Disney Birthday Parties for Grown-Ups!

Right from the start, you want your guests to understand that this is a magical running party! Hopefully, your guests already know about the guest of honor’s love of running and Disney! Using the theme, “Run Like It’s Midnight” will clue your guests into the theme of having dual meaning!

There is nothing more classic, beautiful, and elegant than a fantastically executed tablescape! Shimmery placemats can take the place of table runners to accommodate any table size. Using placemats with a bit of sparkle can grab candlelight and turn it into a disco ball of light around the room. We loved the white pumpkins and the Cinderella Coach at this table’s center.

You have so many options when it comes to food! Snacks or full dinner? The choices and selections are endless! We loved this delightful Spinach Dip Coach, that looks really easy to make, which is a huge bonus! The Fairy Godmother fruit wands are another easy crowd-pleaser!

We have found that more and more people are running away (ha!) from big huge cakes these days! We are finding that fun cupcakes, donut cakes, and cake pops (like the ones shown here) are really leading the way in alternatives to the traditional birthday cake. Not to mention, if you are running like its midnight, these would be a lot easier to eat while running away as the clock strikes 12!

Photobooths have become almost a staple at birthday parties! Here we have found really fun Disney Princess characters that perfectly match our Cinderella theme. Throw in a few props, boas, some tiaras, and some fun ears to complete your photo booth looks!

We couldn’t think of a better gift than a tricked out pair of kicks for our favorite Disney Runner! I mean really, how cute are these!?

The wonderful thing about Star Wars is the abundance of options with your theme. One trick that we would like to pass on to you is to narrow down your theme. Pick a genre within the Star Wars family and run with it! Invitations like this one can carry a little mystery about what the party is all about, which can make it really exciting for your guests as well!

We totally FLIPPED over these gorgeous centerpieces! It just shows what you can do with a little faith, trust, and paint?!? If you look around your home or even cheaper stores, chances are you will be able to find Star Wars themed items. If you think outside of the box, you can come up with some pretty awesome ways of repurposing these items and turn them into the stars of your party!

A trip to Pinterest will help satisfy any of your Star Wars food cravings! (Or just make you super hungry.)

Try some Boba-Fettuccini Alfredo!

http://www.thestarwarsmom.com/2016/04/boba-fettuccine-alfredo-star-wars-food.html

There is always Galaxy’s Edge Blue Milk to satisfy a crowd (Bonus! It’s Dairy Free!)

https://ashleycrafted.com/recipe/star-wars-galaxys-edge-blue-milk-recipe/

Your guests will most certainly not leave hungry!

A good relationship with a local cake baker/designer is the key to taking a birthday party to a whole new level, especially during a pandemic. We have found that over the last year especially, having a beautifully themed cake to celebrate birthdays has brought so much joy to the guests of honor during their small celebrations. 

EarstaDiva’s daughter LOVES The Mandalorian, and this cake definitely made her 19^th birthday during a pandemic extra special!

The thought of a Star Wars themed “Amazing Race” sounds SOOO fun! Maybe try some “Minute to Win It Games” like these listed here:

http://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2019/12/star-wars-minute-to-win-it-games.html

These are incredibly fun, and they are great icebreakers if people don’t know each other very well. This is also a great way to get the kids involved if kids are tagging along with their parents to your party. Make them be in charge of the games and timers. Put them to work, they will love it!

While there are a number of epic Star Wars gifts out there, we just could not resist this amazing rocking chair! Every room needs a conversation piece and this is really a conversation piece! The light saber spindles on the back were what really sold us!

While this has a little bit heftier price tag, we really love this gift for the avid Star Wars fan, especially if it is a milestone birthday celebration!

Finding vintage Disney was really a delight! There are a few beautiful pastel customer-designed invitations like the one shown here. It really gives you that classic Disneyland feel and pulls in all of the vintage Disney things you would want to see!

For Vintage Disney tablescapes the sky is really the limit!  Alice in Wonderland, classic Mickey/Minnie, and other classic characters all are great options.

We saw these fabulous Alice in Wonderland decorations and really loved how they went so well with the invitations. Creating a consistent theme from beginning to end always makes for a really beautiful party!

Since we took the Alice theme and ran with it for our vintage-themed party, we thought a tea party would only be fitting! When EarGoddess found these macarons, there was no question of what we were serving at our vintage soiree! Many wouldn’t think of a classic English Tea for party food, but they should! The food is relatively simple to make and accommodates many different palates!

Often “It’s a Small World” will get lumped into the category of opening day rides at Disneyland. Surprisingly, this attraction was created for the New York World’s Faire in 1964 and was moved to Disneyland in 1966. This was 10 years after Disneyland opened!

However, this is still quite a classic ride and this beautiful cake really captures the Small World theme! Even though the colors of this cake tie in to the rest of our theme, if you prefer to stick with the Alice in Wonderland tea party theme you could also get a topsy-turvey tea party cake that has similar colors!

Word searches are great for any age and fun generators found online make it so you can turn any theme into a word search!  Competitions fir who can finish first or find all the words (plus maybe a few that were not on the list) should make a simple word search a little more interesting!

Finding fabulous Disney vintage inspired gifts for your vintage friend can be a little complicated! We searched high and low and found these AMAZING vintage-inspired gifts on Etsy. The hidden Mickey neck scarf is adorable and perfect for a Disney Vintage inspired gal! 

The compact is another very practical and very fun gift. A compact is one of those things that you can always use but never seem to have, and it’s a great conversation piece as well!  Both of these would make the perfect gift.