For Reid's party this year, I kept debating whether to do a Mickey Mouse or a dinosaur theme, and in the end, I decided to let him pick. Just to be sure, I even asked my little guy again several times leading up to the celebration, since I know toddlers can be a bit fickle. The response never changed though. "Mickey!" he confidently responded every time.
So, Mickey it was...
Invitation!
As usual, I started looking at ideas and buying supplies way in advance but wasn't nearly as prepared as I should have been in the week or so beforehand. Thankfully, Dave is a great team player and helped me with some shopping and tidying, and in the end we got it all together. For a couple nights before the party though, Mommy was still up until around 2 a.m. each night trying to get things together. Whether it was putting together favor bags, making the cake, or decorating, it was so much easier to do when all my littles were tucked in bed.
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| What I thought was going to be an easy cake this year turned out to be a bit of a pain. My icing was too soft at first, so I put it in the fridge to firm it, which made it so firm it hurt my hand as I squeezed all those tiny pin pricks. As I continued decorating, it looked like I was actually going to run out of icing and not finish in time! Though it was a somewhat selfish request, I just started praying over the situation and thankfully I had just enough red icing for the bottom and enough of the black to cover the front side so I just had to fill in a few spots in the back with a different color. |
I debated having the party outside but the weather was a bit if-y, and in the end, I was glad that I chose to go the indoor route because I was able to set up almost everything the night before, which helped me sleep much better without worrying about the next day. It also took a lot of stress off since the next day was jammed packed with other activities, including ballet and a rescheduled t-ball game. Despite all we had packed in there that Saturday, I even had a little time to lay down and take a little next before finishing our party prep - definitely something that's never happened before - so it worked out well.
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| Grandpa and Daddy got to take Hadley ballet and watch through the viewing window as our little princess danced. |
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| Caleb's never had a t-ball game on a weekend when Grandpa was in town before, so even though it added to the craziness of our day, we were kind of glad that this particular game was postponed and rescheduled for when he'd be visiting. Caleb is pitching and Hadley is the short stop in this pic. |
Of all the themes out there, I think pretty much all families end up having a Mickey or Minnie party at least once in their lifetimes. Needless to say, there were plenty of ideas online. Being a mainstream character, the stores had a good variety of decorations available too to support our theme. Since I enjoy crafting and personal touches, I still did a bunch of the decor myself though. Thankfully, I found a lot of pre-made signs and templates via Pinterest, which helped some. It was definitely a lot of cutting, stapling, and gluing still to be done to assemble it all in the end and ended up cutting corners here and there. It was a lot of fun putting it together; there just wasn't enough time to get in all the ideas.
It wasn't long before the guests were were awaiting arrived ready to party! Reid actually had a much bigger turn out than I anticipated - 18 kids and 20 adults. Good thing I made up some extra party bags. :)
The most exciting guest arrived a little bit later. Mickey Mouse!
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| Reid, come see who's here to see you! |
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| Look at my baby's face! Aww, he melts my heart. |
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| Everyone was excited! |
Knowing how much Reid loved seeing Mickey over and over at Disney last May, we expected that he was going to love a visit from that overgrown mouse at his very own birthday party. My cousin Leslie had used Front Royal Mascots before for her children's parties, so I looked them up and sure enough found out they were available to do a little surprise pop-in for us too. I was really impressed with their professionalism and that the man stayed for a full hour for the kids to enjoy him. After a little meet and greet, he let each one sit on his lap for pictures.
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| Hadley was shocked when she heard him talk since the ones at Disney don't. "He said, 'Where's that Minnie Mouse? Where's that Minnie Mouse?'" she told me gleefully, knowing she was the one dressed up as Minnie. |
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| Marie is a friend from Awana. Her mom, Noelle, is Reid's Puggle teacher. |
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| Payton and Lillian from our Co-op |
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| Trying to do a thumbs up like Mickey |
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| Gabriel from church |
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| My cousin Kevin's son - Blake |
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| Colin from our Co-op and Awana |
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| At one point Reid decided to check out if Mickey had a tail. He told me Mickey was his favorite person there. |
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| Gage tried to tell Colton Mickey was safe... |
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| There ya go, a high five! |
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| Even Grandma and Granny love Mickey. |
For our first game, we did a ball toss. The only problem was we were missing the balls at first and needed to see if we could find a Mouse-ka-tool to help us out. Oh, Toodles!
Next, we played a form of musical chairs but with Mickey themed place mats instead. We didn't have any music at first, so we called on Toodles again for a little help.
Once the games were over, it was time to cut the cake!
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| Oh look, there's Toodles again with the last Mouse-ka-tool - a birthday candle. |
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| I was going to make Mickey cupcakes but decided to make it easy on myself at the last minute and just let the kids make their own. |
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| Uncle Brandon made a friend. |
At present opening time, I think the other kids may have been as just excited as our little guy was. They crowded in as close as they could get to see what he found inside each new package.
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| Yay! A Monsters, Inc. DVD! |
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| Mickey jammies from NaNa |
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| Aunt Courtney got him his very own fishing pole. |
The whole party Reid was overjoyed with all the excitement of what was going on around him. He loved having so many friends in his house, the treats, games, and, of course, Mickey. My favorite part was seeing how thrilled he was.
Happy Birthday, my baby. :)
