As a Disney loving family, each of our boys have celebrated a baby milestone with Mickey Mouse over the years. Our littlest guy loves Mickey with all his heart and soul, to his core. So, when I started the planning process of his second birthday party, I knew that a Modern Mickey Mouse party was the best way to kick off his toddler years.
My favorite thing about party planning isn’t the balloon garland, the food, or the favors. What I love are the custom things that give it life and personality. It’s all the little details of each of the boys’ parties which make it truly their own. Customizing the boys’ birthday parties with printables that I create just for them, has always been a passion of mine. I love creating a party concept which reflects their personalities within the decor and theming.
When party day comes and I’m tweaking the final adjustments before friends arrive, I sit back and tell myself, “this is it, this is my favorite one yet!” It never fails that the one which comes right after it is then my next favorite but, that’s part of the fun of planning birthday parties for your kids. So, without hesitation, this intimate Modern Mickey Mouse birthday party is my current favorite and I’m so grateful to have a place where I can share it with you as if you were right here with us.
To see this modern Mickey Mouse birthday party in real-time,
watch my story highlight HERE!
Modern Mickey Mouse Party Details
Let’s break it down. Like I said, I love all the small details. So in planning this Modern Mickey Mouse birthday party, I knew that even if we were going to keep it small and simple for our family and the boys’ closest friends, it needed to be Deck’s party. A party that encompasses him and what he loves.
Mickey Inspired Food
We went with a brunch menu full of his favorites and a true menu stunner: Malt Mickey waffles – Just like the ones at Walt Disney World! Did you know that you can order waffle mix that crisps and tastes IDENTICAL to the ones at Chef Mickey’s? You totally can and it’s absolutely worth a try. It’s a powdered malt mix which gives the waffles incredible flavor and a crispy bite! The 32oz bag made over 55 Mickey Waffles in our Mickey Mouse 6 mini waffle maker.
Modern Mickey Mouse Party Menu:
- Malt Mickey Waffle Maker
- Pre Portioned Syrup Cups
- GoGo Squeeze
- Tangerines & Bananas
- Pre Prepared Fresh Berry Cups
- Sausage Quiche
- Orange Juice
When it comes to building a party menu, I like to stick with either a theme or a designated meal. Snacks are great but, if we’re partying during a meal time, I want to make sure our friends leave feeling full until their next meal. For this small brunch, we served quiche for the adults with fresh fruit cups and waffles. For the kids, we knew their plates would be full of waffles and parent-approved breakfast snacks on the side! It was the perfect menu for a small brunch without overdoing it and having a fridge full of leftovers.
Modern Mickey Mouse Party Favors & Treats
I am so passionate about showing gratitude to our friends and family who choose to spend time during their weekend to celebrate our boys. So I love to send them home with favors that make them feel special.
Remember the Disney Store in your local mall? Back in the 90’s when things were much simpler, the highlight of my mall visit with Mom would be a stop into the Disney Store. We’d rarely buy anything but, seeing all of those plush Mickeys and Disney movie characters stuffed together on the round displays brought me an immense amount of joy. That’s exactly what I wanted to create with this party. The absolute magic of Mickey. The happiness of hugging that 20 inch plush Mickey doll who will be your forever friend. That’s the feeling I wanted to gift to all of our little guests.
Where to get affordable Mickey plush dolls
Years ago, before we did a stay out at Disney’s Grand Floridian, I picked up plush Mickey dolls for the boys from Kohl’s for $7 each. They frequently carry them in the Kohl’s Cares line so, out of pure luck, they happened to carry them online and in-store shortly before Deck’s party! I was hopeful that they would carry them as we got closer to his birthday so, this was a huge win! They’ve gone up in price these days to $9.99 but, the quality is GREAT.
MICKEY TREATS AS FAVORS
The boys always love when we welcome our friends home with custom treats tailored to their party theme. Because we were already serving waffles for breakfast, we didn’t serve our other Mickey treats during the party. Instead, we laid them out with bags for friends to take home for late along with their Mickey pal. I love the simple yet custom design of these cookies, They perfectly matched the printables and invitations for Deck’s party.
The Mickey Rice Krispie pops were an easy DIY and tasted AMAZING. Everyone loved them so much that I may use the idea in the future for other parties with different shapes. (If I’m being honest, they were more fresh and more delicious than any I’ve ever had at the parks…and we’ve had A LOT of Mickey Rice Krispies from the parks in our lifetime.)
Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie Pops Recipe HERE!
Modern Mickey Decorations
When it came to the decorations, I always like to DIY as much as I can. I designed a custom printable set with juice bottle wraps, pendant flags, food tents, signs, tags, and straw flags to match his party invitations. Using a pack of 100 black and white balloons and some balloons tape, I created two balloon garlands to greet our guests. The trick to making a balloon garland look top notch is to double up on your balloons by stretching your balloons and stuffing one into another of the same size, before blowing. You will definitely need a cheap air pump for this but, if you’re good at juggling kids, blowing up two at a time should be no problem!
I also added some 10-point star balloons and black Mickey head shaped balloons into the garland as well to tie in Mickey to the color scheme. The black Mickey head balloons are absolutely adorable and perfectly resemble the ones in the parks. **BLACK MICKEY HEAD BALLOON PRO TIP: (You do need an air pump for these.) The trick to preventing them from popping is to stretch them over and over again before blowing up. As you see the ears start to form, only let them get full enough to their shape and stop the air. Make sure that the bottom of the balloon is rounded and not pointed. If it’s pointed, you’ve overfilled them and they may pop.
Using 6 foam poster boards form the Dollar Tree and some cheap tablecloths, I put together an eye-catching fringe backdrop. See the full tutorial here. What I love about this backdrop is that I can pull some of the colors out and replace them with other colors for different party themes in the future! Its flat and easy to store for a few months until we get to Linc’s birthday party this Summer!
Adding small touches to things you already own
As I’m finishing up the decorating before any party, I always love tying in things from our home, and giving them a nod to the party theme. So, I replaced the photo in the frame on our front entry table to this one of Deck’s first visit to Disney World. He was only a few weeks old and so began, his love of all things Mickey. I also stuck some black paper Mickey hats on photos of the boys throughout our home and changed the saying on our wooden letter board. It was so darling to have some more personal things added into the decor with a “hey pal!” greeting to our friends.
The jumbo Mickey doll was also a show stunner. He was a gift from my Dad this past Christmas and really pulled the front table together. These life sized plush dolls run on the pricier side but, if you’re looking for the perfect Mickey gift for your little one, it’s a winner. Deck loves to lounge on him when he’s playing in his room and drags him around by the foot when he’s feeling sleepy. He’s become a great addition to our home.
We had the most magical time celebrating our littlest guy! I hope this party can help bring you some inspiration when you’re planning and DIYing your own Modern Mickey birthday party. To see the party details in real life, hop over to my Instagram story highlight for a live view at Deck’s party!
[…] I said in my Modern Mickey Mouse birthday party post, my favorite thing about planning the boys’ parties is the customization that goes into […]