Mickey and Minnie Mouse Party

Miles and Brooklyns' birthdays are 3 weeks apart and since they each aren't at the age of having their own set of friends, I decided to have a joint birthday party.  Let me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVED doing this.  It meant... one invitation, one cake, one set of decorations, one week to prepare, one set of party favors, one meal, one weekend for party, etc, etc.  It was AWESOME.  I successfully was able to do everything for their party under $200.  There's no way I would have been able to do that having 2 parties.  Not to mention, had we had two separate parties... we would have invited the same exact people-- no one less, no one more so it really only seemed like the right thing to do!!  

I had been brainstorming themes, for months, that coordinated but wasn't in love with them because I didn't feel like it was things either one of them were into.  I really wanted to have a Pancake and Pajama party but Brooks thought that was too girly and not boyish enough for Miles.  Then one day, I was walking by the play room and saw both Miles and Brooklyn were dancing and jumping around to Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the Clubhouse show.  That's when it hit me!  Duh!  What a perfect age for them to be at where they both like Mickey and Minnie and that theme would go GREAT together!  

I opted to use Minnie's red and white color scheme so that I didn't have to buy or tie in pink polka dotted things with Mickey's red, yellow, and black colors.  After throwing enough birthday parties the past few years and killing myself over all the details, spending tons of time, energy, and money into all the aspects of the party... only to throw it away or it sit in a box when the party's over... I went smart, functional, and minimal all while making a statement and I think it worked... not to mention my pocket book and time schedule appreciated it!  I felt like I was able to enjoy this party soooo much more!  The kids had a blast, I got the theme across, and everyone left with a little something that I thought they could use in the future!  

So we had all our friends come over around lunch time.... a) so that our entire weekend wouldn't be occupied with getting the house ready for the party b) we'd be finish by nap time (still a necessity around our house) c) gave the kids plenty of time to enjoy their gifts that evening

Brooks grilled "Hot Diggity Dogs" and I fixed "Minnie" Pizzas for our guests to eat.  I made the kids' cake- which we were all sick the week leading up to the party, so I was grateful for a sweet friend who came and helped me the day before.  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful for party day so we spent a majority of it outside.  The kids played on the swing set, jumped in the jump house, and just ran around riding on bikes and scooters.  We let the kids open their gifts, which was pure mayhem.  That was the only downfall of having the joint party-- I stayed next to Miles opening his presents and Brooks was helping Brooklyn, but neither one of us were able to see what the other one was getting/opening.  On top of that we had lots of little kids helping open presents adding to more of the chaos.  Our little ones still enjoyed that time though!

After presents, we sang Happy Birthday to the kids and had all the kids eat their cake outside!  We gave our guests homemade Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears, which they graciously wore for the singing time and they all looked precious in them!  

I didn't plan on any games except for the pinata my mom sent for the kids party!  The kids loved taking turns swinging at the pinata, but unforunately the bottom came out of it by the 3rd kid so it was fast lived.  After all the candy got picked up, a few kids took turns wacking the pinata just for fun!  Overall, it was such a fun and relaxed party.  The kids had a blast and we had minimal clean up/pick up and enjoyed celebrating our kids special day!  I think I just might do as many joint parties as I can get away with until their older and have their own set of friends!!  

Happy 3rd birthday Miles and Happy 2nd Birthday Brooklyn!

 

Did I mention Grammy was here with us? She drove in late Thursday night and was a HUGE help all day Friday and Saturday with the preparations and the party!  Couldn't have pulled off half of it without her!  So glad she was able to celebrate with us since the last three years we haven't been home to celebrate our kids bdays with family.