Editor’s Note : I have always maintained that even though other parenting websites and blogs may have more readers but I have THE BEST READERS in the world!! I feel like they are all my good friends and in fact I find many readers to be like-minded and they have become real life friends too.

I interacted with the super talented Dolly Rai when she contributed to our Father’s Day series last year. Her creativity and her resourcefulness had floored me. Back in June I received an email from her with these lines

The best thing about your blog is that it teaches us how to put on our creative cap n do things the DIY way. I am organizing a Minnie themed polka dots party for my 5 yr old and created party favor bags ,photobooth props ,décor centre pieces etc from free printables on the net

Really grateful to moms like you who have shown that if one can create on his/her own , we need not depend on any party decorators who charge exorbitantly high prices. Cant explain how delightful it is to create something and giving it a special touch .

I was humbled and at the same time I was super excited to see what she was upto. I requested her if she could share the details of this DIY party with all of my readers and to my delight she agreed. Since our readers loved our at-home Barbie Birthday Party, I was sure you all would like this too.

Feast your eyes on this gorgeous, cute, adorable and most importantly SUPER INEXPENSIVE DIY MINNIE BIRTHDAY PARTY. Over to Dolly for her experience in her own words.

DIY MINNIE MOUSE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Life is a fairy tale and fortunately a parent has a part in it. Being a mom to a baby girl, this sounds a bit more true. I have enjoyed every bit of motherhood ever since I was blessed with my little sweet pea Tanvee.Painting nails to buying sweet leggings and swirly tutus and shopping for chic headbands(ahh the list is long and endless) have done it all.

She has also made me a better person and mellowed me down emotionally. It seems like just yesterday when we found that we were going to be parents and in a blink of the eye she is already 5 yrs old. Ohh Toddles!

I had a blast planning and organizing her 5th birthday bash. I spent a month and a half pulling ideas together and making this a fun and memorable event for all of us to reminisce in future.
Here is how we went about organizing the party.

Theme selection

Mickey /Minnie has been my daughter’s personal favorite ever since her first trip to Disneyland and I must say “the obsession continues”. Who hasn’t had a Mickey /Minnie party? Almost everyone. So I steered clear of the “oh so regular stereotyped” Mickey ,Minnie party gear which has the Mickey Minnie faces . Just wanted the red /black polka dots along with the Minnie ears and her classic red bow and somehow reinvent the Minnie theme. So the pink color for Minnie had to be done away with .

{Check out our Birthday Party Planning Checklist Free Printable}

Invites

We kept the invites simple.Downloaded a free printable invite from the net and got it digitally printed from a neighborhood printing shop for as low as Rs 6 a piece. Believe me this is peanuts compared to what online stores charge.

{Check out our DIY Birthday Invites for a Pool Party}

Hats

We decided to take a free printable template from google and got them printed on glossy sheets available with digital printing shops locally.Then cut and glued them to form the conical party hats. Then we attached red/black ribbons as strings and black craft paper cut outs as mickey ears. I am glad I did not approach any crafters as some of them force you to buy the whole party set.

Party favor bags/ return gift bag

I wanted to send the kids home with something extra special so we decided to make our own return gift goody bags.We got these plain black paper bags from a local stationer. We then used red polka dotted wrapping paper in the lower part and used red Minnie bows color printed and cut from a plain sheet.For ears we used round cut outs of black craft paper .Made the mickey bags too were made the same way except the bow on top.

{Check out our Birthday Party Planning tips on a Budget}

Décor

 1. Paper flowers or rosettes : The main décor was the red /black polka dotted paper rosettes made from polka dotted craft paper. You can check YouTube for a tutorial on how to make them ,its pretty much easy and simple .

2. Bunting : The mickey bunting template was again downloaded as a free printable available on google. Got them printed on plain A4 size paper and cut them and clipped them on a satin ribbon .This was easiest of them all .This bunting was used to decorate the edges of the cake table (center table).

3. Banner: The “happy birthday” banner: We printed plain black mickey heads and used red glitter paper for the alternate mickey head cut outs. Attached alphabets on them which were obtained as free printables. To add a wow effect we placed Minnie mouse cut outs on either side with the classic Minnie bow.

4. Table mats: We made large mickey head cut outs from black craft paper. We used a dinner plate and a soup bowl to draw the mickey onto the black craft paper (I swear, its as simple as that ). Each of these were placed on the circular dinner tables .Economical and easy ,you can make this for as many tables you decide to have for your guests .One craft paper sheet is 10 bucks and makes 2 to 3 such mats depending on the size you choose.

Games

1 .”Pin the nose on the Mickey”

As much as I love theme parties, my most favorite thing about throwing a party for kids is the games .We chose “Pin the nose on the mickey “after some internet search . We blind folded the kids in turns and asked them to come and try pinning the nose on to the mickey flex. Our 24 mouseketeers enjoyed playing this to the hilt.

2.Photo booth (in the Disney theme)

The tattoo artists and the magicians were kept away for a change as the concept seemed too outdated now .Hence opted for a photo booth in Disney theme for kids and for parents too (phew!!)

These were pretty much the cutest things we did and the best part is the cost at which we managed to make it. Online crafters would charge a whopping 3.5 k for props as less as 20 .(Can you believe that? ) that’s the price for one gram of gold!! Since the life span of these props  is just one party and you are not going to reuse them then why shell out so much .

I decided I would rather try and make them myself  and I do not mind them to be simple .

After a little research on google about party photo booth props ,we hit upon and downloaded such cute props from accenttheparty.com. One can whip them on Photoshop and change color and font. One can also add glitter paper and stuff to add to the bling effect. However we kept them simple as we had very less time .
We asked our local digital printing shoppe to print it on thick paper and then cut it .A total of 50 props on 12 sheets each costing 25 rs a sheet .Voila !! Just Rs 300/-

{Check out our list of 40 birthday Party Games and activities}

Food Menu

We kept more of finger foods and starters like french fries ,tortilla chips and vegetable bruchettas etc along with a red two tiered minnie bow cake and cupcakes for our 24 mouseketeers.The kids loved the cup cakes with its Minnie mouse toppers (and honestly ,so did I).We even named the food after the Disney characters and made a menu card of it .

{Check out the food menu at our pool party from last year}

Music

We downloaded the Minnie mouse happy birthday song and other mickey mouse club house songs from youtube to play in the party as I really detest the idea of playing an Bollywood item music in such parties which has become a trend these days.

Other party supplies

Balloons ,cups, plates and treat boxes were bought form firstcry.com as well as prettyurparty.com. Loved the quality .The only caution one needs to keep is to order big polka dotted balloons from the online store as the smaller dotted are not good in quality .
Overall we had a fun evening thanks to our guests.It sure will be nostalgic years later when we sit back and go through our party pics .We all had a hot diggity dog time and my little sweet pea was thrilled!!

Wasn’t that FUN!!! I am sure you are also inspired to celebrate your kids’

birthday parties on your own and on a budget!