You’ve always wanted to try but have shied away. You see the pictures of your friends and family holding race bibs and posting about their latest training run. Why does it seem so hard to just start running? Trust me, I’ve had this conversation in my head many times. Do I want it? Do I want to be a runner?
When the call of Disney becons, you jump for joy and begin sprinkling the pixie dust! It’s like somebody handing over lottery winnings or granting three wishes. What is a ‘Disney Side’? I think it is pure joy. Happiness. The innocence and wonder of youth. We all harbour these qualities within ourselves, and yet we all express them differently. A Disney celebration does not have to include princess gowns or animation. In fact, our celebration took bits from many Disney ideals and moments and overlayed them all onto a formal dinner that celebrated kids and adults alike.
We set our celebration with eight adults and four children. The adult table was formal with crystal, linen and silver. Kids had many Disney inspired stuffies and themed napkins. I had the kids type names for place card adorned with Mickey Mouse faces and glue them to thick cards edged in black. The kids learned how to properly set a table and they were given ‘wine’ glasses for their Monsters Inc. juice.
As guests arrived, they were greeted at the door by our two sons wearing their Mickey ears. We began our celebration with a run around our little island and the winner was awarded a copy of the new Frozen on Blu-ray. Of course, that is the soundtrack that played throughout. I may or may not have belted ‘Let it Go’ with Idina Menzel…
Next, we played Disney Bingo as we nibbled on snowflake-shaped cheeses covered in Ocean Spray Craisins.
Dinner was a huge hit, though I didn’t quite bank on the hours of cleanup necessitated by pulling out the good dishes!
Our DisneySide Menu:
Snowflake-shaped hard cheeses sprinkled with Craisins
Lobster Mickey Cream Pappardelle
Homemade Mickey Cheese Sauce for the Kids
Mickey-shaped garlic bread sprinkled with kale
Mickey Trouser Cupcakes
Disney Sugar Cookies
We ended the evening by giving each guest a lithograph of Minnie and Mickey, along with a few personalized photos of the run around the island printed on HP photo cards. All of the goodies were served up in the American Tourister luggage that all of the party supplies arrived in.
And that is my Disney Side! All I can say is that I should have done a few more laps for the run to make up for the lobster cream sauce and sugar cookies!
