Saturday was the Tiny Dancer’s first birthday and I decided to go with a Minnie Mouse theme. All of the Minnie Mouse birthday stuff in stores is in pink – I don’t know why since Minnie wears a red dress. Sooo, I had to take a DIY approach to the partay – which is fine because I really love the way it turned out.

I started out by making a mood board and doing some research on what my options were – it was my first kid’s birthday party   We kept it pretty simple – not too many guests.  Since Asiya is only one she doesn’t have many friends so we just had family over to celebrate her first birthday.  We had dinner at a restaurant and then came home for cake and birthday gifts.  It was a lovely time and wonderful to reflect on the past year and see how far she’s come.

Here’s a breakdown on the decor and party supplies…

Invitations

I made the invitations based on some that I had found online.  I made a template that includes the Disney font that you can download for free if you want to give it a shot.

Here’s what you need: white paper, black card stock, oak tag or poster board, hot glue gun & glue, red/white polka dot ribbon.

Steps for making the invitation: (1) Customize the text (either in Illustrator or Word – I included two different templates depending on the program you’re using); (2) Print the invitation on the white paper.  Cut out the solid line (the Minnie ears)  and use that as a template for the black portion of the invitation); (3) Trace the invite on the black paper and cut out; (4) Cut the white on the dotted line (the circle with all the info); (4) Use a hot glue gun to glue the white paper on to the black paper (centered where the face would be); (5) Tie a bow and use the hot glue gun to affix the bow to the invite.  Repeat…

Cake

I ordered the birthday cake.  I’m not very adept when it comes to frosting and I knew I wanted fondant details like the polka dots, ears and bow so I went to a local bakery with some pictures of what I had in mind and they did a great job whipping it up.  I also added some Amaretto Cookies, Fresh Strawberries and NY Cheesecake to the dessert mix.

Table Runner

I found red cotton fabric with white polka dots at Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts.  I bought enough for the length of my dining room table and measured the width that I wanted (I used a runner that I have as a template).  I finish off the edges on a sewing machine for a clean edge.  If you don’t know how to sew, I would just cut the ends with some pinking shears – the fabric won’t fray (as much) and you’ll have a cute border on the runner.

Table Setting

Since Minnie Mouse is often seen with daisies I opted for white and yellow daises – fresh flowers always make a table setting look beautiful.  I also purchased a small cluster of balloons from Party City for the table.  I brought the balloons to the restaurant and then brought them home for dessert.  Since the Tiny Dancer’s birthday is close to Memorial Day, there were lots of party supplies in red/white and I was able to find red with white polka dot napkins and plates that matched perfectly with the theme.

Birthday Banner

I ordered the banner from The Birthday House on Etsy.  All I had to do was run the ribbon through and hang it up.  I had some extra ribbon so I added some bows on the ends and as spacers in between each word.  I suppose if you wanted you could DIY the banner based on the invitation template above but the banner was only $20 and it would take you a very long time to cut all that stuff out – the way I see it – my time is more valuable than $20/hour so it was cheaper for me to buy it.

Minnie Mouse Ears

Since it was a Minnie Mouse theme, instead of getting the Tiny Dancer a party hat, I got her official Disney Minnie Ears.  They were adorable for the party, and she’ll get to use them whenever we go to Disneyland.

The party was a lot of fun and the Tiny Dancer enjoyed herself.  It was a nice creative outlet to plan the party and I can’t wait to plan more parties for the Tiny Dancer!