Planning a Minnie Party: Part 1

Gretchen's third birthday is going to be here before I know it! And, if you've been following my blog for a while, you'll remember my "All About Birthday" series last January, and you also know, that I tend to want to go overboard and that I plan her parties months in advance.

This year has not been like that, well, I haven't been able to plan her party for months in advance. I knew that I first had to decide on a theme, and I had so many ideas last year, that it took a while to come up with an idea this year! Plus, Gretchen continued to tell me that she wanted a ladybug party- um, we had that last year!

One of our favorite shows is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and as much as I try to stray away from "cartoonish" items, I knew that Gretchen would appreciate it, so how do I turn this: into something that is fun, stylish, and exciting for a 3 year old girl! I know, Disney things are pretty close to perfect- i'm learning to accept that, but I wasn't crazy about the pink and white that Minnie is now. Although, if I stuck with the color concept above, it would make things easy on me- have you seen the MM Clubhouse party supply section? Well, it's huge! And, it would've made party planning a snap. But, I'm difficult and I guess I'm not easily pleased so I had to change it.

And, this, is what we're planning around:

Sigh, isn't she fabulous? If I have to accept the Disney stage that my daughter is in, and plan a party around it, then, i'm going to go classic. So, here she is, the inspiration for our 3rd birthday party!

But, as if she isn't fabulous enough, I needed to give her some spunk- so, how about zebra print!

For the next few days and weeks, I thought it would be fun to share some of my inspiration ideas with y'all! My husband has made me swear that our budget for the party would be smaller this year, but as you'll see, I've had too many wonderful ideas to choose from! So, I'm going to post them here, but I'll be narrowing them down for the actual party, and you'll have to check back to see what I ultimately choose! I'll also tag it in my "all about birthdays" post, so it's easy to reference to!

On to the invitations, as we know, those are one of the most important parts! Invitations not only encourage your guests to come and formally serve as a way to invite your guests, but they also give a first impression of the event. So, I chose these:

from Shutterfly. I thought the color scheme was perfect, and although, it doesn't scream Minnie, I was able to use my own wording with some 'minnie-isms'. It also helped that I was able to get these for free from Shutterfly because I had won a blog giveaway a few months ago! But, seriously, they're pretty perfect, and you can't beat the price!

If you want something more personal for your own party- you can search for invitations on Etsy and find some pretty fabulous ones!

As I said, the invite does not scream Minnie Mouse, so, how do I give our guest a hint at the party theme? With address labels, of course!

I purchased the above sticker from a seller on Etsy, who was able to change the wording around and make them into address labels! These will affix to the outside of our invites.

So, I've finished with some of the initial stuff- i've choosen a theme and purchased the invites (although, I haven't mailed them- oops!) but, the fun is just beginning! I can't wait to share with you all of my other ideas thanks to the fabulous internet world!