Oh, Boy! It's a Mickey Mouse Birthday Party!

As a parent, you may remember having your own Mickey Mouse birthday party as a child, complete with the round, black ears and the Disney-themed cakes.

When it's time to throw a party for your own little Mickey or Minnie Mouse, you want to make sure they remember it just like you did.

Invites

You can buy plenty of Mickey Mouse birthday invitations online, or you can try something unique and print out your own.

Simply cut the infamous "Mickey Mouse ear" design out of a stack of black cardstock and add your own message to it using a white gel pen. For extra fun, let the birthday boy or girl help out!

What key elements do you want to include in your invitations? These are some things to keep in mind:

• Add a unique message - Pretend that the invitations are actually from Mickey Mouse! "Mickey Mouse would like to invite you to Chris' birthday party..." This is a great way to spice them up.
• Time and date - Send your invitations out two weeks to a month in advance. Unless you're talking about next year's birthday this year, the more time you give your invitees, the better.
• Where - State your address, and perhaps a few key landmarks to help find your house. In the era of Google Maps and GPS, directions won't be as important.
• Tell them what they need to bring, if it applies. Should they dress up? Should they bring a bathing suit for a swimming pool? Let their parents know!
• A phone number to RSVP. Include your cell phone or home phone number so that each parent can get in touch with you. The more communication you have about your party, the better.

Written out, your Mickey Mouse birthday invitations might go something like this:

“Mickey Mouse and the gang invite you to come celebrate
[your child’s name]’s birthday, Walt Disney-style!
Be ready for fun, party games, prizes, and snacks
at [time and date] at [your address].

Include special instructions if they apply, such as:

“Bring a swimsuit for our backyard pool!”
RSVP to [your name] at [your phone number].
We hope you can make it!”

See more Mickey Mouse party invitation ideas here!

Decorations

Transforming a room into Mickey's Clubhouse is nothing less than child's play. Make it fun and be creative.

These days, you can purchase complete kits with everything from matching dinnerware to balloons, streamers and candles.

Or try these ideas:

• Try cutting large sheets of cardboard into the famous mickey ears shape and paint it using black poster paints. You can hang this on a wall or outside the door to the party room.
• Try decorating using the primary colors red, blue and yellow coupled with lots of black.
• Balloons and streamers always add to the festive feeling of a party.
• Scatter some Mickey Mouse and other Disney character posters on the walls.

See more Mickey Mouse party decoration ideas here!

Games

Since most Mickey Mouse birthday parties will be for very young children, improvise your own activities to help the kids get involved, get used to your house and open up to each other.

Here are some Mickey Mouse party game suggestions:

• "What Did Mickey Whisper?" - Start off by putting all of the kids in a circle, and write down a phrase that you'll whisper to the first child. Whisper something simple, like "Mickey Mouse loves Swiss cheese."
  Let each child whisper the phrase, one-on-one, until the circle gets back to you.
  See if the phrase has changed into something off the wall, like "Mickey Mouse hugs my knees." Show the children what the original phrase was, and enjoy a laugh. If they enjoy this, keep coming up with more.
• Mouse Bingo - Take a regular game of Bingo but replace the letters with M-O-U-S-E. When someone gets a bingo, tell them to say "Mouse!" instead.

See more Mickey Mouse party game ideas here!

Costumes / Props

When the idea of putting together Mickey Mouse costumes rolls around, you'll realize that you've made the right decision with the Mickey Mouse birthday theme.

Why you might ask? Mickey Mouse ears are some of the easiest costume items to find, and you'll have no problem finding enough to distribute to your birthday boy or girl's guests.

Whether your party will be full of Mickey's or perhaps even some Minnie's, it doesn't matter; the ears work for everybody.

You can also think about including Mickey Mouse masks for your guests, but you might find that the ears do more than enough to get guests in the festive mood.

See more Mickey Mouse party costume ideas here!

Food and Drink

Mickey simply loves these food items and no Mickey Mouse birthday would be complete without them:

• Mickey mouse shaped pancakes. They take a steady hand but with a little practice, you'll perfect these in no time.
• Cheese (for your little mice) and crackers. Serve these on a platter and leave them at a table for the kids to pick at throughout the party.
• Hotdogs - After all, the "Hotdog song" is Mickey's favorite song. These are an easy meal choice for any party and most kids like them.

See more Mickey Mouse party food ideas here!

Cake

Can you imagine a Mickey Mouse birthday party without a Mickey Mouse cake?

No way!!!

Here's an easy cake solution for you - Bake a 9" round cake and two 6" round cakes. The smaller will be Mickey's ears and the larger his head.

Use white frosting to cover the face portion of the cake. The ears can be frosted with chocolate if you can't find black icing.

All you need to do now to complete the cake is to add your Happy Birthday Wish, the required number of candles and perhaps a small Mickey Figurine.

And there you have it!! A Mickey Mouse birthday masterpiece....until the little folks eat it that is!

See more Mickey Mouse cake ideas here!

Party Favors / Loot Bags

Let each child go home with a little piece of your party, even if their parting gift is as simple as the Mickey Mouse ears you gave them earlier.

You can also give each child a small bag with items such as Mickey Mouse stickers, tattoos, candy and little Disney toys as a way to thank them for attending the party; there's nothing that will ensure a rave review quite like a parting gift!

To be considerate, try to give out gifts that won't be a nuisance for their parents – anything that makes noise should stay in Disneyland. (read: your own home).

See more Mickey Mouse party favor ideas here!