My little girl just turned 4! I think she started planning for this party about 2 weeks after her 3rd birthday. After changing her mind 492 times, she finally settled on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. A couple months ago, I was not sure we would actually get to have a celebration as Abby realized she would always be 3 years older than Elijah and decided to skip her next 2 birthdays so he could catch up. It was adorable because she was dead serious. She loves her little brother and cannot wait for him to be old enough to play with her. Every morning she wants me to put Eli down somewhere so she can have "Abby time" with him. But, the closer we got to the big day, she decided she would go ahead and turn 4, but would skip her next birthday.
Her birthday was Thursday and the party on Friday, which totally confused her why they were not on the same day, but we made the actual b-day special, too.
My sister loaned me her Mickey Mouse cookie cutter, so I made raspberry Mickey scones for breakfast.
After nap, she and Daddy enjoyed playing some card games, then we had Love-Love take-out (her favorite) for dinner, opened some family gifts and cards and then let her pick a movie to watch. She picked Cinderella. How many times can a girl watch that movie and not get tired of it? What is worse is when I read her the book, she asks about 15 questions per page about what is going to happen next as if she has never heard the story before.
I had a lot of fun preparing and decorating for the party and worked very hard to contain myself and not go overboard on price or decorations. I think partly because after looking for ideas on the internet I came across some "budget" ideas that seemed overpriced to me and I somehow ended up in this challenge with myself to make a special day without getting out-of-control. I also tried to let go of my perfectionism and let Abby help with most of it.
For the door, I cut out the word Clubhouse from a Mickey Mouse logo and blew it up on the printer at work (with permission :) ). The streamers were left over cray paper from her 2nd birthday. Door Decoration = $0.
For treat bags I used Cyndi's cookie cutter to make Mickey and Minnie cut-outs from black construction paper we had. I added pink bows, also from construction paper and glued them all to brown paper lunch sacks we had in the cupboard. Each bag had a Disney fruit snack and bubbles. As a parent, I do not like little trinkets that just add junk to a bedroom, so that was it. And, I could not find the Mickey stickers I wanted to add :) Treat bags = $5 total
The Disney website has printable bows I printed, glued onto poster board I had, and then glued the pink ones onto hair clips for the girls and the blue ones had paperclips for bow-ties for the boys. Bows = $3 or $4 for the hair clips (I cannot remember exactly). I refrained from fondant this year and was able to make and decorate the cakes and go to bed by 11:30! That's about 3 hours earlier than the last 2 years :) I melted chocolate I had in the cupboard onto wax paper for the ears and borrowed some Disney play toys from my Mom for the tops. 2 cake mixes + 3 cans of frosting (I make terrible homemade) = $7.
For the tables, I just used solid colored coverings ($1 each) with white plates (had on hand) for the polk-a-dot look, black plastic utensils and polk-a-dot napkins (don't remember the cost off hand) and more toys for centerpieces.
Cookie decorating! I made the cookies with my sister's Mickey cookie cutter (3 uses for one birthday!). Using leftover icing from the cakes, ingredients on hand and sprinkles on hand = $0
Abby was blessed with some new clothes and toys - thank you, everyone!
I love this picture of Lincoln - he looks so intent on explaining something about his gift!
I got the food sign idea online. I printed some pictures of disney characters, printed food descriptions and Abby helped cut and glue them to poster board we had. Food signs = $0
Eugene did almost all the food prep (and clean-up) - thank you! I love that my husband helps out so much.
The food budget enjoys a perk when you live in a dorm and some of the seniors throw a year-end bar-b-q and way over buy and cannot take the leftovers home with them because they live in Hawaii :) Hamburgers and hot dogs also go well with the clubhouse theme!
Abby had a blast and was such a little hostess to everyone. I am so thankful for the family and friends that came and made her party so special for her. And I am really glad Eugene and Randy found the kids hanging from the sky bridge before anyone got hurt :) Thank you all! And, Happy 4th Birthday to my wonderful little girl - I love you!
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