I decided pretty early on that I wanted to do a Mickey theme for Rory’s birthday party this year. I never did that for Riley and really wanted to use it for one of my boys. Since Riley has moved on to other things and since Rory currently loves Mickey, I figured this was the perfect birthday to focus on the mouse.
I used my trusty PicMonkey site to make the invitation, finding inspiration for the wording and for the design on Pinterest. The chevron background I used is actually one of the patterns from Rory's first birthday, with the colors changed to reflect this year’s theme.
With Kenny out of town most of the week for work, I decided to do a lot of the decorating early, on Thursday afternoon while Rory was napping. I put out new birthday subway art, a front door sign, and an updated birthday banner, all made using PicMonkey and Gimp last month. Nopsi blew up and hung up all of the balloons in bunches around the house, as well as helped me with the crepe paper backdrop behind the table. I strategically placed the boys’ Mickey stuffed animals and toys in the dining and living rooms, and I even got more use out of some of the colored balls from Riley’s first birthday. Nola and I also baked mini Mickey head sugar cookies to give out as favors, which I packaged in clear treat bags and tied closed with ribbon.
I put together a very special photo element this year: a collage of pictures from Rory’s second year in the shape of a giant Mickey head and the number “2.” It took me right back to my scrapbooking days, spread out on the floor and hunched over trying to figure out where each picture could go. Made my back hurt, but the collage turned out really cute. And it’s now hanging in the little one’s room.
I also made two fun centerpieces. Two buckets spray painted red, Mickey heads made out of foam balls spray painted black, yellow tissue paper, and two different kinds of ribbon. I really loved the way they looked on the table.
The centerpieces were on either side of the birthday cake. I baked the cakes (two 8-inch round and one 13x9) on Wednesday and had them ready to go for Kenny and Grandma on Friday afternoon. We found a simple but cute design online and went with it. The cake was a double layer in the shape of Mickey’s head, entirely covered with piped stars of icing in three different colors. I used white icing to write “Happy Birthday, Rory!” on the board, and I even wrote his name in Disney font. I think the cake turned out really cute.
Since the party wasn’t during a meal time, I didn’t have to make a ton of other food. We set out veggie sticks, goldfish, M&Ms, and fruit. I also made “hot diggity dogs,” cheddar bacon ranch dip with wheat thins and pretzels, and a peanut butter cream cheese ball with vanilla wafers.
The house looked great; everything came together quite nicely. Researching what to do for decorations was initially very overwhelming, but I didn’t overdo it. I just picked a few key things and stuck with the three colors (red, yellow, and black) as much as I could. I was very happy with the finished product!
Then, as if our week hadn’t been insane enough, Kenny and I decided to attend the first 2015 NORC dinner the night before the party. Grandma graciously agreed to stay with the boys and let us go out and enjoy dinner with our friends. Even though we were both really tired, we had a great time at R’evolution. We sat with Ashley, Greg, Tony, Amee, Tim, and Meghana. Dinner was SO good. The picture below was just our appetizer courses!
Our waitstaff was fabulous; Anthony even took us on a tour of their impressive kitchens and wine cellar after dinner. The night was just what Kenny and I needed after a very long week and a busy weekend ahead.
Party recap coming up next!
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