How to Throw Your Toddler a Character Themed Birthday Without Too Many Characters

Z is about to turn 3! And with that we’re throwing her first friends-only birthday party. We’ve been talking about it daily for MONTHS – MONTHS people! To say the very least, she is so very excited and wants to be involved in every aspect of planning. As I always say, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree… Anyway, the past 2 years I’ve gotten away with coming up with the theme for her birthday party but not this year. From the start of birthday party discussions (that started in July) she knew she wanted a Minnie Bow-tique birthday party (in case you’re not familiar, on the show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Minnie Mouse owns a shop called Minnie’s Bow-tique where she sells hair bows). So! I dove right in to plan a Minnie Bow-tique party without everything being covered in Minnie Mouse’s face (no offense Minnie). Here are a couple details (more to come post-party):

Simple invites this year. I used Photoshop and typed the lyrics to the Minnie Bow-tique theme song and drew a simple Minnie Mouse shape. Once printed I used foam sheets and cut out bows to make the front a little 3D. I did a hand stamped back to the invite and wrote in the details of the party.

One must on Z’s birthday party list has been party hats.

For these, I just ordered black polka dot hats from amazon. I cut out circles from black construction paper and taped them on the sides of each hat to create Minnie ears.

Then I used the same foam sheets to make bows. No free-hand drawing here, I traced a downloaded “official” Minnie Bow-tique bow to get the cartoon-y shape just right.