Dumbo Birthday Party Activities | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

On a warm hot September day, what do you do with 9 kids at a two year old's, Dumbo themed birthday party??? Stick em in the backyard!  That was majority of our "activities" for our Dumbo party.  We were very lucky to have beautiful weather that day.  

We started with a toddler size blow up castle.  While I would have loved to have one that had a circus tent feel, we already owned this one and I couldn't think of paying to rent one! Plus, very few kids actually got in it... must have been too hot!

Dumbo Birthday Party Decorations | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

Now that I've become familiar with My Memories Suite software for digital scrapbooking, I've started making most of my own decorations for parties.  This party was no exception.  I did buy the table cloths, balloons, plates, napkins and utensils though! :)

 First our table was covered with a plastic, striped table cloth.  I found a Dumbo hardback book at the Dollar Tree and we had 2 Dumbo stuffed animals that were used as the center piece of the serving table.  I made the banner that said Happy Birthday and all the food tents with My Memories Suite.  I used the "Circus" font and did a google search for Dumbo character images to use as my clip art on the food tents.

Dumbo Birthday Party Food | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

My sweet baby boy, Big E, turned two in SEPTEMBER!!  I've just now had time to sit down and share my photos and thoughts with you all about his party. As soon as his birthday was over, we were in full planning mode for our October/ November WDW trip (which I still haven't written about...) and I never took the time to blog about his party.  Once we returned, it was crunch time for Christmas and the holidays.  Now, I'm finally making time to share! :)

No party is complete without food.  I think this has become my favorite part of party planning!  Once again, my mom did an amazing job with the cake and cupcakes!  The original plan for the cupcakes was to add a "Nutter Butter" peanut shaped cookie to the top.  When I added the cookie to the first cupcake, I knew it wasn't going to work!  Either the cupcakes were way too small or the cookies were way too big!  The small, "Nutter Butter Bites" cookies are not peanut shape, so those were out of the question. We decided to forgo the cookies and just serve iced cupcakes.

Disney Wordless Wednesday #DisneySide | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

This week's not so "Wordless Wednesday" post is all about your #DisneySide! While on our fall 2014 trip to Walt Disney World, I was able to meet three of my online, Disney blogging friends! It was awesome being able to share my #DisneySide with these friends at our happy place!

Dave from Your First Visit

Lisa and James from Home Is Where The Mouse Is

Mickey Mouse Pull String Pinata Tutorial | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

Last year when we hosted a #DisneySide @Home Celebration, I spent quite a bit of time making a pull string pinata for the party.  I have had the pictures on my computer for almost a year and never got around to posting a tutorial.  

Now that everyone else is planning 2015 #DisneySide parties, I thought I'd share how I made my Mickey Mouse Pull String Pinata. Thanks to Alicia Policia for providing the inspiration and the awesome directions!

Supplies needed:

• cardboard box
• pencil
• scissors
• stencil to trace the shape or picture to sketch
• pipe cleaners
• tissue paper cut into 2-3 inch squares
• glue- (I used Tacky glue)
• plate
• duct tape
• crepe paper streamers
• curling ribbon
• wrapping paper for the bottom
• rope

DIY Disney's Fab Five Candy Jars | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

Last summer several of my blogging buddies and I participated in a Virtual Birthday Party Blog Hop for Donald Duck's 80th Birthday.  My "job" for the party was to come up with a party favor idea.  After much thought, I decided to make these Donald candy jars out of baby food jars, M&Ms, ric rac, paint, felt and hot glue.  (Instructions in the Donald link)

#DisneySide @ Home Celebration Reveal | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

I am thrilled to announce that I have been chosen to host a 2015 #DisneySide @Home Celebration!  We had so much fun at our 2014 #DisneySide Celebration and look forward to more great family memories with this years party!

While we don't have a date, a "theme" or a invite list yet, we do have supplies!  Thanks to Maria Bailey with BSM Media and Disney Parks for providing the amazing party kit!

The box first started off as a drum..

The Little Mermaid Legacy Collection #DisneyMusic {Giveaway} | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

“The Little Mermaid Legacy Collection CD is being provided since I'm a member of the Entertainment New Media Network.  No compensation was received for writing this post and all opinions are my own.  This post may also contain affiliate links.”

The Little Mermaid. I honestly believe it's my favorite Disney movie of all time. I was a sophomore in high school when it came out. I remember getting our VHS copy as soon as it was released. I have no idea how many times we I watched it! When I started college in 1992, this was one of the few videos I brought with me. I remember watching it three times in one day as I studied for finals. I could recite this movie word for word. I can still recite most of it today.

One of the things that drew me to this movie was the music. These songs were catchy. They were fun. They made me happy. I had the cassette tape in my car and listened to it often! When I graduated to CDs, this was one of the cassettes I held on to. When it was time to transfer all my CDs to iTunes, I broke down and downloaded the digital copy of The Little Mermaid. I eventually got rid of my cassette copy. However, I still have my VHS copy of the movie- complete with the controversial cover! ;)

Freezer Paper Tshirts for Disney | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

One of my favorite creations prior to our fall Walt Disney World trip was our Freezer Paper T-shirts.  We made Star Wars shirts for us to wear to The Studios on the day we hoped C-man would participate in the Jedi Training.  The shirts were super cute and super easy!  I had a Princess Leia shirt.  Big E had Yoda.  C-man had Darth Vader.

What you'll need:

• clean t-shirt
• freezer paper (NOT wax paper)
• stencil of image to go on shirt
• pencil
• scissors/ exacto knife
• iron
• washable, permanent craft paint
• paint brush or paint sponge

Staying at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

One resort I would love to stay in is The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at Walt Disney World.  While we have walked through the lobby and around the grounds before, we have never stayed at this resort.  Luckily, my friend Mike from My Dreams of Disney has had the privilege of staying here and was willing to share his thoughts with all of us!  Thank you Mike and Welcome to A Disney Mom's Thoughts!

Hello my friends, my name is Mike Ellis, and my good friend Beth has asked me to write a post for you about the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the signature resort for Walt Disney World Resort.  It is my pleasure to do so, and I hope you enjoy my post as much as I did in writing it for you!

In February of 2013, I became a part-time travel agent for Pixie Vacations.  I had been considering delving into this side of Disney Planning, because I love to help my friends with their vacations, so when I was selected to become a Pixie, I was extremely excited.  To top it off, Pixie was having an agent get together in July of that year, and the Grand Floridian was one of the places that we could book for travel for that!

Mary Poppins Birthday Party Decorations | A Disney Mom's Thoughts

The last part of our Mary Poppins Birthday party are the decorations ideas.  My friend did a great job with her decorations.  We had bigger plans, but just didn't have the time to pull it off!  Here are some of her decorations.