This July, Evelyn turned three years old. I always start her birthday plans in January. I am forgetful so to keep myself from forgetting anything needed for a smoothly flowing child's birthday party, I start the plans six months ahead. So in January, I was planning to do a Disney Cars themed birthday party since it is one of Evelyn's favorite movies. I had been finding things all over Etsy and getting ideas from different sites online since Thanksgiving last year or so and January comes and Evelyn loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so much. I had to change it. I couldn't keep her from having a Clubhouse birthday party.
So Evelyn's 3rd birthday party was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!
To start the party plans, I needed to plan Evelyn's outfit. I asked her if she wanted to dress up as Minnie and she told me, "No, I wanna be Mickey Mouse!" and threw up her arms with excitment. So I asked her again a few days later, to be sure that's what she wanted and she said the same thing. Evelyn doesn't care about being a boy charcter as long as she has fun being that character.
The Outfit
I planned on making her outfit simple. I used red shorts (borrowed from my nephew's pajamas) and cut two large circles out of white felt and sewed them on making two verticle stripes. She wore a black shortsleeve shirt, plastic Mickey ears and white gloves. In a neighboring town (5 minutes away), there is a music store that carries marching gloves in both black and white for middle school to university aged marchers. I bought a white pair and cut the fingers off to the edge of her fingers. I used a black permenant marker to make the three classic trademark black lines on the back of all the gloves of Mickey and friends. I could've stitched on the black lines but like I said, I wanted it to be simple. I was going to sew two of the fingers together but didn't since I knew she would want to wear the gloves most of the party; eating and playing would become difficult.
I wore a red shirt with Mickey on the front. My shirt was a last thought so I got it late. The only place I had to find one was Wal-Mart. They didn't have one in my size that was red, white or black. I went to the pajama section and found one easy and right away. Even better that its just a t-shirt made from jersey. Can't tell its a pj shirt. Tom already had a red polo so he was covered. That was one reason why I forgot that I needed a shirt. Evelyn had her outfit and Tom had his shirt and I went out of my mind...in a sort.
The Place
Evelyn's first birthday party was at my parents, we didn't have the floor in our house finished so we had it there. A water party. Her second birthday party was at our house and was also a water party. This year's birthday party was at a park in our little Texas town. It's at the very edge of town so the wind blows nicely through and there is a large open crop field next to it so it's easy to see the sun setting making it even more lovely. There is another park in town that houses all the baseball fields but it has very old equipment. The park we had the party at is almost all new equipment with a new walking path that little kids ride their bikes on and a pavilion that was built earlier this year in addition to one that is still in very good condition. This park is usually the one we visit so we decided to have the party there. We ended up arriving ten minutes before the party started with nothing set up. We were lucky though that we were able to get the new pavilion which is also closer to the play area. The kids played before the games and while we still set up. The weather was nice for being South Texas; in the mid 90s or so with good wind. At the end of the party a storm went around our town so it became very cool for mid July in Texas. I think we picked a good spot.
Games
game 1) I wanted to make a Toodles. I had to make Toodles!
inside
outside
I bought a tri-folding poster (what children usually use for Science Fairs) and used construction paper to make Toodles. I traced a large serving bowl for the face and a top from a smaller storage bowl for the ears. Dinner plates could work too but we have square plates so I had to find something else. I put Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gift wrapping paper on the outside so it didn't look so plain and incomplete.
I used Toodles to play an on going game that lasted through most of the party. Just like Toodles in the show, our Toodles would help us with the party. Our Mouseka tools were Mickey Mouse ears, a number 3 candle, a pinata stick and the mystery Mouseka tool (which was a bag of Minnie bows). I used a staple gun to staple it to a light pole.
The children at our party ranged from ages 2-10 with one 1 year old. The ten year olds are twins that didn't participate in the games, just played at the park and hit the pinata which was what we expected them to do at a party of a three year old. All the others knew all about Mickey's Clubhouse so it was easy to play this game. It started with the children gathering around the pole with a "closed" Toodles, then I welcoming them to the party and told them that we were going to start the games.
"Does everyone have their Mickey Mouse ears?"
"Evelyn doesn't!" my nephew shouted.
"Oh no! We need a Mouseka tool to help us! Everyone say 'Oh, Toodles!'" I instucted.
"OH TOODLES!" they all shouted.
I opened Toodles and the game began. We continued it; a bag of Minnie's bows for a game (see game 4), the candle for the cake (which we couldn't lite because of the wind) and the pinata stick for the pinata.
game 2) My mom found an inflatable bean bag toss game that was of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It was unexpect and was pretty much at the last minute but I was glad she found it. It was awesome for the kids!
(We hooked it on a rebar that supported a tree so it would stay in one place)
game 3) I wanted to play a fishing game. Evelyn likes fishing, I think it reminds her of my brother who is half way through his two year mission in Mexico right now. So for the next game I made fish out of construction paper and magnets and put them in a baby pool.
(I put large rocks inside to keep it from flying away)
"Uh oh! With all the noise from the birthday party we woke up Pete! And Pete gets grumpy if he doesn't get his nap! We need to go to Mickey pond and catch him some fish to make him happy."
The children fished in "Mickey Pond" and all recieved an extra large lollie pop when they caught a fish, which they all did, we made sure of course. They had fun fishing!
game 4) I wanted to do a "Pin the Bow on Minnie" game but I couldn't find anything online that I could buy from a store except Etsy but even then it wasn't what I wanted. So I made one myself!
(All these pictures were taken after the party so they are a little mess now as you can see)
I got a picture off Google Images, enlarged it and printed it up in quaters and used it as a templet. I used black construction paper and a red marker for Minnie's tongue. I cut out different colored bows and each child had a different color. For this game we needed to call for Toodles. We picked our Mystery Mouseka Tool and recieved a bag full of Minnie's bows. Evelyn did the best. She didn't have her eyes covered though.
A storm was forcasted to come in, which we didn't know about until we saw it coming, so we rushed after the games. We called Toodles for the candle and cut the cake.
We called Toodles again and then hit the pinata.
The Goody Bags
My cousin made the goody bags. I picked out the picture and wording and she made the bags. We put mini composition books, a mini skateboard of Mickey's Clubhouse, Mickey crayons, mini flutes and I think one other thing that I can't remember right now.
The Pinata
My cousin, Bob, wanted to buy Evelyn her pinata and Evelyn had said, from the first day that we told her she would have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party, that she wanted a Goofy pinata. If you are unfamiliar with pinatas, it is a, usually, large character from a children's movie or show made of paper mache. It is filled with candy and sometimes small toys. You tie it up on a tree so that you can pull the pinata up and down. The children beat the pinata until all the candy falls out. It's a lot of fun!
The children weren't able to break it on their own. I had to break it. That's what a Mommy must do. Wink, wink!
Rules that my parents made when we were kids was that every child would get three hits and no one could run to get candy until the child hitting has done all three hits, and the child is to drop the stick if kids run to get candy. We have a marked off area too that we tell the children not to cross. This is one thing I see children obey better than about anything else you tell them. I think it's for the candy. Kids love to hit things and get candy. The only time it could ever possibly be allowed. Evelyn had gotten very good at hitting a pinata, tough like Mama! She is ready for t-ball next year.
(Pictures of Evelyn with her pinata coming soon!)
Decorations
While looking for ideas for the party online, I saw that one mother used fluffy, pointy paper decorating balls in black and I thought, "I can do that with regular paper lanterns and add black ears to make Mickey heads and red paper lanterns and add white paper dots to make Mickey pants."
I hung them with fishing line. I underestimated the amount I needed so only one side of the pavilion had them.
I also made signs that I put next to the bag of Mickey Mouse Ears and signs next to the food that was hot dogs.
(Pictures soon to come of the decorations)
It was a long day but it went very well. I enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did too! Time to start preping for Evelyn's Fourth Birthday Party! Thinking Jake and the Neverland Pirates or Doc McStuffins...hmm...or maybe something not even out yet! She does love anything of super heros. Maybe it can be a super hero party and as a "goody bag" they would get a cape instead? Sounds fun already! Yay for childrens birthday parties!
