As you may know, Charlotte is having a Minnie Mouse party this year. After years of being Nickelodeon snobs, they have recently switched to Disney...which gives me a whole new world of party planning possibilities! Well, the "Mouseification" has begun at our house.
I wanted to make mouse ears for each of the children coming to the party. So, I went to the Disney website and found the ones I liked...for $8.00 each. I'm expecting 16 kids. Over $100 for mouse ears? Plus what the divorce attorney would cost after my husband (going forward to be known as Mr. Glue Gun) found out what I spent on ears?? There had to be a better way. I went to Etsy..they were still upwards of $4.00 each. Better...but I knew I could still do it better and cheaper.
So, off to my Holy Land I went...aka Hobby Lobby. For a little over $20.00 in supplies, I have 16 sets of mouse ears. Fabulous!! Are they as "nice" as the Disney ones. Probably not totally. But kids will be wearing them at the party and they will probably get destroyed, so they serve their purpose and I'm thrilled!!! And the best part...Mr. Glue Gun can't divorce me over $20, right??
First, off...I needed to figure out what to use for the ears. I saw on Pinterest, someone used black felt and then had to "stuff it" with something to make them stand up. What good are mouse ears if they won't stand up. Stuffing them? Mom with a glue gun doesn't have time for that nonsense. So, I found this felt...and it was PERFECT!
It's not soft and cozy, it's stiff and scratchy. Trust me, you will see the difference and know what I'm talking about. I grabbed about 5 sheets of it, they were .79 each. Then, I used this little wooden circle as my template. It's 3.25 inches in diameter and I picked it up from the JoAnn wood section for like .39. I used a white paint pen to trace two circles for each ear, leaving a little space in-between each circle.
When I cut them out, they looked like this. You will want that little part in the middle to wrap around the headband. I found the headbands at Hobby Lobby for around 1.00 each. http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/black-thin-satin-headbands-409458/
Wrap the ear around the headband and glue to together. I tried felt glue and it was a huge failure. Hot glue was the secret. Why I even deviated from my trusty glue gun was beyond me! I put a little glue under the headband to make sure the ear wouldn't slide up and down the headband. Also, don't glue right on the edge because you don't want it leaking out...it's tacky. And this mom doesn't want tacky ears!
I was glueing with one hand and using my iPhone to take a pic, so I had one string of glue get too close to the edge...tacky city, lol! Keep yours more towards the inside.
Press together! And...voila!!!
For the boys, I did plain black on black ears. For the girls, I bought hot pink headbands (also 1.00 each from Hobby Lobby) and added a fancy pink bow in the middle.
I will post pics of the kids wearing them after the party. So, take it from me, you party fashionistas...this is EASY!!! Make your own ears and do not give Disney $100!!! Seriously, I will come find you and smack you with my glue gun!
