Mickey's Choo Choo Party: The Decorations

Yesterday I explained to you that Colton was very insistent on the theme of his birthday party this year (Mickey's Choo Choo in case you missed it or the title wasn't obvious enough!).  As his mom, I was totally cool with it...as a party planner, though, I was more eh.  I think any party planner would agree that originality is the name  of the game, and let's face it Mickey and trains, for that matter, have been done about a bajillion times.  But what my boy wants, my boy gets, so here's how I did Mickey and trains!

We wanted this party entirely in our backyard, so I clearly marked the gate as the entrance to the party by lying down electrical tape tracks and putting up a handmade balloon banner.

Since the kids were going to need a place to sit and eat, I had Josh bring home some tables and chairs from the office for us to set up in the backyard.  Of course, I couldn't just leave it at though!  The table "runner was another electrical tape track.  I put a handmade foam/craft stick train down the track with a couple of Mickeys in some of the cars.

I also put out a placestting for each child complete with a Mickey plate (two small plates stapled to a big plate), a Mickey conductor hat, and a fork, spoon, knife combo wrapped with a clever (if I don't so say myself) "chew chew" tag.

As usual, the food table was also a decorating focus.  I hung some red and white stripe fabric up as the backdrop.  I made a Mickey out of a pool noodle and some glow sticks (hey, it was all I could find at the Dollar Tree that could easily become circular and be spray painted!) and hung it in the center.  Finally, I put up a couple of balloon clusters on the corners and considered the backdrop complete!

                           



With the food on the table, we really didn't have much more room for decorations, so I just put out a couple more Mickey topiaries on each end.

We also had a cake/favors table that I decorated with a  handmade Mickey printed tablecloth and a simple "happy birthday" banner behind it.

And I also hung up some Mickey lanterns at various points in the yard.

And I think that just about sums it up!  Of course, we haven't even touched on food, favors, or activities, so I'll be back tomorrow to fill you in on all those details!