Birthday Party Decor and Food

I spent about a month preparing for this birthday party and have loved every minute of it.  Starting early gave me the time to manage every detail of the party to help make it special.  We wanted it to be evident that there was a party going on at this house.  We started with the outside of the house...balloons on the mailbox, an giant Minnie head on the garage door, and a Minnie Mouse wreath on the front door.  I'm not sure how it happened, but we managed to miss getting pictures of everything.  I really thought that we had a handle on the picture-taking, but I guess not.  Maybe we'll do better next year.

The decorations inside were mainly in the living room which we dubbed the "party room."  We had two tables set up for the food and associated tableware.  They were covered in black, pink, and zebra print fabrics.  In the background was a slideshow with pictures of Avery from the last two years playing on the TV.  I think that I'll try to make this a tradition for her birthday.

Minnie Mouse heads were distributed throughout the room.

The main food table with two kinds of cupcakes, Minnie Mouse shaped sandwiches, Minnie pineapple, Minnie watermelon, Minnie Rice Crispie treats, and a vegetable platter.

A hand-made birthday banner.

Minnie Mouse piñata...handmade also

The drink station...Minnie Mouse and zebra print water bottles and juice boxes.

 

A closer look at some of the decorations.

A closer look at the cupcakes...I loved the smaller ones with chocolate butter cream and Minnie ears!  This is also an example of the treat bags that I made for the kids.  They were Chinese food containers (left over from our wedding) that I covered in tissue paper, pink for the girls and black for the boys, with a Minnie head on the front.  Inside was Minnie stickers, Minnie candy necklace, Playdoh, bubbles, an applesause squeeze tube and a set of Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears.

A special thank you to Deana (GG) for the Minnie Mouse cake.  She did such a great job making this, and I really appreciated her help!  It matched the party perfectly too!