Minnie Mouse birthday party for turning 3!

My baby girl turned 3 and the weekend before her birthday we threw a small Minnie Mouse themed birthday party. She LOVES Minnie, so I was excited to create a couple of things for her big day. (Bonus, the Minnie Mouse centerpieces now reside in her room and her hair clip her hair clip can be worn any day, not just on her birthday.) 

With my daughter being the second-born, I’m finding that her parties are definitely on a smaller scale than her brother’s were. And I like it that way. Maybe when she starts preschool and kindergarten, we’ll invite other kids, but I find parties can get REALLY overwhelming. So this year I was pretty firm in that I only wanted family members – and she really enjoyed her day! 

I made the Minnie Mouse centerpieces a few weeks before the party.

I spent a Saturday with my son at Pokemon league, which happened to be next door to a craft store. I went over and picked up: 

Styrofoam balls
spray paint (you need the craft kind that contains no acetone!)
terracotta pots
dowel rods (I had these already – in various sizes)
ribbon for the bows
foam block that I cut in half.

How you can create these Minnie Mouse centerpieces:

I stuck the styrofoam balls on the dowel rods. Smaller rods were used for the ears. Then I was able to hold the balls out while I spray painted them. And I could let them dry by sticking them in the ground – or the foam block! The balls got two coats of spray paint. I then spray painted my terracotta pots. 

**Note – the glitter spray paint was really difficult to use. It kept getting clogged, and I spent a lot of time trying to get the sprayer unclogged. 

Once everything had dried for at least 24 hours, I put the heads together by sticking the smaller balls into the head. I used a little bit of all purpose glue to keep the balls in place on the dowel rods. The foam block was cut small enough to fit into the bottom of the pot, and then I stuck the larger dowel rod into the base. The foam block was covered with some Easter grass I found (I think this would be great with just shredded paper – which part of the “grass” was just paper.) 

The bows were tricky to make, but I just tied a bow, and really worked it into a size that looked best. It’s actually stuck into the head with a paper clip I straightened and then bent into shape. 

I think they turned out so well and I love the pieces. 

The cake was two different size cake pans, two boxes of cake mix and a can and a half of icing. Oh and a small package of pink fondant. I watched a YouTube video to learn how to make the bow. And I used one of my cake decorating tips to make the swirls with the icing. It wasn’t exactly what I had pictured weeks before I made it, but I actually really liked it. My daughter loved it, and that’s what mattered most. 

While we didn’t have the biggest party, I’m really pleased with how everything turned out and I’m officially a believer in smaller parties! There were fewer expectations, and my daughter had the best time.