How I Prepared for a Hakuna Matata Summer Play Date!

#NowMoreThanEver

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Friends, having a busy lifestyle with a demanding full-time job, two active boys and a few side hustles means I rarely get time to plan things calmly and with plenty of time in advance anymore. Parties, events and festivities I host are usually whirlwind last-minute productions… but I have amazing friends and family that always show up no matter what! (Special shout-out to my cousins, mommy tribe and bestie!)

I share this because I recently partnered with Disney and threw a #NowMoreThanEver Summer Disney Play date for Benny and Toby and their friends and cousins. Organizing this party for 50+ guests meant a lot of planning in a short period of time. With so much to do, I had the boys visit their grandma for a night which allowed to me get home from work and focus on planning, planning, planning!

The party theme and details were already set since I received a box with instructions and a generous array of Lion-King themed party decorations, games & favors.

First thing’s first…

I knew that if I’d be spending quiet time alone for party planning— I would not be cooking that night. So, I popped a Michael Angelo’s Veggie Lasagna meal into the microwave for a few minutes and poured myself a glass of California Rosé… cause a girl’s gotta relax!

Look, I know the lasagna is after all, a frozen meal… BUT… Michael Angelo’s products are actually made with wholesome, simple ingredients… It’s frozen food for people who don’t like frozen food.

But I digress.

To begin the party prep, I started moving forward with the bigger tasks first— upon receiving all of the RSVPs, I booked table & chair rentals to seat my guests. Then I contacted my dad who used to own a catering business about possibly helping us cater the play date. He agreed.

Next was figuring out party fun for the kids—

The challenge was finding a way to keep them entertained while the adults could do some adultin’. Since we don’t have a pool at home, I thought renting some water games would be ideal. I booked a local company who delivers pump and splash games for kids and it turned out to be a great idea!

Once the big things were booked,

I started working on details.

In my opinion, details really matter to make a party stand out— this entails having a vision of how you want the event to flow and how you want stuff organized, from framing signs, labeling everything with custom designs that match the party theme and making things easy for guests to navigate. I started by copying my invitation design to create “Thank you” messages for the goody bags. Next, I created labels for the toppings on the ice cream sundae bar. I also made signs for everything— recyclables, trash, suncreen, drinks and lunch menu by using an online design app called PicMonkey.

Finally, I gathered everything that had arrived from Disney

And did an inventory of things I was still missing. From there, I went to the dollar store to pick up a few small items including vases to fill with faux tropical leaves to serve as centerpieces. I didn’t want to incorporate balloons because the heat would probably make them deflate or pop. Nor did I want to add too many streamers across the garden because those usually end up staying in place for months thereafter! But I did include a few other details I thought would be appropriate for the jungle, the mighty jungle…LOL!

Friends, the Hakuna Matata Summer Play Date

turned out to be a fun summer party!

Read all about our #NowMoreThanEver Play date here!

My friends and family joined in. There were nearly 30 kids and everybody enjoyed their time. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Disney. I encourage you all to consider making magical memories #NowMoreThanEver

Thanks for reading!

Xo,

-Anabel M.