hey! hey minnie mouse is in the house!

i did warn you that the party after gracie's baptism was fab! she was/is really into minnie mouse and we had a fun time with the decorations and food.  of course, many thanks go out to pinterest and i will post links for everything.  

we started the festivities with a rockin' invite! i had to purchase a small amount of black cardstock, but i am pretty sure i got it for about 10 cents each.  so maybe i spent about $1. the ribbon, i had on hand. the idea came from here. it leads to another link for some invites for sale on ebay. what? like i'm gonna pay for them. i am all about supporting my fellow crafter, but when i can do it myself on the cheap, cheap, that's what i'm gonna do!

the cupcake tower was actually already something that i had.  we used it for savannah's birthday a few years ago and sarah used it for some math project as well. (don't ask) it got a makeover with some awesome red wrapping paper and ribbon and stickers that i happened upon at michael's.  i would like to tell you that i searched high and low for the ribbon to match perfectly, but alas, i went in the day before the party in a rush and in desperation praying they had something!! voila! it was meant to be! and it was a decent price with coupons and such.  

the minnie sticker came from part of a disney sticker set i happened upon in the scrapbook isle! on sale, of course. used with scrapbook paper i already had in my stash. practically free.

 i tried to work in as much black and red food as possible and found these little nibs.  the kids loved the red ones, but for some reason, not the black ones...

 more yummies. mini oreos and craisins! and this little red velvet box has been a great source for decorating during many occasions. christmas, valentine's, and birthdays. it was well worth the 99 cents i paid for it at the goodwill a few years ago.

 a minnie mouse party would not be complete without some good old red vines! (and the black ones for color, basically since no one wanted those either! but they sure do look pretty. right?) jars, already had and ribbon came from my stash! idea from here.

we totally scored on these mouse shaped chicken nuggets from costco!

the cupcake tower topper was another great pinterest idea! when i was redoing the tower it felt like it was missing something at the top.  with savannah's bday it was just full of cupcakes, but i wanted a little more umph this time around.  i think this styrofoam minnie mouse head did the trick.  inspiration found here. 

the heads in her post look a little more professional, but hey! this one did the trick.  i do recommend using dowels if you have them or can get them before the party!!! ha! i had to use hot glue and well, that kinda caused the styrofoam to melt a little bit...also, be careful doing the spray paint as that starts to disintegrate the styrofoam too.  then i just hot glued a whole bunch of tissue on top and then hot glued the minnie head on top of that! voila! 

lots of red paper and plastic goods.  i had seen the super cute napkins at target over the summer last year and bought them and stashed them away.  so glad i did because they did not have them any longer when the party came around when i was in buying cups and plastic ware. but i did see them on pinterest and maybe this site still has them. it is a link to the pin on my board that should take you to the site.

red and white packaging ribbon from my stash.

baloons! finally used this idea! it is a link to the pin on my pinterest board but it shows you the best photo for what we did.  if you click on the link it will take you to a great blog post about different ways to do balloons. balloons came from target.  i think i spent $6 for a few packages.  that was a pricey item for me, but since most everything else was a bargain or from my stash it was okay.  but don't think i didn't hesitate at spending that much on balloons!! (i am cheap.) it was worth it though because my girls l.o.v.e. balloons! grace had them hanging in her room after the party for about 9 months, so i'd say we got our money's worth, and then some.

i would love to have filled the entire ceiling, but let's face it, i'm cheap, and i really didn't feel like spending the rest of my life blowing up these bad boys and then stringing them and then hanging them, blah, blah, blah.

the cute table in all its minnie mouse glory! and red table cloth? from my closet! it gets used at christmas as well, so totally worth the $14 i paid for it about 14 years ago!!

minnie mouse cupcakes! super yummy! cookies and cream cupcakes and frosting with oreo (target brand) ears.  the recipe is found here.  the idea for the design is from here. on her blog she cuts the circles for the ears out from a larger oreo, but i wasn't having that! seriously? like i have time to be cuttin' out all those mouse ears!! but notice i did have time to tie all those teeeeeny tiny bows! (with help from grandma and grandpa elf.) the ribbon for the cupcakes i also had in my stash, so practically free.  but seriously, what was with all that red with white polka dot ribbon i had on hand? the only problem i had with the cupcakes was that the ears were very top heavy and wouldn't stay up very well. so what did i do? push them down further into the cupcake!! i know, i know, pure genius!

what birthday would be complete without a goodie bag? honestly, i don't really care either way about goodie bags.  isn't the real treat all the fun at the party? but i had an idea after making the invites that i could make matching goody bags.  i don't even remember what we put in these things, probably a boatload of candy.  let's face it, that's all the kids want anyway, not all those cheap toys that fall apart on the car ride home, or get thrown out eventually. am i right?

super easy and inexpensive, especially if you have everything on hand. (which i did. even the white gel pen.) 

and how could the party be complete without miss minnie?

or maybe two? also, we already happened to have these on hand because that's how we roll, double minnie style.

the little, and big, party guests.  the big girls were super helpful with all the little girls.  they entertained them very well outside with lots of fun stuff.  i know at least two of them who are available for babysitting. call me and i can hook ya up!

trying to get them to all sit still and have a straight face was not gonna happen, but i think these pics turned out cute anyway.  grace had a glorious day surrounded by all of her friends and family! it was the best day ever! (she always says this when she has a great day! so cute!)