Category: Disney-Inspired Party Planning


Aug
2013

The Evil Queen’s Red Apple Cupcake

categories: Disney-Inspired Party Planning, Disney-Inspired Treats

wickedly good“Go On.  Go On.  Have a Bite.”

National Apple Month begins on September 1st and goes all the way through the month of November.  I’m not quite sure how this came to be, since it’s actually THREE months long!  Regardless, this week I thought I’d share a few “Disney” apple treat ideas that you can make with your children during this three-month long celebration. The ideas will be super easy to make and the kids will love to “help”.

To start the week, of course I had to recreate the most famous Disney Apple!  The Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs said it best when she said, “This is no ordinary apple, it’s a magic *wishing* apple.”

I suggest that we “wish” that they’d be calorie free , but alas it’s a cupcake apple, so our wish would not come true.  I promise you that if you wished for them to be easy to make, then your wish is granted.

Decorating Items Needed:

  • cupcakes
  • red icing
  • red sprinkles
  • pretzel sticks
  • green taffy

To Decorate the Cupcakes:

  1. Ice your cupcake with red icing.
  2. Cover the cupcake icing with red sprinkles.
  3. Break a pretzel stick in half.  Insert one half of the stick, broken side down, into the center of the cupcake.  Make sure it’s partly sticking out.
  4. Cut a triangle shape out of a piece of green Taffy.  Attach the triangle shape Taffy to the bottom of the pretzel stem.
  5. Repeat the above steps for the rest of your cupcake bushel.

Mouse Ears Mom 004

If you like to limit your child’s intake on sweets, pin this idea for a later date.  The Evil Queen’s Apple could easily be used as a special treat during a Princess themed birthday party or a Disney Villain Halloween party.

 

The apples in our yard still have a long way to go before picking!

Maybe I should listen to Snow White instead of the Queen and just make a Gooseberry Pie!


Aug
2013

Finding Nemo’s Peach Starfish Cookies

categories: Disney-Inspired Party Planning, Disney-Inspired Treats

Sept. 2012-May 2013 296When You Wish Upon a Star

Ok, so that’s a different movie.  All kidding aside, from Magic Wand toppers to Peter Pan’s 2nd Star to the Right, there are so many ways to use a star-shaped cookie cutter to make fun Disney Inspired food creations.  This week on the blog I’m keeping our Summer fun around a little bit longer, by showcasing how to bring our memories of the Beach to our homes, Disney Inspired of course.

Today I’m showing you a super easy tutorial on how to bring a touch of the Disney Ocean to your kids’ dessert plates  Below is the tutorial on how to make a cookie of our Nemo Friend, Peach the starfish.

 IMG_2172Supplies: sugar cookies mix, star cookie cutter, Wilton candy eyes, black icing, Wilton Sprinkles~ pink sugar pearls, and pink icing.  I’ve included the photo of the Wilton products that I used for this cookie project.  The sprinkles are fantastic!  They’re worth the money.  The cookie icing is not my favorite product to work with but used it for convenience.  I purchased this product for a quick royal icing result.  The icing was really runny and hard to work with at first.  I had to mix the icing outside of the bottle and then use a funnel to get it back into the container.

IMG_2160Before you start icing your sugar cookies, make they’ve cooled.

If you choose to use the icing that I used, begin by outlining the star with your icing. Don’t start too close to the edge.  The icing will spread and will go right off the side of the cookie if you’ve gotten too close.

 

IMG_2157Fill the inside of the cookie by adding a little bit of icing at a time.  If you shake the cookie as you’re doing this you’ll see the icing spread easier and it will take out the air bubbles.

EyesIMG_2159

While the cookie icing is still liquid, add your eyes and the pearls. Then leave your cookie icing harden for about an hour.  Add the star fish’s mouth after the cookie icing has solidified.

Make a wish on your Peach Starfish before your first bite!


Aug
2013

How to make PLANES cupcakes

categories: Disney-Inspired Party Planning, Disney-Inspired Treats

Planes cupcakesZero Turbulence Decorating Tutorial Courtesy of Sweet Diehl’s

What an exciting day it is for the Mouse Ears Mom Blog!  Today is not only the official theatre premiere of Disney’s “PLANES”, but I also get to welcome Mouse Ears Mom’s first guest contributor, Steph Diehl of Sweet Diehl’s !

I’ve worked with Steph on several occasions where she was able to custom design cupcakes for my children’s themed parties.  She’s surpassed my expectations every time!  The “PLANES” Inspired cupcakes that we are sharing with you today were co-created by Steph and myself.  She made the amazing cupcakes and icing.  I made the plane chocolate pieces that were placed on top.

Below is Steph’s wonderful tutorial for you to make your own “PLANES” cupcakes, including photos that she took while making them.

start1. Here’s what you’ll need: cupcakes, of your choice, a large pastry bag (a zip lock bag will work), blue food dye, butter cream icing and scissors.

 

 

mixcolour2. Step two, place a comfortable amount of butter cream into the large bag and squeeze some blue food dye into the bag as well. The more food dye you put into the butter cream the darker the icing color will be. Use your hand to mix the icing and the dye together inside the bag to achieve your desired color.

 

largetip3.Step three. Cut a slightly large hole into the tip of the bag. If you have icing tips, you may use a large round tip for this.

 

 

sky4. Step four. Position the now open tip over one of the cupcakes, start at the top an apply even pressure with your hand and make a basic upper case G motion to cover the top of the cupcake with the icing.

 

5. Step five. Next place more butter cream into a small bag, you do not have to colour this one at all, since this will be for the clouds.

smalltip6. Step six. Cut a small hole into the tip of this smaller bag. If you have an icing tip I would use a small round tip for this.

 

 

clouds7. Step seven. Last step, very lightly squeeze the bag and make little dots onto the blue ‘sky’ of the cupcakes, to look like clouds. Then ta da! Your sky is complete.

Isn’t the finished sky with clouds simply adorable?finished

Once your sky with clouds is complete it’s time to make the airplanes.

To make the airplanes, I used a candy mold.  Each airplane is 1-3/4 inches by 1-3/4 inches and I purchased the airplane candy mold on-line.  Just Google airplane mold and you’ll find it.  I wanted to make a few Dusty inspired planes, so I used orange and white chocolate melts.  Melt both of your chocolate colors in separate containers.  I find it easier to work with squeeze bottles, but you could also scoop the melted chocolate into plastic bags and then cut the tips cut off.

DSC_2172Pipe a strip of orange melted chocolate in the body and tail of the candy mold.  Very shortly after, add the white chocolate to the remaining part of each mold.  If the orange chocolate has hardened, it’s possible that you won’t have a seamless piece, so try to work fast.

 

After filling the rest of the candy mold with white chocolate, let them sit to harden for about ten minutes.  Once they are solid, the airplanes will very easily pop out of the mold.  If they’re not popping with a slight twist of the candy mold, then they’re not ready to come out yet.

Airplane chocolateThis is my miniature version of Cropduster Dusty.

 For the final step, place the chocolate piece on top of the decorated cupcake sky.  Here is our final piece.

DSC_2215Thank you again to Steph Diehl for providing us with a simple tutorial on how to make her adorable sky with clouds cupcakes!  To see more of Steph’s creations you can find her on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Diehls/138845126143748

 If you’d like to see more Planes party ideas, here is the link to the post about my son’s birthday party.  It includes everything from our themed food menu, to the themed treats, to the fun activities and thank you gifts.

Airplanes Birthday Party


Aug
2013

Airplanes Birthday Party

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Disney-Inspired Party Planning

Sept. 2012-May 2013 273Flying Fun!

This week, the kids and I are so excited that Disney’s “Planes” premieres in theatres on Friday, August 9th. I don’t know about your kids but my son, Gavin, has been talking about the film’s release for months.  Having been a plane enthusiast since the young age of one, this year Gavin really wanted to have a Disney’s “Planes” themed birthday party.  Well, Gavin was born two months premature and let me say, if he had gone full term then the Disney “Planes” supplies might have been out in time for this party!  Regardless, there was not a single “Planes” product available when I was planning his party and at that point, other than what was said in the original preview we knew little about the film.  So, the party theme was tweaked a bit and was transformed into a “Flying” theme.  This also gave me the opportunity to be creative with planning his special day around him, instead of a specific character. With the theatre release of Disney’s “Planes” this summer, I’m certain quite a few more children will also want to have a “Planes” birthday party this year.

Today, I thought I’d share some of the details of my son’s “Flying” party that you could incorporate into a Disney’s “Planes” Inspired Party.

Check In Desk (Presents!)Check In Table (Present Table)

Kids and Parents TableParents and Kids Table

I wanted to do a kids table but attending the party were a lot of small children that needed Mom or Dad’s help to eat.  I decided to create runway style seating that included cloud place mat settings for parents and their children. At each child’s cloud flew a Match Box plane with a banner attached to it that said the child’s name.  At the head of the table, blocked by the balloons in this photo, was a control tower.

 Flight TrainingActivities

Activities of the day included Flight Training, which involved making, decorating and flying paper airplanes.  Aviators also completed Plane Maintenance, a.k.a. painting their own wooden plane.  This station was featured in the first photo of this blog post.  At the end of the party, we brought the kids outside and launched rockets.

Juice Boxes Chocolate dipped plane cookies

Plane Birthday CakeFlight Inspired Food

There were two food areas, a Food Court and the Pilot’s Lounge.  In the Food Court, we offered party guests a buffet of Gavin’s favorite food, Pizza.  There was Chicken Wingman Pizza, Broccoli and Alfredo Flying Pizza, Flying High Cheese Pizza Pies, Pepperoni Pie in the Sky and Ham and Cheesy Flight Attendants Pizza.  In addition we had prepackaged chips, like you’d find in a food court, plane propellers (fruit on a skewer) and Jet Fuel (a variety of drinks).

At the Pilot’s Lounge is where all the goodies, including cake, could be found.  The photos above show a few items offered, chocolate-dipped airplane sugar cookies, juice boxes and the birthday boy’s cake.

Guest Gift Bag "Baggage Claim" TableBaggage Claim (Favor bags for babies, kids and adults)

Before Gavin’s guests left the party, they headed over to collect their baggage (favor bag).  The babies that attended took their personalized mini luggage filled with a travel size baby body wash.  Kids, two years old and above, were given one of the larger brown luggage pieces, shown in the middle of the table.  Each luggage piece had a personalized luggage tag and thank you note.  Inside was enough room for their painted plane, paper airplane, Match Box plane, and some surprises, such as a plane kite and a chocolate plane lollipop.  The adults at the party left with their “In Flight” peanuts and a thank you note.

In Flight PeanutsI’d like to thank Kerri Nichols for the wonderful Bi-Plane cake and Jeff, of Jeff D’Angelo’s Design Group, for the use of the vintage luggage pieces. Find out more about Jeff D’Angelo’s Design Group at:

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeff-DAngelos-Design-Group/132909703465772

If your child asks for a Disney’s Planes birthday party this year, I hope these “Flying” party ideas will help you plan a party that Soars to Spectacular!


Aug
2013

Mickey Mouse Topiary

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Disney-Inspired Party Planning

TopiaryThere are Five Simple Steps to Make a Mickey Ribbon Topiary

On Monday, I shared with you my daughter and nephew’s Mickey and Minnie Mouse Flower and Garden Birthday Party.  One of the décor items that I made for the party was the topiary that is pictured above.  I didn’t invent the concept of a Mickey Mouse Topiary, nor did I make the World’s Greatest Version of a Mickey Mouse Topiary.  However, I did make a lot of mistakes when making this craft and I’d like to share them with you, so your topiary will be simply perfect.

Before I share my “earned knowledge”, here are the basic five steps for making the Mickey Mouse Inspired Ribbon Topiary:

  1. Purchase supplies: You will need three Styrofoam spheres (your choice in size, as long as there are two small spheres and one large sphere), ribbon of your choice, sewing pins, a wooden dowel for the topiary to attach to the base, white paint to use on the dowel, one cookie pop stick cut in half, a terra-cotta pot for the base and Styrofoam for the interior of the base where the dowel will anchor.
  2. Cover the spheres with ribbon and attach the ears: Cut your ribbon into 2″ strips.  Loop the ribbon and pin it into one of the smaller spheres. Continue to do this until you’ve filled almost all of the sphere, except for the bottom.  This is where you will anchor it into the larger sphere by using half of your cookie pop stick. Continue to fill the second small sphere and then anchor it with the other half of the cookie pop stick.  Now fill the large sphere the same way, except fill the entire sphere including the bottom.
  3. Decide the height of your topiary and prepare the dowel:   Keep in mind it will need to be inserted into the base of the pot and also through the largest sphere.  Then cut the dowel and paint it accordingly.
  4. Secure the dowel:  Insert the painted wooden dowel into the base filled with a Styrofoam insert.
  5. Secure the Mickey Mouse Head:  Gently, push the completed Mickey Mouse shaped topiary down as far as you can onto the dowel without it coming out the top of the Mickey Mouse head.

Now for the bits of knowledge you should know before you start each step:

minnie mouse inspired topiarySupplies: When choosing your Styrofoam spheres and terra-cotta pot realize that once you put your ribbon and pins on the sphere two things happen.  The spheres become significantly larger and heavier. Notice in the photo the differences between the two ears.  The terra-cotta pot that you chose for the base should be heavy enough to support your topiary; otherwise your topiary is going to tip over.

Ribbon: When you’re choosing your topiary’s color scheme keep it simple if you’re planning on using printed ribbons.  I found that five different ribbons made the topiary eye-catching, yet keeping the same color scheme of black, white and pink made the look uniform.  I would suggest Grosgrain ribbon since it won’t fray as much when you’re pinning it.  What’s really important is that you purchase enough ribbon.  Half way through this project I ran out of the Minnie Mouse ribbon and had to go out of the area to purchase more.  Also keep in mind that wider ribbon will cover more space than a narrow ribbon and plan accordingly.DSC_2165

Applying Ribbon: I found putting the three spheres together before starting the ribbon made it easier to keep his ears looking symmetrical.  Once that was done, I took each ear off to apply the ribbon.  Make sure you leave room for the ears to rest on the large Styrofoam sphere.  See the photo above for my example of how the base of the finished ears looked before putting them on the larger sphere.

Height:  Depending on the size of the base, wooden dowel and finished Mickey Mouse head, you might have to keep the topiary rather low.  Several of my initial attempts to secure the topiary to the base failed because it would tip over.

Inserting the Dowel:  Keep the amount of times you take the spheres off of the dowels to a minimum.  The more times you take the topiary off of the dowel the less secure the finished product will be.

Environment:  Most importantly, always plan for weather.  Wind will knock this centerpiece over.  If you’re having an outdoor event that is exposed to the wind, I would suggest a small topiary.

With these added pieces of knowledge you’re on your way to making a perfect Mickey Mouse Topiary that will wow your guests at your next Disney Party!