Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Birthday Party

A Not So Scary Party for an October birthday. We combined his love of Disney & Halloween for the perfect spooktacular celebration. Scroll down for links to mentioned items.

I cannot believe my big boy is three! The past few months Easton has taken his love of all things Halloween and Disney to a new level (which might have something to do with him seeing the Halloween decorations up at Magic Kingdom while it was still August). So when I asked him what kind of party he wanted for his third birthday he told me a "Spooky Mickey Party". While it might seem random to some, Easton has been watching the Haunted Monster Musical episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on repeat since June so I wasn't surprised in the least bit.

I've always been a sucker for a good theme and I may or may not have gone a little bit overboard when it came to planning his party. I had to talk myself off the Amazon ledge a few times to keep myself from ordering 10 foot tall Mickey Halloween inflatables.

We went with an afternoon party and served light finger foods including Mickey Chicken Nuggets, Spooky Spinach Dip, Peanut Butter & Jelly Bones and a haunted cheese platter. I used my Sharpie skills to turn mandarin orange cups into pumpkins which served as both a snack for the kids and a great table decoration.

I decided to go with the traditional Not So Scary colorway using black, orange, neon green and purple for most of our decorations and tableware. There is a real lack Disney branded Halloween party supplies so I mostly stuck with solid colors or basic seasonal decor with small Mickey accents where I could. I used a black plastic table cloth to cover up our usual dining room canvas to create the perfect backdrop for additional party decorations.

For Easton's cake, I did go all out and ordered a custom sprinkle mix made to match the Magic Kingdom's Not So Scary Halloween Party theme and I'm pretty sure it was the best $8 I've spent in a long time. His cupcakes were from Sam's Club and I just had them made with the solid colored icing and added my own Wilton sprinkle mix when I picked them up.

I wanted something simple looking for the boys' outfits so I ordered them solid black shirts off Amazon and then ironed on Mickey pumpkin patches and paired them with shorts from our favorite- June & January.

I set out some basic Halloween crafts for the kids to do on the back porch and had a color your own "Club Candy Corn" cardboard haunted play house for them as well. These cardboard play houses have become a bit of a tradition at our parties and the kids never seem to tire of playing with them. For favors I was able to find the perfect Disney Halloween sticker books at Micheal's for each kid to take home with them.

A huge thank you to my aunt, Maria, for making Easton's birthday banner and name sign. And to Justin for putting up with my party insanity and not asking questions when I gave him a list of things I wanted to do for the party.

Boys' Outfits:

Black V-Neck tees

Wasabi shorts: June & January (get 20% off your first order!)

Iron on patches: Ebay

Cake:

Custom sprinkle mix on the cake: Sweet Treat Stencils

3 Candle
Made with the Barefoot Contessa's recipe

Decorations & Tableware
Glitter pumpkin stack
Halloween sectional party trays
Halloween Napkins
Table coverings
Solid colored tableware
Beverage tub: Target past season

Food:
Mickey Chicken Nuggets: Sam's Club
Cupcakes: Sam's Club
Halloween food picks
Bone cookie cutter

Playhouse and crafts: Micheal's in store only

Some of the above may be affiliate links. Nothing in the contents of this post was sponsored. All opinions and ideas are always my own. 

Easy Entertaining With Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OrganizeWithBrilliance #CollectiveBias

When it comes to entertaining my newest motto is "work smarter, not harder". I use to spend hours in the kitchen before a party to the point where guest would be showing up and I would still be in the kitchen in sweatpants prepping appetizers. Once Easton was born I realized that if I wanted to have people over the majority of the party prep would have to take place the night before the event after he had already gone to bed. I started making my dips and spreads ahead of time and storing them in the fridge. Veggies got washed and chopped more than 5 minutes before the party start time and desserts needed to be something that could easily be stored in the fridge.

This new strategy really helped cut down on pre-party stress but it wasn't without its flaws. Our fridge would end up stuffed full of various sizes of food storage containers that no matter how hard I tried would never seem to stay stacked on top of one another. Also, many of our containers were opaque and hard to see through and I could never figure out if I was about to warm up swiss cheese bread dip or cookie dough. Thankfully I discovered Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™ and was able to solve my entertaining preparation dilemmas.

Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™ is crystal clear with 360 degree clarity meaning that no matter what angle to put it in the fridge at you can always tell exactly what's inside. It is also designed to stack perfectly with all the various sizes easily fitting on top of each other. It's stain and odor resistant and the best part? It's 100% leak proof, guaranteed. Which means you can store any kind of soup or liquid in it without worrying about ending up with a mess in your fridge.

My personal favorite feature of the Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™ line is that the containers are nice enough to double as serving wear. For a recent get together I made a few of my favorite party foods ahead of time. I was able to store everything in the fridge and then simply take the containers out, place them on serving pieces and I was ready for guests. My current party favorites are:

• Easy On The Go Veggie Tray
• Prep and chop veggies ahead of time and store in Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™. 
• On a large serving tray place your four containers and add a small bowl for dip in the middle.
• Once the party is about to start, remove the lids, add your ranch dressing and set tray our for guests to enjoy. 
• Fig & Goat Cheese Spread
• Blend together 8oz of goat cheese and 4 tablespoons of fig preserves
• Store in  Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™. 
• When the party starts, set the container in the middle of a serving tray, add crackers and enjoy!

While I served these for friends at my house, they are both so portable if you are heading over to someone's house for the Big Game this weekend. You can easily put all your items in a large bag and show up ready to wow your friends with your on the go appetizer skills. 

And since it wouldn't be a party without dessert, I pre-made my favorite Grown Up Chocolate Chip cookie dough and stored it in the large Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™ container overnight. It was ready to scoop out and bake right before the party. This was perfect because it meant I was able to clean up the baking mess and corresponding dishes the night before so my kitchen stayed clean day of. Bonus- the house smelled amazing when guests arrived. 

Rubbermaid® BRILLIANCE™ is available nationwide at Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Amazon and other fine retailers. We loved it so much that we got a second 10 pc BRILLIANCE™ set for Justin to take to the fire station. We also gifted one to my sister who is about to have her second baby. She was thrilled to be able to use it for fridge organization as she gets ready for baby.

What are you favorite easy party foods? Any of them on your menu for the Big Game this weekend?

Throw Back After School Dessert Party

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ThrowbackSoda #CollectiveBias

When I was little I mostly remember my mom doing the grocery shopping. She always brought a list and with very few exceptions she would stick to it. Every once in awhile my mom would be busy or out of town and she would end up sending my dad to the store to pick up a few things. She would write the list on one of her little sticky notes and I can still remember him sticking them to the handlebars of the shopping cart as we walked through the store.

Most days, my dad would stick to the list. But sometimes he would give in to an impulse buy and treat us or himself to something special and not on the list. One thing I remember he always had a weakness for was soda in glass bottles. I have a vivid memory of him bringing a pack of "limited edition" glass bottled root beer home one summer afternoon and helping us make root beer floats. I didn't even really like root beer back then but I still thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

When I was in Walmart last week and saw these throwback glass bottle sodas, I knew I had to put together a little end of summer party for my family. Back To School season always brings back all kinds of nostalgia for me especially now that I am a teacher. I remember my mom (who was also a teacher) making a big deal out of the last week of summer with ice cream in the backyard with all the neighbors. I decided to recreate some of my favorite childhood after school treats to pair with an ice cream float bar to help celebrate the end of summer.

I set up a table in the backyard using a pink and orange color theme (those colors just scream summer to me). I found some adorable matching straws and napkins with the words "EAT" and "DRINK" on them and they fit the theme perfectly. My desserts were all recreated versions of after school favorites with a grown up twist. I used white and orange cake stands and dessert towers to display them down the middle of the table so everyone could grab what they wanted.

I served:

• Creamsicle Cupcakes- recipe below
• Scratch Made "Cosmic" Brownie Bites recipe here
• Brown Butter Snickerdoodles- inspired by this recipe
• Grown Up Chocolate Chip Cookies- recipe here

In the middle I set up a bar with a variety of throwback glass bottled sodas including IBC Root Beer, IBC Cream Soda, Crush Orange Soda and Yoo-hoo with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. I frosted the mugs ahead of time so they would be the perfect temperature for making floats. Guests could customize their floats with their ice cream and soda of choice before sitting down to enjoy the dessert table.

The cake for these Creamsicle Cupcakes is made using only two ingredients- white cake mix and a 12oz bottle of Orange Crush soda. The real sugar in the Crush was perfect for sweetening the recipe. The great thing about this combo is you can customize it anyway you want. I can't wait to try it with IBC Root Beer next!

Creamsicle Cupcakes

For the cake:

• 1 package of white cake mix (just the mix)
• 1 12oz bottle of Orange Crush soda

For the topping:

• 1 tub of whipped topping
• 1 package of vanilla pudding mix

1.) With an electric hand mixer, beat together the cake mix and soda.

2.) Line a cupcake pan and fill each one 2/3 full. (I use an ice cream scoop to make it easier)

3.) Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and let cupcakes completely cook.

4.) Mix together the whipped topping and the pudding mix until thoroughly combined.  

5.) Ice cupcakes and sprinkle with orange sugar for color.

6.) Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until it is time to serve as whipped topping shouldn't sit out.

With a price point starting at $2.75 per 4-pack these sodas are fun way to treat yourself for the end of summer. And if you want to save even more be sure to check out the current Ibotta rebate to earn $1.75 cash back when you purchase two items. Nothing better than saving on a sweet treat for your family.

Patriotic Party Printables {Feel FREE To Have Fun}

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FreeToBe #CollectiveBias

With 4th of July coming up I have lots of things on my mind- sparklers, fireworks, cookouts, red, white & blue outfits. And sadly- allergies. Justin and I both suffer from seasonal allergies as well skin sensitivities and while we love entertaining outdoors I always try to be mindful of ways to keep our allergies at bay.

Now that we have Easton, I am even more conscious of making sure all of our clothes, blankets and towels are washed in laundry products that are free of dyes, perfumes, certain chemicals, and irritating residues.  And while I don't know if he has any allergies yet,  I love knowing that we can snuggle Easton without being worried that he will have a reaction to our detergent. 

When I decided to host a little get together for my girlfriends and our kids I knew that I would need to make sure that all the towels and blankets were washed in all® free clear detergent so that everyone could enjoy the day allergy free. All® free clear detergent is the #1 detergent recommended by dermatologists, allergists, and pediatricians for sensitive skin. 

Since it is almost 4th of July I figured that a little patriotic afternoon party would be the perfect way to get the kids together and tire them out before nap time. I filled up the baby pool, put together a little tray of chalk and bubbles and made some snacks for both the moms and the kids. 

Whenever we are entertaining outside I like to keep things as simple as possible. I try to make as many things single serving as I can to cut down on the need for people to have to serve themselves. No one wants to put their bubble covered hands into the chip basket. I filled cupcake liners with crackers, pretzel chips, and goldfish for the kids so that people could just grab a single portion and go. 

I put all of the kids' snacks on a separate tray and kept it on a bench so that the kids could reach their own snacks. I also put together a little tray of chalk and bubbles too so that all the things they would need would be right in one place. 

For the moms I put out some hummus, greek yogurt dip, cheese and crackers. I also served fruit, white chocolate covered apples and Fireworks M&M Bark for dessert. I made the desserts single serving as well for ease of eating. A few cold drinks and my spread was complete. Everything was either store bought or easy to make ahead which made my life a lot easier on the day of. The single servings made for a simple clean up too. 

I tend to buy my party decor through out the year when I see things that match a theme or holiday I know I will throw a party for. Most of the serving ware I already owned and I picked up my cupcake liners and table cloth at Walmart. The table cloth was a new type that I had never seen and I fell in love with it. It is basically like a fitted sheet and snaps onto the top of the table. It was amazing and never needed to be readjusted. I will definitely be stockpiling these for the future. 

I created my signs using PicMonkey  (basic version is free!). I printed mine on card stock so that they would be a little more durable for the outdoors. Below are the printable versions of the signs seen in the post. The last one is blank so you can add your own text if you like. If you open the blank one you can use the font "Smash" to add your own words or text.

To edit, simply save the last sign below and go to PicMonkey  and open the image from your computer. Follow the steps above to open the "Add Text" tab. Select the font "Smash" and click "add text". Then use the text box that opens to add your own words and size them how you like. Save the image and then you can print how you like. 

While all® free clear detergent is not intended to treat or prevent allergies it does help remove allergens, including cat and dog dander, dust mite matter, ragweed, grass, and tree pollen. That makes it a perfect laundry detergent for helping with year round allergies. Be sure to always follow the directions on the packaging exactly, especially with little kids in the house. I was also thrilled to find the all® free clear dryer sheets at my local Walmart since I have been looking for something to use with Easton's blankets and towels. Want to learn more about all® free clear detergent and connect with other parents and families? Check out the all® free clear community!