Oriental Trading makes it easy to throw any party with almost any theme. Not only do they carry Tinkerbell specific party items but also the perfect touches that brought Pixie Hollow and all things fairy to life. The Princess and her fairy friends had a lot of fun and we all enjoyed dreaming of Spring.
Come out of the snow and into the warmth of Pixie Hollow.
The color scheme for this party was purple and green. Flowers and bright colors everywhere. Tinkerbell greets the guests and shows off her cottage surrounded by Lime Green Paper Fans. I used these throughout the party for pops of color. They come in 3 different sizes and are lightweight making them easy to hang anywhere.
The Colorful Flower Garland made it easy to drape the rooms in bright, exotic flowers transporting us all into the depths of the beautiful Pixie Hollow where Rosetta has been busy!
I always try to make the goodies table pop. For this party, I bought oversized whimsical flowers and created bouquets. Then added more flowers, Silvermist and Periwinkle, and Pixie Dust.
All fairies need Pixie Dust. Terrance the keeper of the Dust brought me some to give to the girls in Mini Bottle Charms. So cute and perfectly sized for just the right amount of Pixie Dust.
Mini Star Wands and Spring Brights Bubbles helped to bring fairy magic to the goodie cups.
Do you believe in Fairies? I do and I believe you have to paint wooden signs with glitter paint several times for the desired effect.
Tinkerbell Swirl Foil Decorations were used over the tabletops and in the kitchen. As if Tink's friends were flying above the party ensuring everyone is having a great time.
Instead of doing a game, my little Fairy wanted a craft. She picked out foam picture frames with fairy stickers for each girl to decorate and use for their photobooth pic.
Every photobooth needs props. I collected a variety of Wings, Wands, and Flowers for each fairy to use.
For the Photobooth itself, I used a purple backdrop and outlined it with flower vines. These are easy and pretty cheap too when it is Springtime at the craft stores.
One of the best ways to party on a budget is to use what you have.
We are never in short supply of toys so I asked my daughter to borrow her prized fairies to decorate the table with. She agreed as long as I promised her brother would not touch them. Zarina, Tinkerbell, and Periwinkle sit on the Tinkerbell Tablecloth, surrounded by more fairy wands and some pixie dust.
Now for the food. Arguably the best part, right?
Gruff, the Neverbeast, was very helpful keep watch over the food until it was time to eat. Thank you Gruff!
Vidia doesn't look too excited but I think the Tink Sweet Treat Cups, Tinkerbell Dinner and Dessert Plates, Purple Chevron Paper Straws, and the Green Chevron Paper Straws are pixie perfect.
Thanks to the lovely sunshine that we have certainly missed it might be hard to see how cute all these party items are. The links will take you to non-sunshine pics!
We ended the party with Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast, the all new full-length movie featuring all our favorite fairies!
The perks of being an Oriental Trading Blogger allowed me to get a lot of Fairy inspired products for this party. No other compensation was given and of course opinions as always are my own!
Frozen Birthday Party
These Frozen Travel Posters are available for free download with your Disney Movie Rewards Account
Follow the snowflakes to the North Mountain and enter Elsa's domain. But watch out for Marshmallow.
These pictures cannot do justice. I had over 50 snowflakes hanging in my house. I wanted to girls to really feel like they were stepping into Elsa's realm!
These DIY Frozen bottles are easy to make. See how I made them here: DIY Disney Centerpieces
Get the template to make these barrettes on Disney Family.
Lets head into the kitchen to find Frozen-inspired treats!
Frozen Birthday Party Food
The Snow Berries are dipped in Stonyfield Greek Yogurt. Dip the day before the party and freeze overnight. Take out 30 mins before you want to enjoy them.
Frozen Birthday Cake and Cupcakes
Snowball Cake Pops
Frozen Birthday Party Games
Pin the Carrot on Olaf
For our Photobooth, I cut out Elsa, Anna, and Sven props. And because I enjoy vacuuming, I let the girls have some fun with snow. Thank goodness I have a Dyson…
For more Frozen Party fun, download these Free Frozen Printables!
Cupcake Printables from Homeketeers
Movie Quotes from Paging Supermom
I ended up landing on the idea of the perfect summer twist on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party- a Mickey Mouse Luau!
My husband, daughter, and I all have birthdays not in the summer. I have to say this party made me wish I did have a summer birthday. Summer birthday = Pool party! That is so not happening in April when it's pouring out or March when it's most likely still snowing! Ahem anyways back to the party…
There are not any Mickey Mouse Luau invitations in the stores and spending money on custom invites was not a priority. Punchbowl is a website that has partnered with Disney for party invitations. It was my first time using the service but I found it easy and I loved being able to customize for our party. And since they work with Disney the images are perfect and not “off” looking. Oh and they are free.
Every luau needs flowers and leis. I ordered brightly colored Leis, enough for everyone to wear and to decorate with. Mickey, Minnie, and his friends all had their very own lei to make them festive for the event. Tip: Use what you have that coincides with your theme. No need to buy more if you can dress-up your stuff.
I took a few of the extra Hibiscus Mini Beach Balls from the goody bags and threw them in the pool.
You can't have a luau without a grass skirt, or in this case a Tropical Flowered Table Skirt from Oriental Trading. It fit this 8ft long table easily. It does not come with ties, but we just used pieces of the skirt itself to tie around the table legs.
This DIY Mickey Mouse Centerpiece is easy enough to make. All you need is one glass vase, sand, sea shells, fake hibiscus flowers, wooden dowels (a thick one for the base and smaller ones to hold on the ears), 3 styrofoam balls, and black spray paint. Tip: Use 50% off coupons at the craft stores and this won't cost much at all.
Add a little pizazz to the water table with these Hibiscus Flower Print Cups from Oriental Trading. Tip: Save yourself some money and just serve water.
It wouldn't be a party without goody bags. To keep with the luau theme I went with Oriental Trading's brightly colored Sand Pails and packed them with Mickey and Friends fruit crisps, Hibiscus Mini Beach Balls, Leis, Bubbles, Mickey Mouse Stickers, Pinwheels, and Stamps. (There is also a cute “Birthday Clubhouse” banner hanging but thanks to a nice breezy day it is hard to see. No worries I have a better shot further down)
Now on to the food
The color scheme was BRIGHT. Green tablecloth and forks, Yellow Dinner Plates, Red Dessert Plates, orange and pink napkins. Basically the brighter the better!
Minnie Mouse Bow-Tique Pasta is an Italian cold pasta salad. Steam broccoli, add cubes of cheddar cheese (which I forgot- oops), cook pasta according to package and toss with Italian dressing.
I used my Mickey Mouse Cookie Cutter
on the watermelon to give the fruit salad a little touch of magic!
I downloaded the Mickey Mouse print outs for the goodie pails and these cupcake picks from Homeketeers.
As if we weren't partied out, the next day we hosted a small indoor Mickey Luau for just the family.
Again, I like to use what I have when it comes to decorating. Here you see my son's Clubhouse toy. I added the characters and wrapped a lei on the top- centerpiece done!
Here is a better shot of the Birthday Clubhouse Banner. Works best if you have a flat surface to attach it to!
The Tropical Flowered Table Skirt fit nicely around our kitchen island too! I love this decoration so much I need an excuse to host another luau!
More of the Hibiscus Flower Print Cups and my cute pitcher I got from my trip to Philadelphia.
Surf's Up! Enjoy your luau!
The perks of being an Oriental Trading Blogger allowed me to get the really cool Luau decorations for this party. No other compensation was given and of course opinions as always are my own! This post contains an amazon affiliate link.
Ready to fall down the rabbit hole and party with us?
Welcome to the party!
The March Hare is ready for tea and we can see Alice stepping through the looking glass in this classic version of the book.
For the colorful tea cups, I went to a local thrift shop and bought a few for less than $0.50 a piece. Then all you need to do is add some bright spray paint and voila you have an eye catching decoration.
This centerpiece was one of the things I was most excited about when the idea came to mind. That is real grass, Wheat Grass. Yes the kind you hear us health nuts talking about. One of my local organic shops sells it fully grown for you to juice at your pleasure. After the party I used it to make healthy, yummy smoothies. A few fake flowers left from the Tangled party added to the garden look. My Aunt had given my daughter this porcelain tea set when she was a baby. It finally saw the light of day for this party.
Decorating the food table was easy. I used a heart shaped paper punch and grabbed several paint sample strips from Home Depot. You can have your own confetti in less than 30 mins and it's free.
In the bowl we had the White Rabbit's snacks, Annie's Cheddar Bunny mix.
Little honey wheat bread rolls.
Tea Sandwiches cut using a flower shaped cookie cutter.
Fruit served in a heart shaped bowl.
It wouldn't be a party without pictures. This whimsical Photo Booth let the girls let loose and embrace their inner Mad Hatter.
Curiouser and Curiouser?
Those adorable pictures needed a home. As a thank you for all the kids, each girl made a Tea Pot Frame
Craft. They went home with the completed frame and inside the thank you cards I included one of their pictures.
I could think of nothing more appropriate for the game than Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat. He is my favorite character in the books and movie.
I found these awesome Alice in Wonderland cupcake toppers at Fleece Fun (they have a lot of free printables) and bought the figurines
to add some flare. They also later doubled as cake toppers for a simple cake for the family.
A random find, the Reynolds Staybrite Pink Baking Cups
They look like a perfect match to the Cheshire Cat and the colors don't fade during baking.
The Queen of Hearts was not pleased after she found out the goody bags were not for her.
Have a Very Merry UnBirthday!
*This post contains amazon affiliate links*
Now that we are closing in our Disney trip, I have been making my packing lists. Laugh if you want, but I am a lists Queen. They make me feel better and more organized when big life events are happening. And for me this is HUGE, it is our first major family vacation ever. Sure we did the beach for a week but that was with only one child and we drove. This time around, it's all four of us and we are flying which is a first for the kids. Needless to say I am trying not to jump off the cliff of crazy!
As I was preparing these Disney blog posts I knew I would share with you about what to pack for Disney World. It was a good plan now that I think about it, because not only am I helping you I'm also helping myself. Typing this out forced me to really think and make sure I am prepared. I almost forgot something!
Your trip is booked and you are in your final days before you leave. Everyone is getting anxious and excited to get going. Your kids are asking a million and one questions, while your husband is trying to figure out what shirt matches which pants. You need to make sure everyone has everything they need before you leave.
Allow me to help.
Did you know? If you are staying at a Disney resort they offer complimentary pickup from the airport as well as a baggage service. When you book your vacation through Disney, they will send you cute luggage tags and yellow Magical Express tags that will clue the airport staff to set them aside in a special Disney only area. Then a cast member will grab your bags and have them waiting in your room within 3 hours. All you have to do is catch the Magical Express bus and head to your resort.
Once you make it to your resort and check-in you have some options. Hangout poolside, take a nap in your room if it's ready, or jump on Disney transportation and go to the parks. Whatever you choose to do, these are my gotta haves for your trip.
Carry-on: (I recommend using a backpack for it's ease of use in the parks as well)
Official Itinerary
Swim Suits if you decide to spend time at your resort first.
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
Magic Bands or Magic Cards (aka your room keys and park passes)
Autograph Books. Once inside the parks, you never know which characters you may come across. Autograph books can be purchased in all the gift shops around the property, or you can buy them ahead of time online or in store at The Disney Store.
Camera
Poncho. It does rain randomly in Florida so a poncho is a good idea unless you're like me and don't care about getting wet.
Lightweight Outerwear (sweater, hoodie, sweatshirt) depending on time of year. Since we are traveling in October, it will be warm enough during the day but can get chilly at night.
Not really in your carry-on but still, wear comfortable shoes. Heels are cute however with all the walking, yeah not so much.
Main Luggage/Checked Bags:
Strollers. Little legs will get tired. Who am I kidding? My legs get tired but it isn't socially acceptable for me to be carried or pushed in a stroller…
Flexible/Diverse Wardrobe. As I said in the carry-on section this is all dependent on the weather. Check out average temperatures for Florida before you pack.
Sunscreen and Aloe in case of sun burn.
Bug Spray
Plastic Ziploc bags for your phone on water rides
Phone, Camera, Electronics chargers. I am choosing to unplug except for my phone so I can just immerse myself in all that Disney World has to offer.
For your Princess:
Princess Dresses and Accessories. My daughter has almost all of them so choosing a few to bring is very difficult for her! Imagine the memories of meeting your favorite princess wearing a matching dress. Best pictures ever!
Favorite Toy(s). I limited my children to one each. I know we will end up with more friends once they see all that is available at Disney. These toys help keep them occupied on the plane and feeling more secure at night if they do not like sleeping in strange places.
Disney Giftcard. We saved our children's Christmas and Birthday money and preloaded it on a Disney gift card. They are available at the Disney Store, Target, Michaels, and more. You can register them in the event they are lost or stolen.
For your Pirate or Superhero:
Jake, Peter Pan, Avengers Costumes. Dress up isn't just for the girls. Disney World has a pirate experience for boys (and girls). Bring him dressed and ready to parrrrty!
Favorite Toy
Disney Giftcard
