I’m attempting to go through my pictures and catch up on getting them printed… and I keep finding pictures I meant to post here… and thought I did… but never had. :p  Blogging is probably not the best hobby for me.  🙂
A couple years ago my daughter was quite in love with anything Mickey Mouse so of course that was her theme for her birthday party.
I came up with a few cute and easy treats to go with that theme.
For the cake I did 3 layers.  2 for the cake and one I cut out a large circle and 2 smaller circles for a mickey shape.  First I frosted the cake yellow, then placed the 3 circles on top and carefully frosted it red.  Added some Mickey sprinkles and 2 skewers…

Then covered the skewers with some striped paper straws…

Then added some bunting.  Made from string, paper, and scrapbooking stickers.

For the candy cups I made some cups from red candy melts using my chocolate cup mold:

After the red was set I placed a scoop of fruity pebble rice crispy treats in each:

Then I dipped the top of each in melted semi sweet chocolate.

Before the chocolate set I added 2 m & m’s for ears, then used a little chocolate for glue to add some large sprinkles to the red cups for buttons.

I also made some with chocolate bases, white chocolate on top, and sprinkled with mickey sprinkles.

For the Oreo pops I added a popsicle stick to the middle of each cookie and used chocolate to “glue” in some ears. (Mini oreos).

Add the top back on…

And add a ribbon.  Or dip in chocolate first.

The favors were simple.  Made ears from cheap headbands and some felt, the gloves were from the dollar tree in the makeup section, and some Mickey coloring sheets and a ball.

Put each in a red bag (I got a set of them super cheap.. I think at Michaels?)  I had a mickey mouse paper punch so I used that to decorate the tags.

This was such a magical little party.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of little girls so happy.  I think this will remain one of my favorite parties we’ve ever had, just because how happy they all were!  The food was very simple, and just perfect.  The girls loved everything.

MENU:
-Strawberries dipped in pink candy melts, drizzled with white chocolate and sprinkles.
-Gummy butterflies
-Candy buttons and flowers
-“Fairy Wands” and “Butterflies (Made using candy melts and sprinkles)

-“Fairy Bread”  Basically sprinkles on bread 🙂  You can use butter, cream cheese, whatever to spread on bread and then cover with sprinkles.  I used some frosting left over from the cake and cut into butterflies.

-“Toadstools” I made 2 kinds.  One using miniature marshmallows and candy buttons, using a dab of frosting to glue.  The other using string cheese (cut into chunks) and topped with a cherry tomato half, using cream cheese to glue.

For drinks we had “sparkling flower nectar”.. or a 2 liter of 7 up mixed with a bottle of cranberry juice. 🙂

And “Fairy Milk”.  (Strawberry milk).  I put paper butterflies on the straws and served in mini milk bottles.

For the cake I made 2 small tiers, with a cupcake for the fairy house.  I decorated with marshmallow fondant and candy flowers, and fairies from a fairy toob.

We also made some cupcakes, topping with a tiny fairy house made from marshmallow fondant as well.  These were super easy, just rolled a log of fondant, cut into chunks and cut out flower shapes for the roofs and rectangles for the doors.  And of course some flower sprinkles to finish off 🙂

We got lucky with some dry weather, so I decorated our back patio.  I used some spare sheer curtains on our awning and hung a grapevine wreath from the top and tied some tulle pom poms to that.  I strung some pink tulle around and some butterfly garlands.

For the butterfly garlands, I cut tons of butterflies with my Silhouette Cameo in lots of colors…

Then I sandwiched 2 butterflies and sewed them together, running my thread between each set.  These were super cute, and because I used thread they looked like they were flying.  Only downside is… they got tangled super easy too.  Maybe ribbon would be a better choice.

I made each girl a little flower wreath and some fairy wings.  For the fairy wings I sewed 2 wing shapes together out of a shimmery fabric and enclosed some wire in the edge.  I attached some elastic bands to go around their arms.

For the flower wreaths I hand sewed silk flowers to wide ribbon, then enclosed the ribbon around a loop of wire, and added some long ribbons to trail down the back.

As soon as all the guests arrived, they put on their wreaths and wings and took some snacks outside to eat.

I knew this would be a popular thing, but i had NOOO IDEA how fast they would flock when I said it was time to make fairy gardens!  First, I put out paints and brushes and each girl got a little birdhouse to paint.

My little Lucy with her masterpiece 🙂

After they were painted, I brought out trays with things to fill the fairies garden.
They each got a terra cotta saucer to put their fairy garden in, and we had silk flowers, clay toadstools, rocks with “welcome fairies” written on them, bark, moss, little plastic hearts, shells, pretty much whatever else I found in our craft supplies I thought they would like. 🙂

When the girls left they each took home their fairy garden, wings, flower wreaths, and they each picked a fairy from the fairy toob we had used for decorating to put in their garden.
If you need more fairy garden ideas, you can see my post here on our indoor fairy garden and DIY accessories.

My girl is Mr. Rogers #1 fan.  I sincerely doubt anyone could ever love him more than her!  Part of having autism means that when you like something, you generally REAAAAALLY like something. 🙂  I am quite grateful that she loves the show so much though, since it has been a huge part of her overcoming fear and anxiety about things like going to the doctor.
I had NO luck finding fun information online or anywhere for throwing a Mr Rogers themed party so I wanted to share it here in case anyone else wants to do one!  These ideas would work well for doing a “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” themed party as well.

I used a poster we have in our homeschool classroom to decorate, and some bunting from the Circus party.    Her invites were simple, with a picture of trolley and said “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a party… won’t you come to Amelia’s birthday party?”  and all the information.

We served a simple lunch I decided to make cake pops in the shape of her favorite characters from the show.  “X the owl” was one of my favorites.  I think he turned out pretty good. 🙂


Behind each characters cake pop I made a sign to go with them.  X the owl always said “Nifty Galifty”!

Henrietta Pussycat was invited too of course…


They were “meow meow yummy” all right. 🙂

And we couldn’t forget Daniel striped tiger!

And last but not least, don’t forget Mr. McFeely!
I just had to add some “Speedy Delivery” tags 🙂

For the activity we decorated cookies, Amelia’s favorite activity.
Truth be told, all the kids love doing it too.  One of the best kids activities ever.
Each kid got their own tray with frosting, sprinkles, and sugar cookies.  I made Mr Rogers themed shapes, like an owl, crown for king friday, fish- for the fish Mr Rogers always fed in the show, sneaker, trolley-this was made by slightly adapting a train car cutter I had.  I was going to do a stop light and sweater, but forgot.

And the cake was a no brainer.  Amelia was ADAMANT on having an “orange tiger cake”.  I made it 3 layers, using 2 for the face, and cutting 2 circles for the ears from the other one. (I cut off the bottom third for each ear).  I frosted it orange, then used marshmallow fondant to roll out and make the details.

She loved it!

Mr. Rogers himself stopped by 😉
Is he not the best Daddy ever?!  I found him a sweater and some sneakers at a second hand store, and the girls picked out a trolley tie pin for him for his birthday. 🙂  My little one wanted to be Mr. McFeely for the party, so I whipped together the mailbag and hat for her the morning before the party.

I used her gifts to decorate for the party as well, and I can’t rave enough about the neighborhood trolley from Holgate Toys.  It has a lifetime warranty too.

My mom got her this sweet snowglobe, she just loves it.

I got lucky and also found some vintage Mr Rogers puppets and books on ebay at a good deal as well.
We also played a CD of him singing during the party.

For the favors I got the kids these travel cups and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood pencils, again from the Fred Rogers Company.

And they also have Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood cups if you go that route.

Ugga Mugga friends!

Resources for Mr Rogers products:
The Fred Rogers Company Store: they have shirts, pins, cups, pencils, soup mugs, cds, books, you name it.  We have looked everywhere for a cd of Mr Rogers himself singing, and finally found it here.  Alot of pretty inexpensive items as well.

Holgate Toys: They have a whole section for Mr Rogers toys! Excellent warranty and customer service.  I had ordered her trolley through a store on Amazon, but it came broken.  I called Holgate and they sent a replacement to me directly, making sure I got it before her birthday.  I will definitely be ordering from them again!

PBS Kids:  They have some e-cards, coloring pages, printable sheet music, etc.

You could also look on Ebay and such for vintage books,  puppets, etc.

Here is a list of what we put together for our little one’s “circus” party:
Cotton Candy
Bought a couple containers at Dollar Tree, put it in some snow cone holders I had from Cash & Carry- very cheap.  Cut some holes in a gift box to hold them, a wire cupcake stand would work well too.
Caramel Popcorn with Peanuts
Made homemade, put in a bowl with a scoop and served with some retro paper popcorn bags I had in the cupboard.  (Just google retro popcorn bags and you’ll find lots of options.)
Circus Peanuts
I found these at Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Winco.
Circus Napkins
Found at Target (They also had plates, cups, invites, etc.  I just hate spending $25 dollars on a bunch of paper stuff I’m going to throw away.)
Hot Dogs, Root Beer, and Potato Chips
I kept the food beyond simple, since it was our little one’s bday and that is her favorite treat.  I served lunch in some plastic food baskets we have with some checkered liners (again, a super cheap Cash & Carry find).
Bunting
I made these by cutting out triangles of felt and sewing into some double fold bias tape I’ve had for forever.  Took very little time, and I thought this would be a fun reusable birthday decoration.

The cake wasn’t what I originally intended, but worked out well.
You can make it using 3 layers of your favorite cake, and shaving off the top into a dome (or bake in one of those giant cupcake pans).
Frost with white frosting, then roll out different colors of marshmallow fondant and cut out details.
I did large triangles in red, green, blue, and yellow for the top.  Then added red strips around the sides, and the curtain is 2 rectangles of red, scrunched in the middle and “tied” with a rope of green and yellow twisted together. Ther banner was made using a mini alphabet cutter set and mini star cutter. I attatched it with a toothpick on each side.
I added a ruffle of purple around the bottom and where the top of the big top meets the sides.
Top flag is just made from construction paper and on a toothpick.
Elephant Pinata
Made using a large and medium balloon.  Mix equal parts flour and water.  Cut newspaper into 1 1/2″ strips, dip in paste and wipe off excess paste, then wrap around balloons, 2 layers deep, leaving a small opening around the knot.
After a day or two it should be dry, then remove balloons through small hole.  Using more newspaper and paste, attatch the balloons together at the “neck”.  When dry, cut a hole and fill with bags of goodies, then cut fringe on half of strips of crepe paper and glue all the way around.  Make features with foam paper or constuction paper and glue on.
Other Game Ideas
You can find all kinds of simple, easy circus or carnival type game ideas online. We had planned on putting a couple folding tables in the backyard and having a few:
“Ball Toss”- making a pyramid of big red plastic cups and letting the kids take turns tossing a ball to knock them down.
“Clothespin Drop”- The kids have to stand on a chair and drop clothespins, trying to hit the jar on the ground.
You could also do a face painting booth, or have tickets they win for prizes as well.  Since we had just finished finally assembling our play structure and I knew all the kids would want to play in that, I decided to not have the other games.  Nobody missed them. Favor Bags
I found these cute favor bags at Target and couldn’t pass them up. : )
I filled them with mini lollipops, clown noses (found super cheap on Amazon), chocolate “ringmaster mustaches” (made using a mold from Bake It Pretty), a “magic feather”, and some candy buttons.
I made the tags for the mustaches and feathers using a free Circus font on dafont.com, just printing on cardstock and cutting out into tags, tying on with some twine.
She makes a pretty cute ringmaster! : )  The mustaches were very popular.Invitations
I just printed on cardstock, using a few fonts, including the free Circus font I found on dafont.com, and an imageof Dumbo on the bottom, I just copied and pasted from the internet.  (Just google free dumbo clipart and choose the one you want.)
Thank You Cards
I found some free ones I printed off at bakesaleflyers.com
If you don’t want to make them, I saw lots of options for buying circus invites/thank you’s online, and Target had a pack for sale as well when I bought the napkins and favor bags.  There are also a couple of free printable circus invites online, but I hate filling in each invite.