DIY Minnie Mouse Party Ideas: Centerpieces

And here we have the centerpieces!!

Sorry it took me so long to finish this post.. Been kind of busy these days.

For the centerpieces, I saw some nice ideas on some blogs but when I went to the store, I ended up creating my kind of own idea of how to make centerpieces easy and cheap.

Materials:

• 6 pink plastic buckets
• White foam sheets
• Pink paper stuffing
• 6 red styrofoam stars with glitter
• Styrofoam sheets
• Red and white bows
• Wooden skewers
• Black acrylic paint
• Red and white balloons Size No. 5
• Hot Glue gun
• Blade
• Minnie Mouse head Shape. You can download it here.

So, I started using some of the white circles I cut for the Minnie Mouse Favor Boxes to decorate the plastic buckets.

 Make sure not to burn yourself with the glue gun!

Once you finish gluing all the white dots, let them dry while you start tracing the Minnie Mouse shape into the styrofoam sheets.

For the head, I thought about using styrofoam balls but they were quite expensive. I ended up finding some Styrofoam sheets and Tah Dah! I remembered I had the Minnie Mouse head template I used for the invitations and started to put all the pieces together in my head.

I used 1 long Styrofoam sheet where I traced all 6 figures.

Once you have traced all 6, start cutting them very carefully with the blade. What I did was to outline the shape with blade slowly and at the same time pressing hard enough to cut the Styrofoam. 

Try to cut the shape in a way you can still see the outline (doesn't matter as you will cover it with black paint later) 

Tip: to give a smooth finish to the edges of the figure, use a hot spoon. This will make the edges look soft and even. Don't let the spoon sit on the Styrofoam too long as it will melt it and ruin the figure!! (It happened to me)

If you don't feel secure doing this, use the blade and take out any unevenness. 

After you have finished cutting all of the figures, find a spot in the house where you can use the black paint in order not to stain your floor (yes, it happened too) I recommend you use newspaper. 

Add the wooden skewers to each figure in order for you to grab easier and paint it. 

Another tip: read carefully before buying spray paint. Some of them will also melt the Styrofoam due to the components they use. I recommend you use acrylic paint which will not harm any plastic surfaces.

Also, and this can sound weird, I used a little bit of vanilla (yes, the same one you use for cooking purposes, lol) and added to the paint. This will minimize the paint smell and will give your centerpieces a touch :D (especially if you painted them the night before the birthday party)

I also applied 2 layers of black paint, to accentuate the black. You can apply as many layers as you desire, as acrylic paint dries faster than regular paint.

Insert the figures in the buckets to allow them to dry easier.  

 Once they all dry, start the final assembly!

I used the left overs of the Styrofoam to cut big circles, the same size as the buckets. I used these circles to cover the top of the bucket and to hide the small rocks I used to stabilize the bucket, otherwise they will fall because of the weight.

Place one Minnie Mouse head on each bucket. Add a red star (these ones I bought them) to the left of the centerpiece. On the other side, using the balloons, create a small flower using 4 white balloons and one red as the middle of the flower. Tie all of the balloons together and then use a wooden skewer to pin it to the bucket.

You can also make red flowers with the white center and combine the centerpieces.

Add the pink paper stuffing to cover the Styrofoam. Finally add the red and white bow and glue it to the Minnie Mouse figure.

This is the final look!! Husband and I were pretty impressed how they turned out and our guess loved them as well. Everybody wanted to take one home, sadly I only made 6.

If you have any questions please let me know and I will gladly answer. Don't forget to leave your comments and inputs, they will be much appreciated.

I will post some pics of the party coming soon, so you can see how everything turned out.

Cheers!