Here’s one thing I’ve learned about entertaining at my house.
If you’ve got grown-ups in attendance, give them some grown-up drinks and they’ll be happy.
If you’ve got kids in attendance, set VERY CLEAR BOUNDARIES in the house and pack up the breakables.
If you’ve got families in attendance, it takes a little more work.
Oh sure, I could have been happy with the grown-ups in the kitchen and the kids unleashing holy hell in the house but when the entertainment involves Disney, I’m committed to making it about family.
In fact, it was Walt Disney himself who originally created Disneyland so that parents could have a good time with their children. That’s the spirit I wanted to capture at a Disney-themed party.
So I started at the door.
I asked everyone to grab a nametag and wear the name of their favorite Disney character. I saw everything from Elsa to Peter Pan to Minnie Mouse to Steamboat Willie.
Then to set the tone, I went ahead and gave the announcement about the drinks (for the grown-ups) and the boundaries (for the kids) and then told them exactly what they could do.
Activities and Games for your #DisneySide
Hanes sent me a package of 10 plain white t-shirts and some fabric markers. I spread them out on the dining room table and announced that the first 10 people who wanted to make shirts could have at it!
I was hoping the kids would be into it and would be inspired by the Disney theme. What I didn’t expect was seeing the grown-ups get involved too. One dad pulled up a picture on his phone of Wendy from Peter Pan so he could make an accurate rendition on his daughter’s shirt.
In the Princess room, which is what I called the Tangled-inspired dining room, I also had some coloring sheets and mazes from the movie Frozen. As you might expected, the girls were more drawn to these activities.
The boys were more interested in the Pin the Eye On Mike Wazowski game in the Monsters University themed room.
Luckily, I found a free printable of the game that I downloaded less than an hour before the party started! I will say that these kids are definitely not from the Pin the Tail on the Donkey generation. There were complaints of not being able to see, or feeling dizzy, or being steered in the wrong direction. Um, yeah, kids. That’s the idea.
But I wanted to get the families working together. So I played two different games that required knowledge from the newer and older generations who have experienced Disney.
I asked families to grab a scrap of paper for some Disney Trivia and this is where I saw some competitiveness come out.
Some questions were perfect for the kids:
What fashionable pattern does Minnie Mouse favor?
Answer: Polka dots.
While others were more suited to the grown-ups:
Mickey Mouse was originally voiced by __________.
Answer: Walt Disney himself!
And some were perfect for the whole family:
Name Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs.
Answer: Well, I’ll just see if you can come up with them on your own…
But my favorite game was the Disney Name the Movie game created by yours truly. I basically searched the internet and found some more unusual images from twenty different Disney movies. I printed them, numbered them, and hung them all over the house encouraging people to walk around. I picked some older, lesser known Disney films and some newer ones as well.
I’m happy to say that nobody got them all right which means I made it fun but challenging (the stumpers were The Absent-Minded Professor and Song of the South).
I gave small prizes out for every game (mostly found at places like Big Lots and Michaels) and also Very Special Awards (which I’m going to tell you about tomorrow).
At the end of the party, I sat down with the kids and played Disney Bingo and continued until every single prize was gone.
But the real prize was capturing some of the fun at the Disney Photo Booth. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull this one off but I borrowed some ideas and here are the results.
Turns out, you can simply stick a tablecloth on the wall and call it a backdrop. I chose my sunroom so we could get as much natural light as possible. I set up the tripod and the camera and dug out as many Disney props as I could. But I won’t spoil the fun for you. I’ll let you see how some of my guests chose to show their Disney Side.
The party is over and I’m almost cleaned up but besides the little trinkets and memories, I want everyone to take home one more souvenir. With the my new HP Printer, I came up with this lovely little print.
Now I’m off to print the best photos and deliver them to my friends as a thank you for coming and sharing their #DisneySide!
Note: I received a lot of items to inspire my #DisneySide through a party but most of the decorations and ideas came from me. Well, me and Pinterest. I’m also a part of the HP Smart Mom Panel and received an HP Envy 5530 unrelated to the Disney party.
6 comments
How awesome, Fadra!!! This makes me just want to throw my own #DisneySide party!!!
It was a LOT of work but we all had so much fun!!! I love theme parties!
WOW! Good for you. This looks amazing. What lucky kids and families got to attend…all fantastic ideas!
I LOVE themed parties as well… we’had had Hunger Games, Dr Who, pirate, science Civil War. You name it. My kids are getting “older” and now my oldest doesn’t even want a party this year! Ack! My inner party planner self is dying!! We do have his confirmation tho, a week before his bday in 2 mos, so at least I get to go crazy with planning and making a cake and decor for that!!
Thanks for sharing, Fadr!
I have yetto shre a Doctor Who themed party that we had in Niv for my 11 yo….where has the time gone? I feel like it would be a massive post with decor, favors, invitations, crafts…maybe I should break it up as you did with Disney theme…great idea!
FUN!!!!!!!!
Love it all, it seems that we all had so much fun via our @Home Celebration!! Love your shots and I’m happy it all turned out wonderful.
[…] But my mega crafty skills came out for the awards I decided to give out for all of the games and activities. […]