Tag: airplanes


Jul
2014

Flying High with a Pizza Pie Planes Party! {Free Printable Menu Cards & More}

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Disney-Inspired Party Planning, Disney-Inspired Treats, Free Printables, Reviews

Planes Pizza Party

Are you going to see Disney Planes Fire & Rescue this weekend?  We’ll be there!

To say my son, Gavin loves airplanes, would be an understatement.  There isn’t a day that goes by when discussing planes or something that flies isn’t part of our conversation and aviation is a staple in almost every play activity.  This seven-year-old boy goes through flying toys as if he’s changing clothing.  It’s not because he doesn’t take care of his toys, he wears them out or the plane gets stuck in a tree.  With the movie release of Disney Planes last year (see my review here), Gavin’s love of airplanes unbelievably grew and he immediately started asking when Planes Fire & Rescue would be in the theater.  Well, the movie release week has finally arrived!

To celebrate this exciting event I put together a couple “Free Printable” Planes-inspired items that I created and party planning tips to help you host a Pre-Show “Flying High with a Pizza Pie” Planes Party for your little aviators and their friends!

 Planes Themed Pizza!

planes pizza menu

There are so many different types of pizza that you can have at a pizza party!  Try offering the kids specialty pizza and place these silly menu cards close by.  It’ll give young readers a chuckle or two before choosing their pizza.

  • Chicken Wing-man Pizza
  • Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo Flying Pizza
  • Ham & Cheesy Flight Attendants Pizza
  • Pepperoni Pie In The Sky Pizza
  • Flying High Cheese Pizza Pie

I’ve created this set of FREE printable pizza party menu cards for you to use. (For Personal Use Only)  Simply print the Planes Pizza Party file (found below) on white card stock, cut the orange and blue colored cards out and fold along the white line.

Click on the Planes “Pizza Party Menu Cards” link for the five piece printable menu cards.

Planes Pizza Party Menu Cards

Dessert!

Planes cupcakesI made these Planes-inspired cupcakes for my son’s birthday party last year.  Check out the super simple cloud icing tutorial for these soaring cupcakes here!

Dusty cookie popsAnother Planes-inspired dessert option are these Dusty Cookie Pops.  You can see my simple tutorial here!

Decor! {Free Printable Template}

Now that you’ve got the food covered, time to decorate the food table! Add a simple planes garland to the front of your food table, to complete your pizza party table.

Airplane Garland template

You can download the airplane template here!

 Trace the template on orange and blue card stock for the airplanes to match the menu cards.  Then add blue and orange table wear and your party will be soaring!

Still looking for more Planes party ideas?

Check out my son’s planes-themed birthday party here!

Check In Desk (Presents!)

Now you’re ready to have the perfect Pre-show Planes-inspired Pizza Party!  Enjoy your party and then off to show!


Nov
2013

Disney Lego Duplo Party

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

lego set 005Ready, Set, Play!

Yesterday I was thrilled to be able to host a Disney Lego Duplo party for the companies House Party and Lego.  Lego provided me with their newest Duplo lines, which happen to be Disney themed sets!  How exciting it was when a huge box arrived at our home just a little over a week ago.  I have to admit, my kids and I felt like it was Christmas.  Inside the box we found six Duplo sets, three of the sets were themed Disney Planes and three sets were themed Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  In exchange for the Legos, I had to throw a Disney Lego Duplo play date party for all of our friends to play with them.  Can you imagine?  Me, throw a Disney themed party?  Just give me a reason and bring on the yummy party treats and warm up the glue gun!

Today, I’m excited to share with you some photos of our Disney themed Lego Duplo play date.  Lego 001

Welcome Sign

House Party provided me with an 8.5″ x 11″ digital file to print out as a sign to welcome our guests.  Featuring Dusty and Jake, the sign was adorable, but the simple print needed to be spruced up a bit.  I taped the paper onto foam core and hot glued Lego Duplo bricks around the edges.  To hang the sign, I hot glued a red ribbon to the back of the foam core.

Lego Party 021

Snack Table

The little Disney Junior fans munched on Bucky’s cannon ball grapes, Izzie’s pixie dusted apple sauce pouches, Jake’s gold doubloon cookies and chocolates, Skully’s crackers and cheese, Jake and the Neverland Pirates fruit snacks and Lego Duplo themed rice treats.

Lego Party 025

Dusty’s Fuel Up Drink Station

I have to admit Dusty’s Fuel Up Drink Station signage was fun to make.  My two-year old and six-year-old helped me build the “Fuel” letters the night before the party.

Lego Party 047Play Time!

In addition to the six play sets, Disney sent us Jake’s latest movie to watch while the kids played, Jake and the Never Land Pirates Never Land Rescue.  I think from this photo you can tell the kids were entertained!  Lego Duplo bricks are specially designed for children ages 1 and a half to five years old.  Many of the toddlers and preschoolers invited to the party had older siblings, so when planning for the party I designated a separate room for the “big kids” to play with age appropriate Lego bricks.  As you can see from the photos, the big kids loved Lego Duplo bricks as much as the little kids!

Lego Party 042

One of the cool things that the moms discovered during the party was that older siblings very happily helped their younger siblings build the sets, with no adult help or fighting.  There were 19 children at the party and it was great to see them all play together so nicely.

Lego Party 061

The kids were so proud to show off their finished pieces.

Lego Party 060Once the sets were complete, they broke the bricks down and started creating again!

Lego Party 026From toddling around, to playing with bricks, to fashioning a crown, the littlest ones enjoyed the day too.

Party Favors

Lego Party 019

I was provided with 12 sticker sheets and 12 Lego Duplo Planes posters to hand out to the children at the party.  Unfortunately, that was not enough to give one to each child, so I decided to give the big kids the posters and the little kids stickers.  I also made each child between the ages of 1 and 5 years old a customized Lego Duplo brick set.  The small set consisted of enough bricks to make the child’s first initial of his or her name.

 

Lego Party

Before the party ended, I attempted to get a group shot of all our Disney Lego lovers.  Unfortunately, a few could not be persuaded to leave the Legos for a picture. I’m sure you understand their reasoning.

Thank you to Lego and House Party for a fantastic day of fun!

Tomorrow on the blog I’ll share a quick tutorial for Lego themed treats.  There wasn’t a single one left by the end of the party!

If you are considering purchasing these Duplo brick sets for Christmas, you should stop by again.  On Wednesday I’ll share my review of the Disney Planes and Jake and the Never Land Pirates Disney Duplo brick sets.

I hope everyone enjoys this special Monday.  If you’re visiting Disney today make sure you tell Mickey Mouse Happy Birthday!

 


Aug
2013

“PLANES” movie review

categories: Reviews

planeslogoThere are two different ways that I can review this film, as a mom or as a Disney File, so I’ll do both.

I’ll start this review in my most important role, a mom of a Plane Enthusiast six-year-old boy.  Gavin LOVED this movie.  I can’t express in my writing how much he enjoyed the film.  In his mind, it’s better than Monsters University, better than “other” studios’ summer movie releases, and even better than Pixar’s “Cars”!    From the second the film started, he was smiling, laughing and occasionally whispering something IMPORTANT to me about the film.  The DVD is already on his Christmas List!  I don’t believe he was alone in his thoughts. The theatre was full and this was the 3 pm showing during Friday afternoon.   After the film’s ending, we went to Target to purchase a new plane.  Every single Disney Plane was sold out.  Then we went to Wal-Mart.  They also, were sold out.

Seeing the joy that he received from the film, made me love it too.  The film is overall lighthearted and adorable.  The storyline is really simple for young children to follow.  It does mention planes dying throughout the movie, which was really the only darkness related to the film. Most of the death references were in a joking context and the villain in the film is tame when it comes to Disney villains. The film moves very fast, which keeps the kids attention and the movie length is about an hour and a half.  If you have a young child, three years or older, they’ll love this film.

As a Disney Fanatic, I was disappointed, but not entirely surprised.  I knew that this film was slotted as a direct to DVD release, then after the company saw interest in the film arise, it went into the theatre.  Here’s my overall issue with the movie:  The Disney PIXAR brand has earned the top spot in animation excellence.  Again I want to emphasis, EARNED this spot.  Does Disney truly believe that showing the word DISNEY( without the word PIXAR) in front of the title “PLANES” would lead people to think, “Oh, this isn’t a Disney/Pixar film so I shouldn’t expect it to be that good?  The general public is going to believe it is a Pixar film because of how it’s been marketed so closely with “CARS”. Therefore, viewers may be highly disappointed and in turn it will put a blemish on the Disney/Pixar name.  That bothers me.  The movie wasn’t up to their standards.  The storyline was cute, but not heart capturing.  The character development wasn’t deep enough.  They didn’t spend enough time getting the audience to fall in love with the dozen characters in the film.  It felt like a cheapened version of “CARS”.  Disney animation is always fantastic.  However, after seeing Monsters University just over a month ago, it made this film’s animation appear mediocre.  In my opinion the animation came across as inconsistent.  There were a couple of moments in the film where I said, “OK, now here is the breathtaking animation that I was looking forward to seeing.”  Then they’d show a crowd shot and it was horrible to watch as the planes made the strangest “fan cheering” movements.  I believe that this film could have been spectacular, if it was only given enough time in development.  Bottom line, Disney Toon Studios will most likely be releasing many spin offs in the near future and the animation quality will be sub par to the studios traditional releases.  Hopefully the audience will realize this before Pixar is blemished.

Planes Fire and RescueThe sequel to PLANES, “Planes: Fire & Rescue”, is already in development, with a theatre premiere date of July18, 2014.  My hope is that when they start the “TRAINS” films that they take a little more time and release them under Disney Pixar, instead of Disney Toon Studios.

Regardless of my disappointment, my purse will still be opening to purchased licensed products with Dusty stickers all over it.  He is adorable…

 


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

Free Printable Airplane Garland Template

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Free Printables

Airplane GarlandDecorating with Planes

Do you live with a little aviator?  If so, an airplane garland is the easiest and cheapest way to decorate his room with a touch of plane décor.    He can even help you make it!  All you need is cardstock, a hole puncher, ribbon and a pair of pinking shears.  To get the consistent airplane shape I used a Wilton airplane cookie cutter as my “template”.  If you can’t find this cookie cutter, I traced if for you.  Just click on the Airplane template link below and print it out.  I would recommend printing it on cardstock.  It’ll make it easier to use it as a template.

Airplane template

Five Steps to Make an Airplane Garland:

  1. Trace the airplane cookie cutter or template on to cardstock.
  2. Cut out the airplane shapes.
  3. Punch one hole on front of each plane and one hole on the back of each plane.
  4. Cut ribbon.
  5. Tie the planes together with the ribbon.

DSC_2183At Gavin’s 6th birthday party, I used this garland on the front of the dessert table. His window valance is a dark navy, so the garland also worked perfectly in his room.  Since then, he’s painted the orange plane you see hanging in this picture.

Now Gavin and I would like to make an Orange, White and Blue Airplane Garland for our new favorite Cropduster, Dusty!

If you’re looking for a fantastic deal on Disney’s “Planes” toys. The Disney Store is running a wonderful sale on their “Planes” toys. Here’s the link to take you straight there!
Online Exclusive. For a limited time, 40% off high-flying favorites from Disney’s Planes at Disney Store!