Alice's Not-So-Scary Halloween Birthday Party

forward: can you ba-lieve that i am not done posting about Alice + her birthday? well, i can't either. geesh.

just had to get that off my chest.
 
well, it's no surprise to the world that me + my family are a bunch of Disney freaks. we really are. and i enable it freely. we love all things Disney- we love the girly princessy foofie things like dress-ups and princess dolls and figurines. we love the not so girly things like toy-story characters and cars, Mickey Mouse and his gang. we love the shows and songs -- especially ones that help us learn history, music and art like Little Einsteins (i adore that show). and of course we love Disneyland. oh, sweet Disneyland. so this year, i came to a crossroads when planning Alice's birthday party: how the heck am i going to narrow this thing down?

well at a similar time, my family was busily making plans for my sister's wedding, which happened to fall the weekend after Halloween- so we were going to be out of town for the Holiday. i, being the self-appointed Queen Disney Freak of the family, immediately suggested going to Disneyland for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on Halloween night with all of my siblings family. and guess what! the idea flew! i was so pumped. so pumped, in fact, that the idea hit me like a pile of bricks- we should throw Alice her very own Not-So-Scary Disney Halloween Party for her birthday! it was perfect!

and so we did just that.

planning a Halloween Party is so stinkin' simple, can i just say that? there are so many ideas out there, so many stores with props and decor, and so many directions you can go. i was a little overwhelmed- but i think it all came together and turned out pretty dang fun.

food:
mummy dogs (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls- which took FOREVER to make. note to self: be more prepared on the mummy dog front next time)
& blood (ketchup)
bones (cheetos that looked like bones)
frozen eyeballs (frozen grapes)
bites + frights with guts (chips & salsa)
an assortment of potions (orange sodas)
 Jack Skellington/Mickey Mummy cupcakes for dessert (the Mickey Mummy cupcakes also took me FOREVER and made a GIGANTIC mess, but turned out pretty dang awesome, so it was worth it in the end.).

favors:

Mickey's Ears and Wizard Wand & Minnie's Ears and Witchy Wands (pretzel rods dipped in homemade caramel + white chocolate + sprinkles). they turned out so cute/fun!

guests also received a little trick-or-treat for dressing up in their favorite Disney Character costume (or any costume in general). i dressed up as Malificent, so i naturally was a witch about this and refused treats to guests who didn't dress up. M was a little embarrassed of me, but hey, Malificent had no mercy, so why should i?

activities:

our awesome friends the Heymans let us borrow their bouncy house- which pretty much stole the show.  kids love bouncing in bouncy houses, don't they!? we called this station "Tigger's Bouncy House."  word of caution: don't let your birthday girl trudge in there with her birthday cupcake. it's a disastrous mess. i guess we let "she's the birthday girl and can do whatever she wants" go a little too far.

we also had a coloring station "Rapunzel's Painting Corner" (with tons of darling lil Disney Halloween coloring pages):

a "bobbing for poison apples" station (which was much more enjoyable as a "dumbo-bath" station):

 a "donuts tied up in strings" station (Pinocchio/i've got no strings? maybe i went a little far on that one...but which was HILARIOUS, nonetheless):

and a "Disney Storybook Station," filled with Disney/Halloween books, and where i read a Mickey Mouse story.

{side note: why didn't anyone tell me that my lipstick looked like a 1 year old had put it on? i mean really. i couldn't post 3/4 the pictures of myself taken throughout the day because it was THAT bad. how EMBARRASSING}

ohhhh! and! of course! our lil "dress-up/picture station"- where our dressed-up guests could pose for pictures. i wish i would have made a Disneyland castle or something for the background- maybe on a future re-do of this theme i'll do that. but i must just add-- the picture station is always my very favorite part! it forces you to get good shots of all (well, ALMOST all, i did miss a couple...) of your guests so you're left with no regrets!

and how awesome are these Incredibles costumes? i mean, really! so...incredible!

a couple of my friends stayed for a lil photo op. we're not the most graceful bunch...but we definitely know how to make each other laugh.

and the kids. OH THE KIDS! they were the darlingest, and most definitely stole the show together. i mean look at that lil Red Riding Hood! soooo cute! (and don't forget the lil nose-picker on the right....classic!)

but really, you have to take a minute to swoon over Minnie & Mickey Mouse. these two kill me!

cutest lil people ever.
 
 unfortunately i may have over-planned a little- because i had things that didn't get used:
-darling Halloween paper dolls that i had printed/set out from Sarajane Studios- they are just so cute.
-pin-the-nose on the Mickey Pumpkin
-Jack-Skellington bowling (with toilet paper rolls and a pumpkin)

it's just too hard to get it all in, you know! but hopefully i'll get to whip them out for another Halloween party next year. i mean, that's the beautiful thing about Halloween- it happens every single year, right? RIGHT!!?

and of course- a party wouldn't be a party without fun people to party with. a big, huge thanks to Alice's guests for coming and making her feel extra special and loved!

she truly is a very loved lil two-year old munch.

afterword: i wish we could have invited every single one of you to celebrate with us; (does anyone else suffer from this dilemma when planning parties? i HATE it!) someday, when budgets are endless and i live in a farmhouse with acres of space, we'll have a huge honky-tonk party where all of us can shimmy, dance, & party our heads off together. i can't wait!

xoxo