Etta turned two a couple of weekends ago, and there was no doubt this girl needed a Mickey and Minnie Mouse birthday party. She is obsessed. I decided to steer away from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse direction and toward something simpler: red, black, white, polka dots, and Mickey ears.

I created the invitations by printing on blank polka-dot note cards I found on clearance at Joann. I scanned an Instax photo we took at Disney World and printed copies. The Mickey and Minnie stickers are a free download from Disney that I printed on label paper and cut out.

The large Mickey and Minnie banner is actually a cotton fabric panel (like to make a quilt or something). I had a vague notion that I could draw some oversize Mickey and Minnie cutouts on cardboard, but this was just so much easier. I sewed a simple rod pocket at the top and slid in a dowel so that it would hang flat.

I ordered the cupcakes from the grocery store bakery. They had the Mickey and Minnie design in their catalog, and it was too easy to say, “and a dozen of those, please.” I added the cookie ears to the chocolate cupcakes using mini Oreos. Took about two minutes. So simple.

We made the Mickey ears cookies ourselves, though, with this Mickey Mouse cookie cutter (*affiliate link). My mom made the cookies, and then I dipped the ears in melting chocolate. We also packaged them up as party favors. (See below!)

I made a bunch of ear headbands for guests to wear, but they all ended up falling apart over the course of the party. I used stiff felt and hot glued the ears to dollar store headbands. I should have known hot glue and plastic aren’t best friends, so if you’re going to attempt it, I’d advise to use some other method. In hindsight, I should have just made the Mickey ears party hats like I did before.

I almost forgot to mention the red pennant flags! I made them for Elise’s grocery store birthday party last year, and was excited to use them again. I never really get to reuse any of the party decorations I make because they are usually too specific.

I printed this happy birthday banner from my own shop, and made some Mickey silhouette flags as an add-on. Get the Mickey flag printable here. >>

Activities

For the parties we’ve had thus far at our house, I like to have activities that require little supervision, where kids can come and go. There’s no party agenda or schedule. It’s a mixed group of ages and not at all organized. Anyway, the stations seem to work; everyone can do what they want to do, and skip what they want to skip.

“Get a kiss from Minnie” Punch Board

I saw the idea for a “punch board” here, but basically, it’s a kids’ party version of The Price is Right game “Punch-A-Bunch”. We filled the compartments with Hershey Kisses and told the kids to “get a kiss from Minnie!” All the kids really loved it. See more details in this post. >>

 

Mickey Mouse Ball Toss

I originally saw the Mickey ball toss game here, and decided to make my own out of black foam core. I traced some bowls and cut out the circles with an X-ACTO knife. It took all of about 10 minutes. Then I joined it with another piece of foam core with some packing tape on the underside to make it more like a sandwich board. We ended up resting it on the ottoman so it didn’t get knocked over as much. We have a set of ball pit balls we rarely use, so I had my girls sort out all the red ones, and we put them in a black and white bin we had from Target.

Mini notebook craft

I always try to come up with a party craft that won’t make a huge mess and doesn’t require a lot of adult help. These mini notebooks fit the bill perfectly. I assembled an assortment of decorations the kids used to decorate the covers. Mickey stickers, alphabet stickers, paper scraps, Mickey Mouse stampers, a Mickey paper punch, washi tape, markers, pencils, glue sticks, and scissors. Ninety percent of it were supplies I already had, so I was happy to use it up.

As an extra touch, I printed out some images I found of how to draw Mickey Mouse and taped them up on the wall near the craft table. I have a range of ages to consider from my niece who is 12 down to a one-year-old. So having activities that can scale is important. Plus the old timey sketches are super cute.

Hidden Mickeys

If you’re a Disney fan, you might be familiar with the “Hidden Mickey” concept. Mickey head silhouettes are scattered throughout the theme parks (both on purpose and accidentally) where observant park guests have a fun time spotting them. I thought it might be fun to hide a few around our house for the party, so I created these paper Mickey silhouettes with some circular paper punches. Elise helped me “hide” them, so many were not exactly camouflaged, though all were in plain sight.

Party Favors

My recent decluttering spree has me feeling uneasy about buying lots of little trinkets as party favors. I kind of go back and forth about junk toys because the kids just get so much joy out of them. Mine do anyway. But then you know, they end up on the floor and everywhere and eventually in the landfill. The dilemmas of a modern mom. Anyway, this time for favors, I opted for the consumable kind.

Certainly, the notebook craft I mentioned above will get used up and eventually recycled. And the cookies will be eaten. No junk toys here.

This was a super fun party to create, and I know Etta loved the Mickey and Minnie theme. Can’t believe this girl is two!

Want more Mickey Mouse party ideas?

Check out the Magic Kingdom party we threw a few years ago >>
Mickey Mouse party favor tags >>
Mickey Mouse ears party hats >>

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