though and as much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree. Although that injured back of mine did not love me after I got out of that thing, it was worth it to play with my boys. 

 It's hardly noticeable but I used my other Ikea end table by the bouncy house as a place to for people to leave their jewelry, glasses, drinks, etc and to store shoes underneath. I also placed another sigh that said Liam's and Caleb's Playhouse. I'll be making blank or generic forms of those signs and posting as PDFs soon. Then I will be done posting about the party, finally. :)

***UPDATE: for more info on the party look here, here and here. 

Mickey Party Part 2: Photobooth

We had so much fun with the super hero masks and toys last year I decided to do a photobooth this year. This particular picture is my favorite of our family shots. It is so us. Me tuning out the craziness, Caleb making faces, Liam doing anything that he isn't supposed to do and Lee trying to manage it.

For the prop station I brought my old cheap Ikea end table and some baskets from around the house out into Mom's yard and set it up next to the back drop. We found a photobooth kit at Party City, snagged some hats, beads and big sunglasses from the dollar store and picked up some mini chalkboards from a hobby store my Sister made the Mickey ear headbands. I'll post a PDF of the the sign at a later date as well. 

For the backdrop we used three $1.00 plastic table cloths from, you guessed it, the dollar store and black curling ribbon tied between limbs of a tree. We hung it the night before and it stayed just fine we hung a banner the next day but I forgot to snap a picture of the finished back drop but I do have a picture of another banner and you can get the same idea. My sister cut those out too. I just made a template out of cardboard and grabbed any scrapbook paper I had in red, black, yellow or kraft paper, printed and solid. We punched holes in the ends and strung and hung it the day of. 

After you've got that taken care of then the only thing left is to have fun! 

***UPDATE: For other info on the party check out this, this and this***.

Mickey Mouse Party Part 1: The Table Decor

  Last weekend we celebrated both boys' birthdays with a Mickey Mouse theme.

I'm quite happy with the outcome. 

 This post is just a few shots of the table.  I'll post links and recipes next week and post about the photo booth as well. I'm also planning on making blank version of the menus in PDF form for download soon, along with blank mustache menus too. 

We did this party on a shoe string budget but I still feel like it turned out amazing. It does help I have an arsenal of craft supplies already. I had the kraft paper and black paper to make the banner and polka dot streamers. I used foam core from a dollar store to make the Mickey silhouette. I owned the picture frames, the baskets, cake plate and platters already. The black tablecloth is a random queen sized sheet that I've been using as a tablecloth for a couple of years. The boys had that Mickey Mouse in their toys. The streamers, plates, napkins and forks came from a dollar store and that little bucket was found in the Dollar Spot at Target, along with the wrapping paper I used for the table runner. 

To make the polka dot sreamers I (by I, I mean I begged my husband to do it since I was busy) used a one inch circle punch and about 5 sheets of black card stock to punch the circles and stapled them onto black curling ribbon. It was a totally free craft for us but even if you had to buy the stuff the cost would be minimal. 

To make the Mickey, we traced a large circle and two smaller circles onto foam core, we used a large toy bucket that normally holds building blocks and one of the buckets from Caleb's sand toys. We used a knife to cut it out, sand paper to smooth the edges and touched them up with black paint. Once we were ready to assemble, we laid out the circles and traced the curve of the of the big circle along the smaller ones so that they would fit onto the curve like ears. Then we attached them by inserting toothpicks and running a line of glue and pressing them together. Once he was dry we punched a couple of hole in his ears and hung him by tying with black curling ribbon. This project literally cost $2.00 and it was so easy. 

And the very last thing is the drink table, it was no biggie and nothing special. We had a bronze bucket of ice on one side and a wash tub of bottled water on the other. The small bucket for the straws came from the Dollar Spot at Target and the large glass containers came from Target as well, my Mom and I use them to store our flour and sugar. I already had the gingham fabric from the table cloth and we bought cheap cups and straws from a dollar store. 

Well, that's the basics of the table decor. Hopefully you can draw some inspiration for a festive party on a budget by just keeping your eyes peeled for good buys and looking at things you already own in a different way.

*** UPDATE: For more info on the party look here, here and here. ***

Currently.

I can't stop eating this salsa, I have eaten it with a dollop of sour cream and tortilla chips for lunch everyday this week, and once for dinner. I mean, wow, Pioneer Woman, wow!

I have been trying my best to nurse this poor sad little rose bush back to health, I honestly thought all hope was lost. Somehow I didn't kill it and noticed my little bloom when I pulled in the drive way last week. Maybe by next summer it will have a several. In the process though I think my hydrangea my be a goner. I have to dead head it but even the leaves are brown. :( I'm heartbroken about this.

In less than a week my baby will be one! Where has the time gone? No seriously, tell me! Feels like a month ago I was sick with worry, holding back tears while some doctor I didn't know was telling me to trust her and that they were going to induce my labor over 5 weeks early. But now I wake up every morning and realize that I have a totally happy, healthy, fat, silly, laughing, crawling, refusing to walk baby boy. Seriously, he could walk if he wanted to but he would rather be carried or crawl because its faster. He can stand up and even bounce unassisted, without holding onto anything. But take a step, nope, he won't. He leads with his giant head and loses his balance. Its actually pretty funny to watch. He is a total Momma's boy and I am hoping it stays that way for a bit. I'll take all the snuggles I can get. I miss my snuggles from the big one so I' going to take advantage! This Sunday we will have a traditional birthday pancakes and a family dinner and do a smash cake to celebrate my not so itty bitty baby. All of this makes me want to have more, then my husband reminds me that my body always tries to kill me when I'm pregnant and I think remember why we are stopping with two and that feels like enough. 

Somehow on my mission to save money and combine the boys parties we have gone from the boys splitting one big party and having a small family gathering for each on there birthday to actually having a theme on those get together! We are having a mustache themed party for little man and a Minion themed party for not as little man. And their big party is a Mickey Mouse party. I blame my mother! She is a bad influence, we need no excuse to throw a party. I've been working on the menus for the past couple of days. I'm not sure if I'm done or not but this is what I've got for now. 

Mickey Party Planning

Since my boys' birthdays are so close together (1 month and 11 days) we are combining our party this year. Choosing a theme that satisfied my almost 4 year old and a 1 year old was hard. Originally it was Dr. Suess but even though Caleb loves the books he did not approve of the theme. We also kicked around Scooby Doo but I really wanted something fairly classic for Liam's first birthday but was still fun for Caleb as well. Caleb really wanted a "Plants Vs Zombies" party and I would have done it had it been just his party. Instead we are having a mini party for him on his birthday. We already get together with family for dinner on his birthday and this way both boys can have a day all about just them but we can celebrate both boys together will all of our friends and family. As for the theme, I finally nailed it! We are doing Mickey Mouse.

The Menu:

The Dessert Menu:

The Drink Menu:

This is for the treat bags.

For the photobooth:

Clubhouse poster for the bounce house: 

That is it so far. I have a longggggg list of projects to get started on. You know me I love a good DIY party. This year it will be a little more detailed because last year Liam was a newborn last year I made it pretty simple for myself. This year I just couldn't help myself I was inspired. 

*** UPDATE: for more info on the party look here, here and here. ***