Your favorite "Disney Planning Party" ideas About This Page:

[mousestruck]

Hi all! We are having some friends over this weekend for a Disney Planning Party, as we are all going to Disney this November and our 90-day mark is coming up! This is not the first trip for either family, though we are self-proclaimed "Disneyholics" and they are visiting for their second time... and looking to us for some "expert" advice! We want to make it a fun evening, complete with Disney-themed decorations, food and games, as we plan out our meals and activities. Between the two families, we have five kids, ages 4 to 12. And we're all new DVC members and staying at Kidani Village.

So... would anyone care to share some of your favorite Disney Planning Party ideas? I'd love to hear them!

[Caldercup]

Aimee, I did one of these when I took my step-brother's family for a grand gathering in 2005.

I set out all of our Disney-specific Mister Potato Head parts (with all of our potato and spud bodies) on the table and asked the kids to make us a centerpiece.

I cooked a meal from the recipes on AllEarsNet.com.

I made gift bags for everyone with Disney things like lip balm, fruit snacks, homemade autograph books, moleskin, etc.

I made a quick trivia game of things like "Which park has the biggest total area?" Stuff that sparked conversations and peaked their interest. Some of the silly questions were "who is my favorite character?" and stuff that was easy for everyone.

You can also play a BINGO-like game, changing out the B-I-N-G-O with P-L-U-T-O.

There are also Disney board games to play.

Then I had a movie for the kids to watch so the parents could spend some time seriously talking brass tacks about the trip.
Eileen

[Wendyismyname]

I did gift bags, with personalize Mickey Ears(back when they were $6) in 2005 for 13 people. I also put in autograph books and pens. And I also put in trading pins.

I made the game PLUTO as Eileen said, it's BINGO. I also did Disney Trivia. I did a bunch of easy stuff but then I also did some hard stuff.

For my meal I fixed the original Whispering Canyon Cafe Meatloaf, Le Cellier Cheese Soup and Chef Mickey's Parmesan Mashed Potatoes. All was fantastic.

I was worn out too, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

[disney]

i never did anything like this it sounds like sooo much fun , But since we decided not to tell the kids and surprise them maybe next trip . thanks for posting
Aimee

[Cheriemek]

You guys are so clever! I am so lame I was planning on doing a Powerpoint presentation.

[Caldercup]

Then maybe you'd like these:

Eileen's Mouse House! PowerPoint Templates

Just know that I used specialty fonts and you'd have to change them to whatever fonts you have on your computer.
Eileen

[dnbaci]

When we had one for our big trip in 2000 since we were 45 people. I made posters that had ADR info and activities (places we were thinking about going to) and had people sign up for everything they were interested in. We had a big dinner, listened to disney music, watched the planning videos and planned room assignments.

Have fun planning, the anticipation is almost as fun as the trip!

[tio marco]

Eileen -- those are great templates!!

[Suzie-Q]

Some of my fav recipes from Disney (from all-ears, most of them) are:
Coca Cola BBQ sauce from AKL - make ahead then BBQ chicken
Cinderella's breakfast potatoes from CRT - easy casserole to make ahead and heat
Tie Die cheesecake (for this you can even use your favourite, tried and true recipe and just swirl in different colours of your batter)
Parmesan Pita Points were great - don't remember which restaurant that one came from - served with any of the dip/hummus recipes

If you used those recipes you could have a casual BBQ with most of the prep work behind you. Just add a salad and some lemonade or FAB and you're golden!
If you are not a cook (I enjoy it, but not everyone does) you could go with Mickey shaped pizzas - Buy them frozen at some stores or even make them with 2 sizes of Pitas and canned pizza sauce etc. I think there are even mickey shaped chicken nuggets out there for sale somewhere and you could just do something disney-ish for dessert like frozen bananas (really - dipping a banana in chocolate and freezing it does not count as cooking, right?) or Dole Whips or even do a pan of rice crispie squares and cut out mickey shapes with a cookie cutter.
Whatever you do - have fun! Play some Disney music in the background and enjoy the anticipation of more fun to come.

[home4us123]

Great ideas you guys

[mousestruck]

Thanks for all of these great ideas, everyone!

And Eileen -- OMG... those Powerpoint slides are awesome! Your creativity never ceases to amaze me!