Today’s #tbt features our second son’s first birthday. Chase was always a huge fan of Mickey from a young age. While my oldest watched Baby’s First channel when the TV was on (yes, we do allow some TV time, despite my pre-kid days of thinking it wouldn’t happen) by the time our second came along he had moved on to the Disney Jr. channel, so Mickey was a familiar face for little Chase. We decided to celebrate in full Mickey style!

The nice thing about mainstream themes is that it is easy to add some party store decor like balloons and wall hangings to bring the theme all together… and it also helps save time and work. I realized quickly that while I spent 6 months prepping for my first’s birthday, I barely had time to do anything my for second’s. It isn’t because I didn’t want to; Life is a lot more challenging with more than one kiddo.

I used simple goodies like chocolate covered pretzels and m&m’s which are colorful and a favorite treat for the birthday boy. I baked the cake to save money, and I used left over batter to make Mini-cupcakes too at the last second. I added some peanut butter to the vanilla icing for half of them and drizzled left over chocolate from the pretzels on top. We went for pizza and a hot dog bar (hot digity dog!) and my favorite feature was a photo banner from birth to one year. I also made Mickey ears and Minnie bows on headbands for people to wear.

All in all, this was a cute and budget friendly party that made him squeal in delight to see! After the party, we took the backdrop to JCPenney Portraits to have his first year pictures taken. This is my favorite way to get a second use out of party decorations! It takes time to think up and craft these things… may as well get to use them more than once!