I love summer! It’s so nice not having the busy school schedule and homework. But it is hard keeping the kids entertained especially when it’s so hot outside. Although there are a ton of fun things to do with kids in southwest Florida, if we aren’t at the beach, at a splash park, or in the pool we really don’t go outside in the summer…it’s just too hot.
But we love getting together with the kid’s friends and moms for playdates, so I thought I would try to get a bunch of us together and wasn’t sure where or how to do it. Thankfully, I was selected to partner with Disney to do a Disney World themed mommy play date and it was so much fun!
I decided to do our playdate at home but I didn’t want the kids to be inside the whole time and turn the house into a giant toy box, so we made it into a pool party! Plus, it was around the time of Maggie’s 7th birthday, so we made it a play date/birthday party. It was perfect!
Disney was amazing! I am so thankful to be a part of this hosted party because, well obviously, we love all things Disney, but also because they sent us everything we needed for our play date. Check out our unboxing video here.
So we were pleasantly surprised with decorations, games, food (yes, food!!!! And it was yummy!), prizes and even a princess outfit! Maggie absolutely loved her Belle dress from JAKKS Pacific. It was so adorable!
The Decorations
We had the cutest Mickey and his pal’s decorations for the party. There were streamers I hung all around the lanai.
I also added a few of my own Mickey decorations. I grabbed some picture frames from Dollar Tree and painted them red, then hot glued yellow buttons to the bottom of them to make the look like Mickey. Then I printed out signs for the snack table, the craft table, and the game table. I thought they came out really cute.
The Games
The Mickey pinata was a big hit! I have never seen such a cool (and safe) pinata. All you have to do is have each child grab a streamer at the bottom and if the are all pulled at the same time all the candy will fall out. We did let each kid take a wack at the pinata before we did the streamer release. It was super fun.
We played a matching game…which I wouldn’t recommend with a pool party because our pieces got kind of wet. But it was still fun. Each picture had a Walt Disney World spot or ride picture on it and had a matching piece. It was fun to see if we have been on the ride that the cards showed.
Another game we played was called Fab Fortune Teller where we made an oragami type paper game. After we cut them out and folded them, each player had to pick a color then a number, and so on until they got to the final Disney character. It was cute!
We also played pin the nose on the Mickey. It was so cute! The kids loved it!
We also had a craft table. I got a whole bunch of Mickey and friends and princess related crafts from Dollar Tree. Maggie and Charlie are totally into crafting this summer so this was a great table for our party. And I will say, it was quite a hit with the kids. They all spent some time there!
The Food
The Popcorn cake from Popped Passion was a big hit! It had all kinds of fun treats inside like Swedish fish and white chocolate chips. It was sweet and salty combined, which I love. Plus Maggie loved blowing out candles on a fun popcorn cake- that was definitely a first for her. It was so cute- I highly recommend ordering from Popped Passion! They deliver right to your door and I know we will be ordering again for sure.
I made a couple treats of my own. I went on Pinterest and found this really cute idea for Mickey jello cups. All I did was make red jello in individual clear cups and then added whip cream to the top and put two mini oreos on the whip cream for the Mickey ears. They were a hit!
I was super thankful for a Michael Angelo’s coupon in our Now More than Ever party box, because after the party I didn’t feel like cooking dinner. So I went to the store and grabbed one of these convenient and affordable meals. It was a major life-savor. Thanks a bunch, Michael Angelo’s!
The Prizes and Favors
Disney even included prizes in our Now More than Ever party box, although I will admit, Maggie and Charlie didn’t want to share because they were so cool! One of the prizes was a Minnie Mouse Pillow Pet. It is so adorable and you can expand it or velcro it to make it bigger or smaller.
We also got a really cute Ariel doll from JAKKS Pacific. She is so cute and Maggie is really into the Little Mermaid so it was the perfect doll for her!
The kids also loved these fun Mickey masks as their take home favors!
We had such a great time. It was almost like having Disney right there in our home. There are so many fun things happening at Disney this summer like the new Mickey & Minnie Surprise Celebration at Magic Kingdom (I got a picture with them already, eeeeeee! Check it out here….)
There is now a party with Pixar Pals at Hollywood Studios. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge will also be opening on August 29th at Hollywood Studios. I got a sneak peek of that at the Disney Social Media Conference, and ya’ll, it’s going to be epic!!
There is a new Skyline at Caribbean Beach Resort opening in September. There are a lot of fun things to check out at Walt Disney World Resort, so if you have been thinking about making a Disney trip, now is the time!
I want to hear from you now! Tell me how you have been keeping the kids busy this summer in the comments!
Disclosure: I received free products in order to host a #NowMoreThanEver playdate party. The opinions are my own. Thank you to Disney and all of these amazing companies! And thank you for your ongoing support of Mom Explores Southwest Florida.
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