Budget Friendly Minnie Mouse Party

This weekend our little girl turned two.  It was a whirlwind of excitement, exhaustion, and partying hard (not really).  We kept things small this year and celebrated with just our immediate family.  I planned to keep things really simple because we did a big shebang last year, but once I get started on something it's hard for me to stop myself.  The good thing is that I kept this party really budget friendly.  I always feel bad spending money on things I'll probably never use again so I pretty much just used stuff that we already had.  I also used my Silhouette machine a ton.  I really love that thing and have more than gotten my money's worth out of it.  I'm not being paid to say that either, I'm pretty sure they don't even know I exist :) 

On to the pictures.

We started a tradition last year of getting my daughter flowers on her birthday every year.  Nothing really fancy or expensive.  These were $5.99 at Trader Joe's, but I loved the color combo.  I hope we can keep it going for many years to come!  There's something about fresh flowers that makes you feel extra special!

I cut all the banners using my Silhouette machine and some card stock.

I ordered this giant gold 2 balloon on ebay for a few dollars and had it filled up with helium at a local grocery store for a few more dollars.  I did have to rig up the ribbon on the bottom, as you can see, to make it stay the right way.

I cut off about the top 1/3 of a party hat and glued it to some felt.  Then I glued that to a plain headband and added a simple bow.  I cut circles out of black foam and glued them to the sides for the ears.  It turned out to be the perfect party hat for our birthday girl.  It didn't stay on for most of the party, just I suspected, but we did keep it on long enough for a few pictures.

I googled "silhouettes of Minnie and Mickey mouse" and found a few images that I liked.  I imported them into my silhouette software and cut them out.  You could always just print them out, but I didn't want to waste all that black ink.

I used my silhouette again to cut the minnie head and bow used on the white bags.  We filled them with chips so everyone would have their own bag.  We also had fruit cups and "hot diggity dogs" as they say on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Additional Sources:

Red/white streamers: Hobby Lobby

Red paper fans: Target after Christmas sale

Black Paper Fans: Hobby Lobby

Black Dot Wrapping Paper: Homegoods

Polka Dot Plates, Party Hats, and Napkins : Mighty Dollar

 dress: Zulily

Gold Number 2 Balloon: Ebay (just FYI, it's enormous!)

I think that about covers it, but if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section.