The menu consisted of:

I had way more fun planning a Minnie Mouse party than I thought I would.  Over a year ago I came across two cute character shirts/outfits at Target (as cute as licensed characters can be anyway) and that was the push I needed to let Genevieve pick her theme.  Do you know how hard that was for me?  And to make it even more difficult, the other character was Elmo.   I mean, seriously.  How do you make that modern?!  (Although since then I have seen a few modern Sesame Street parties that gave me hope)!  

Once I decided on Minnie the next logical question was red and black or pink and black.  It's me--so of course I love pink.  And the outfit that started the whole thing was pink, black, and white.  But then again, I loved the idea of not involving pink for once in my life...and for some reason I just envisioned red, black, and white.  Add to that the leftover red party supplies from Nadia's circus party, and well, you have a modern red, black, and white Minnie party.  

The other fun thing about this party was that it was my first purely modern party--no rustic elements like Nadia's party or Genevieve's Little Pumpkin party; no ornate embellishments like Genevieve's Vintage Princess party.  I think I'm being influenced by her.  In my humble opinion if you're going to go the 'character' route (and you're not a fan of the traditional take), you really have to make it modern.  There doesn't seem to be much in between.  And choosing red over pink sure made it easy to be creative because it's nearly impossible to find any red Minnie party supplies!

Oh. My. Gosh. I want to make tons of these. The possible uses are endless. And I want a sewing machine. And a room full of cool fabrics. And more time. A lot of time. These are just a few of the thoughts running through my [creative] mind. Megan and I posted on DIY cake stands a while ago.  Well if you liked that project, you'll love this one.  Head over to Joy's Hope Handmade for detailed (and witty) instructions on assembling these amazing tiered carnival trays. It looks super cheap and super easy. My kinda DIY project for sure. I promise I'll do this myself and when I do, I'll post pictures. 

 

A few notes: This recipe is SUPER easy. If I can do it; anyone can! Secondly, I'm not sure why it calls for putting the batter in the ziploc bag half at a time. That was annoying. Next time I'll put all of the batter in at once. Lastly, I didn't want to waste money on a quart of buttermilk when I only needed a cup (and my mom insisted that I could make it with milk and vinegar). After googling it to make sure my mom wasn't making it up (why I doubt her I have no idea. She knows everything about homemade cooking.), I followed her advice and added a TBS of vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand for 5 minutes).

All available at the Meri Meri Shop!

All images by Hostess Blog & Jessica Claire

Whether it's ice pops for your kids or a more gourmet take for the adults, the contents of these cute little containers will be sure to please!  And though the temp outside is frosty, crank up the heat for a night and enjoy one of these incredible sounding homemade popsicle recipes... I assure you the increase in your heating bill for the night will be worth it! ;)

Speaking of Target, Have you seen the new Giada De Laurentiis for Target line? This couldn't have come at a better time since I have been obsessed with Food Network lately. Isn't it SO like Target to take the cutest chef on television and stick her adorable face on products, making us aware of a "need" we didn't know we had?! Speaking of 'adorable,' I have a love/hate relationship with Giada. I love her recipes and she is just too cute...but I often wonder how on Earth she stays so tiny and petite while cooking and presumably eating oodles of pasta deliciousness?! I suppose that shouldn't matter. What should matter is she's having a dinner party, and did you hear? "You're all invited!" Who doesn't want to attend a dinner party with Giada? Well while we may not be able to enjoy her cooking genius we can try to whip up some genius of our own using her line of products at Target. Priced from $8.99 to $199.99, Giada brings gourmet cooking to every woman. I so wish I was getting married so I could register for all her fabulous basic cookware products. But I'm not...so for now, I suppose I'll just have to build up my cooking supplies one piece at a time. In the meantime, I'll be watching "Everyday Italian" and continuing to fall in love (and hate) with Giada.