Ten Tips On Hosting Your Disney Side Home Celebration

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Ten Tips On Hosting Your Disney Side Home Celebration

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This year our family was chosen to host a Disney Side Home Celebration for the second year. Such an exciting moment when that pixie dusted email arrives telling you that you have been chosen by Disney Parks to be a part of the fun. Now, you don’t have to be chosen in order to host a Disney Side Home Celebration. Honestly, we have been hosting them for years without the official name. A Disney Side Home Celebration is just inviting friends over and hosting a Disney themed party. Everyone has a Disney Side, what’s yours?

This year we are still trying to come up with a theme. We have it narrowed down and will announce it very soon when are invitations are ready. In the meantime, if you are looking for some tips on hosting a Disney Side Home Celebration we are here for you. We came up with ten tips on hosting your own party.

Tip 1: Choose a theme for your party. Some people were given a theme, others were not. If you do not have a preselected theme, it’s up to your family to come up with one. You can always choose one of the preselected ones for yourself or think of something original. Last year our theme was Hidden Mickey. It was a great theme and easy to feature at the party. You are welcome to try it if you still haven’t chosen.

Tip 2: Choose a date and send out invitations. Set the size of your party according to what is comfortable for you. Although it says home celebration, some people last year chose to have their party at a school, bowling alley, scout meetup, etc. We will be hosting ours at home again this year. By the way, your invites can be online or hard copy. It’s all up to you.

Tip 3: Do the Disney Side Happy Dance! You were chosen. Don’t stress about what was in your celebration package. There is no comparing if you are showing your true Disney Side. It’s about having fun and being happy. So just accept and enjoy!

Tip 4: Don’t forget about the music! What’s a Disney Side Home Celebration without music? Last year we created a play list on Spotify.com for free with over 200 Disney songs. It was awesome and kept the party going with tunes that everyone knew and some that they have not heard in a long time. Of course you can use your own music. I’m sure you already have some playlists created since your love Disney!

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Tip 5: Decide if you will play games at your party. If you decide on games be sure you have the room and all your ducks in order. Check that all the game pieces are there. Check that the directions are clear. Check that everyone will have fun with the games you have chosen. http://family.disney.com/activities

Tip 6: Photo Booths are awesome and easy to make. Be sure to do them in advance. Any box can easy be cut up into a photo booth. Check out some awesome Photo Booth ideas on my Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/3decades3kids/disney-photo-booth/

Tip 7: Decide what treats will be served at your party. Check with party guests ahead of time for any special dietary concerns. Create some Disney themed names for the foods depending on your party theme. Example: Snow White’s Non-poisonous apples, Tink’s Pixie Dusted Cookies.

Tip 8: Decorate your party area with home made decorations. Kids love to decorate and really get into it. Last year we made Mickey paper chains, paper flowers , hidden Mickey’s for around the house and more. The decorating is part of the fun!

Tip 9: Decide if you will have goodie bags. We found a ton of fun toys, pens, puzzles all in Target’s dollar zone. They always have Disney themed goodies. If you google Disney low cost favors, you will come up with a zillion places to purchase any theme surprises.

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Tip 10: Don’t forget to take lots of pics and video. On party day it may be a good idea to put a friend in charge of pics and video. Sometimes the host can get pretty busy making sure that everything is going as planned and not have time to zone in on pics, let alone video. This year I am passing the torch on this job so I don’t have to worry about it.

We are so looking forward to seeing everyone’s Disney Side Home Celebrations. Big or Small each party will have its own unique Disney magic. It’s all about fun, friends and family….and sharing our love for Disney! What’s your Disney Side? Do you have another tip? Please leave it in the comments section. We are always looking for more tips!

http://www.disneysidecelebrations.com/

Disclosure: No compensation was given for this post. We will be hosting a Disney Side Home Celebration in February and just thought if we could help one person to plan, we have done our job. Contact Diane Sullivan at 3decades3kids@gmail.com and everywhere else at @3decades3kids We were provided with a Disney Side Celebration Kit by Disney Parks and BSM media. 

 

Disney Vacation Club..What A Great Decision!

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A view from our DVC room at The Boardwalk!
Disney Vacation Club

Once a year our family tries to take a wonderful vacation to Disney World in Florida. Almost fifteen years ago, my husband and I purchased a time share through Disney called Disney Vacation Club. At that time we had a 6 year old and we spent a lot of time in Florida. Well, fourteen years later we now are a family of five, with a 20,12 and 4 year old and we still try to spend time in Florida.
We would not be able to vacation at Walt Disney World without Disney Vacation Club. The club is based on points and different than other timeshares because there is no set time to use your points. It’s not based on a week or a time frame. When you want to visit Disney, you simply call and make a reservation. You can use as little as 10 points to reserve a room, depending on the time of year you travel. We always travel during July and August, so our room generally goes for about 14-20 points. Of course with a larger family you need a larger room, or as we do, we book two rooms. The buy-in to DVC (Disney Vacation Club) is 150 points.
The rooms are beautiful no matter what resort you choose to stay at. You are free to book at any of the DVC resorts on Disney property. Since we booked our vacation just days before we left, we ended up moving from resort to resort in order to stay where we wanted. Other resorts were available for the entire length of our stay, be we chose to skip around! Disney moves your luggage from one hotel to the next, so you just check out in the morning and your luggage meets you when you check into the next resort.
Boardwalk Room
Our View from the Contemporery Resort

Our family loves Disney World, but since it is a little pricey, we tend to spend some time at the resorts which have their own activities and wonderful pools, each with a unique slide! 

The Disney Vacation Club is not just for trips to Disney! We have used our points to stay in NYC, Hershey and other locations. With DVC you can find a location anywhere in the world! The latest resort is in the final stages now in Hawaii. The DVC points can also be used at the Disneyland resorts!
Every year when we visit Florida my husband and I agree that buying into DVC was one of our smartest decisions. Without it, our vacation would be in our living room! 

Our Savannah Room at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.

If you want to check out Disney Vacation Club just click on the link. If you have any questions about it, you can write them below or email me at dianes@macaronikid.com . If you do decide to buy in…please tell them Diane Sullivan sent you!