Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party

My son turned the big 2 this month. So of course we had to celebrate in style! I wanted to share all the ideas and decorations with everyone. Some of these ideas I found on pinterest, and others I just came up with on my own. I also made the cake and cupcakes. I did buy a lot more decorations then I normally do, because I threw my sister a baby shower the weekend before and all my decorating skills and cake making went into her party (as its her first child) and this was just my sons second birthday!

Enjoy!

Ill start with the decorations.

When you entered the door, I wanted to say "yes, the party is here"! I made this wreath by simply purchasing black and red ribbon (3inches in width), I hot glued at the starting point, wrapped around tightly, and hot glued at the end. I then cut out two yellow ovals, glued those on, and made a hanger for it with black ribbon. End result, a wreath that looks like Mickey Mouse!

I purchased this banner at Party City, as well as the streamers. I purchased these balloons at target, and blew them up myself. I did purchase balloons at Party City, which I will show you in a minute.

My son has a mickey in every size, and I borrowed this one for the day. We also purchased the hanging red plastic mickey streamer from Party City. They come in a package with several others, and I have to say I was shocked at how many actually came in the package! It was way more then I thought I would get.

Heres the rest of those steamer, plastic, Mickey themed items I purchased from Party City.

I have a horrible time actually sending out thank yous, so I made a small station (right next to the front door) and when everyone came in, I made them write their address on the card. This way all I have to do is write the thank you, add our address and send them off. (Now we wait and see how fast I get to them!) Oh and the party hats were purchased from target.

I purchased these balloons at Party City and placed them in the living room, behind the chairs and not in the way of the TV. My son is still playing with them even a week later!

Adding balloons to the presents table is a simple way to dress it up and it looks super cute when all the gifts are on it. Sorry I did not catch a photo of it with all the gifts. It looked cute though, will you just trust me?

This banner, over the kitchen was hand made. I personally cut out each letter, each mickey, and each circle. I then punched holes in the circles, glued on the mickey heads and glued on the letters. Once everything was dry I added the ribbon, and ta-da, its beautiful! Check out a quick and easy step by step tutorial HERE!

Note the letters are made to look like the writing from Disney/Disneyland.

This is a pinterest find. I used foam (from a craft store), cut out mickey heads, and purchased the clear bags. I headed over to Sams club, purchased an extremely large animal cracker container, tossed a few into the bags, folded them up and stapled the heads to the bags. The end result is awesome. You could add a note, saying thank you, or thanks for having toodles and oodles of fun! However, like I said before I just didn't have the time. I found these were a huge hit as even the adults liked them!

The dessert table is always the highlight at my kids parties! I purchased the balloons, the banners, and streamers all from Party City. I had the cupcake tiered stand on hand, and purchased the table cloth from Party City as well. The goody bags on the right I made from red bags (I believe I bought at target), cut out black construction paper, and yellow ovals, and then glued them all on. I only glued them on the front, and nothing on the back. You could spend the time and glue them on the back, but I just didn't have the time (or the construction paper). I purchased bubbles, candy, key chains, stickers, chalk, and pouched applesauce for the goodies. The kids loved them and I believe I only had one left for my son!

In the dining room, I put up streamers, balloons (some I blew up), and table cloths. It came out great, and this was by far my favorite room.

Once again the dessert table!

Lastly, my mother in law found the pinata at Party City and I have to say it was a huge HIT! (Get it, hit, haha). My son loved it! It took a ton of hits, and after I gave it three really strong hits it broke. These pinatas are made well, and I say totally worth the money!

Alright, now lets talk outfit.

I purchased the white long sleeve shirt from Walmart (practically the only place that sells blank shirts, anymore.) I then purchased some of the material for his shirt, as I had some of it at home. You can purchase fabric from Walmart, Joann's, or a fabric store in your local area. Once I had the material I cut everything out, and put it together. I will have a tutorial for it soon. So here he is in all his cuteness:

With Grandma.

Dirty and playing.

So excited to blow out his candles.

Lastly, I made his cake and cupcakes. I have been making cakes for awhile, and I seriously enjoy making them for my sons birthdays. I can not wait to make one for my youngest sons 1st birthday, this summer.

 Let me start with the cupcakes. I love to add cupcakes to all my parties. They are the perfect size for those small kid sizes mouths, or the mother/father/friend who wants something to eat, but doesn't want to over do it. I made both chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing, and vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing. I usually do some sort of collection of flavors, for those who prefer one over the other.

Note: Tiered stands help give the dessert (or food) table even more surface to add items to, as well as help give the table height and something visual to look at. I always recommend using a cupcake stand, or a tiered cake stand like this one.

I then made my brother in law a cake as well. His birthday was the day of my sons birthday party, so I made him a cute little personalized cake, just for him!

I kept his cake, still apart of the theme. This helps make it personal for him, but also keeps it from standing out too much! I even went over board and bought the 2 and 9 candles for kids, and used them side by side to say 29! It was a fun spin on it, and made it child like (to fit the theme)! I believe he liked it.

And of course, the main cake for the birthday boy. Its Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, like the actual clubhouse. We had purchased the figures as toys for my son about 2-5 months prior, as we just collected them as we saw them. Thankfully, by the party we had all 5 of the main characters. We still need Pluto, Claribel, and the Professor; so if anyone sees them, let me know!

 Side by side, you can see the clubhouse a little better.

The front of the cake, and hey look the goody bags too!

Right side.

Left side.

Well, thats it. That was the party, and we had a wonderful time. My son was extremely happy, and I think he enjoyed it a lot. I want to thank my Father in law, who cooked all morning long and made the best lunch (and dinner) ever! He also makes a great margarita! Yum! I want to say thank you to everyone who came out, it was a ton of fun, and I always love seeing the little ones!

Happy Birthday to my son,
Sarah

February Giving Thanks Week 3

February 15:
     Today we celebrated my sisters Baby Shower. I am thankful for all the wonderful family and friends who showed up for the event. I am also so thankful for all the family members who helped us out, to get the house and food ready in time! It was a great success!

February 16:
     As much as I enjoyed throwing my sisters Baby Shower, I am so thankful I have a day off from doing ANYTHING!!! Started the day in just PJs and hanging out with my kids, best day ever. So thankful for the relaxing time between parties.

February 17:
     Today is my sons 2nd Birthday! I am so thankful for him each and everyday, but today I am more thankful then ever. He is the greatest little kid who keeps me on my toes. Happy 2nd Birthday Brian man!

Went to the train museum, and its his favorite place ever!

February 18:
     Starting back into the party work, and I am so thankful that today all I had to do was a few goody bags and a few thank you bags! Its just something simple I whipped up, can't wait for everyone to see them!

February 19:
     Heating pads are a miracle! I am so thankful for a heating pad. I pulled a muscle or something in my shoulder and this heating pad has helped a lot!

February 20:
     I love and am thankful that my kids are so willing to try so many new things. My kiddo loves Greek yogurt, its his new love in the food world!

February 21:
     Finally, had a chance to go out to dinner with my family and celebrate my sons 2nd birthday. I am so thankful for the time I get to spend with all my family members.

Grandma with her grandson!

Singing happy birthday to him, and he was digging in!

February Giving Thanks, Week 2

February 8:
     Thankful for the awesome family who wants to baby sit and let me have some free time (without kids) to get stuff done. Its be a very long time that I have had this much time away from the kids.

Hanging out with grandpa!

February 9:
     Shopping with my mother and sister, alone, absolutely no kids to be found, soooo thankful for days like this!

February 10:
     Being able to watch my two little boys play with their cousin and enjoy every moment of it (ok most of it, after the battle of the toys), is always a beautiful thing, and its what I am thankful for today.

February 11:
     Jumping back into making cake items and decorating, that is the best feeling ever, and what I am thankful for today.

February 12:
     So thankful for catching my son pulling himself up and walking with a walking toy all on video. Best moments ever.

February 13:
     Today, I am thankful for the 80 degree weather that we are all enjoying here in southern California! Its awesome to enjoy this kind of weather in February.

February 14:
      Today is the day we all celebrate our relationships, and thats what I am thankful for. I am thankful for the family and friends and all the loving and caring people in my life. I also want to say Happy Valentines Day to my husband and kiddos! Love you guys!

Crib Blanket Tutorial

I was lucky enough to be given the chance to make my sisters, soon to be born, sons crib set. I was so excited, and she had picked Winnie the Pooh as her theme. I let her pick the fabric, and once she decide on the one she liked, I purchased a few extra pieces of fabric to go along with the pooh bear fabric. The complimentary fabric was so I could create a crib blanket with hints of a quilting style.

Most crib blankets now a days are blocks of different fabrics, or appliqued character onto a panel. I want to do something similar but yet different. My sister said she liked the idea of blocks. I went with the design of keeping it simple and making the front large blocks of different fabric. The back, I wanted to applique his name on it and make it personalized, just for him.

I sketched something out and came up with this:

Once I have an idea of what I am going to do I then grab the fabric. I chose soft fabric, and different textures. Babies need soft, but I also like the idea of them having something to explore, and touching is what they do a lot of exploring through.

I then cut out all my blocks, and laid them in the design I drew out.

Start sewing the blocks together in each row. You can use whatever size seam, here I am using a 1/4 inch.

Sewing the blocks together, 1/4 inch seam.

Then you will have all your rows done.

Take the first row, lay it down with the right side of the fabric facing up. Then place the second row, right side of the fabric facing down, on top of the first row. If you need help remember which row is what you can look at your drawing, or simply pin numbers to them.

Start pinning the rows together by starting with the seams. If you do this, it will help line up all your blocks and the blocks will not look out of line.

Pin, pin, pin! When you are working with mink, pin, A LOT!

After you are done with the first two rows, you should have something like this! Off to the rest of the rows. Just simply add the 3rd row on top of the 2nd row, and sew. Then the 4th on top of the 3rd, sew; and so on and so forth, until you have the finished top.

Top is done!

Now on to the back. I cut my back fabric about 2 inches larger then the front, on all sizes.
 

I then traced all my letters onto a large piece of heat n bond paper. I then ironed the heat n bond paper to the pooh bear fabric. I carefully cut out each letter.

His name is cut out!
 

Then I slowly and carefully pulled off the heat n bond papers backing. Flannel has a tendency to fray easily, so I was careful while pulling the heat n bond backing off.
 

I then placed the letters on the back of the blanket piece, and set them where I liked. I played around with the letters, trying several different styles, but decided on an off set, to one side, style. I also stayed about 4 inches from the top and bottom.

I then pinned each letter into its place.

I then ironed the letters into their place. Make sure the back fabric (white) is ironed and flat. This will help prevent the letters from ironing down all bumpy and such.

I then used a zig-zag with a smaller stitch, notice my .6, thats the stitch from front to back. This is what I use to applique.

I then carefully applique my fabric done.

Once you have a few done, this is what it should somewhat look like.

Finished appliqueing the letters onto the back. Once I do this, I actually go back to the ironing board and give everything a nice press. This way when I start stacking the blanket I know its nice and flat.

Time to put it all together. I placed my back of my blanket with the right side down (facing away from me), and then added a layer of batting. In this case, because I am making a baby blanket and not a quilt I am using a batting that has a lot of volume to it. I cut the batting about the same size as my back fabric.
 

I then carefully place my front panel on top of the batting, right side facing up (towards the ceiling), and carefully place it in place where I like it.

I then get my pins out and pin, pin, pin. Did I mention you have mink so you pin, pin, pin!

I am working with mink, so in order to keep the mink and blanket top from slipping or moving on me while I quilt it, I am going to lay a zig-zag stitch around the edge of the 3 layers. I follow around the top panel and stay as close to the edge as possible.

You should have something like this.

Now that I don't have to worry about my edges moving or shifting, I now can quilt the blanket. You can do this however you want. I personally just wanted a simple clean design, so I quilted in the ditch. Which just means I followed the seams on the front panel and sewed along those lines.

This is what it looks like on the back once its quilted!

I then clean up all the extra material, cutting the back and batting down to the front panels size.

I then measure, and cut the correct amount of binding. I am using mink, but you can use anything you want. I wanted the edges to be soft and cuddly, so mink was my choice!

I then sew the binding together.

I then place my binding and begin sewing it on.

When you are done, you should have something like this:

Time to hand sew the back of the binding on. You can machine finish it, but I am again, working with mink, and wanted to keep the quilt simple. To hand sew this binding, it took me about 2 hours or so.

When I was finished, I was so happy and excited to see the finished product!

The back looks great, and I love how the name just blends in, it doesn't scream out.

It looks great, and I am so happy with the finished product.

Now, I wait and see if the mommy-to-be likes it (its my sister, so she better love it, J/K)!

Happy Blanket Making,
Sarah