Happy Birthday Janelle?

I know, it's still three weeks until Janelle's actual birthday. But having a December birthday definitely has it's downfalls. Once the Christmas season hits, it's hard to squeeze a birthday in. Since Janelle is turning 5 this year we decided to have a big party for her and this week was the best time we could do it. She's going to think she has a birthday month by the time she has her actual birthday and family party! Here are the pictures from her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday bash.

Back Row: Jeffrey, Janelle, Alice, Reagan, and Sammy
Front Row: Tyler, Josh, Rylei, and Ben

Originally Janelle wanted to have a Barbie themed party, but since she mostly plays with boys and would have quite a few of them at her party, I asked her if she could think of a party theme that both boys and girls would like. She came up with a Mickey Mouse theme which turned out to be a great success! Did you know that if you go to playhousedisney.com each tv show they have has party ideas? We were on an extremely tight budget this year, so it was great! I found game ideas, party favor printables, food and decorating ideas, and even thank you cards. Other than the pinata, almost everything was homemade...how very Martha of me.

We played "Pin the Bow on Daisy."

The kids played a rousing game of "Mouse, Mouse, Mickey!" (AKA "Duck, Duck, Goose!")

We looked everywhere, there were no Mickey pinatas, so we settled on a Princess one. We took 2 turns each trying to bust open the pinata. Josh, Sammy, Alice, and Tyler had some very passionate swings, but with no luck. Kyle had to end up busting open that princess pinata.
We also went on a dog hunt to find Pluto's Bones (I taped a picture of a bone on each Mickey Mouse rice krispie treat, then hid them around the room. The kids had to get down on all fours and pretend to be little doggies to find their treats.)

Of course the Mickey Mouse-shaped birthday cake topped the party off.
I have to admit, I was a little proud of how well this cake turned out. Originally, I was going to make a Minnie Mouse face, but totally forgot to get black frosting dye at the store. (And if any of you have experimented with frosting colors, mixing all of them together does not make black...or brown even...just a disgusting mess!) At the last second I remembered Spencer had these Mickey Mouse toys which worked out perfectly as cake toppers. Of course, the cake itself had to be pink and purple - Janelle's two favorite colors.

Yes, that is actually 10 kids if you include Spencer. Fortunately I had Kyle home to help keep the kids to a dull roar. It was a very noisy party, but a really fun one. I think all the kids had a good time.
Happy early birthday Janelley!

Spencer was hilarious with his piece of cake. I try to not let my kids eat a lot of sugar, so I guess it's a major treat when they get it! Here's Spencer after he'd eaten all the cake...

...and here's Spencer licking the plate clean!
After all the messes were cleaned and the house was finally quiet again, I asked Janelle if she had had a fun time. Her response attached with a big hug,

"It was TOO fun Mommy!"

It was oh, so worth it just for that!

So that's it for major parties for us for awhile. Kyle and I decided that our kids get big parties at the ages of 5, 8, 12, and then negotiable. On the off years we'll probably do something small like take them and one friend out to dinner or to a park...just something low key.