Disclosure: I hosted a Disney Side @Home Celebration via MomSelect.  I received products to use for my party; the opinions shared here are 100% mine.  You can host a #DisneySide party, too, even if you didn’t receive a hostess kit!

One thing I love about Disney — it’s designed for families of all shapes, sizes, and locations.  If you’ve ever visited a Disney park, you know that hospitality and flexibility is part of the overall magic.  You need to change your dates?  No problem.  Need to cancel a reservation?  Simple as a phone call.  In planning my own Disney @Home Celebration, I’m glad that I was able to mirror those Disney ideals.  Unfortunately due to the unpredictable weather here in East Tennessee, my guests enjoyed a Disney party to go in February.  You see, my circle of friends are all busy moms.  Working outside the home is hard enough, but then throw in your kids’ activities and family obligations and it’s next to impossible to find a date that works for everyone.  We thought we had it made when February 15 could be written in stone on every calendar.  Then the snow hit.  Then the ice hit.  Then everyone got sick.  How in the world could we manage the party?  Easy!  I made it a #DisneySide party to go since we had to stay in due to the snow. 

I received this beyond-awesome party kit from MomSelect that contained everything I needed to really surprise my guests with goodies.  The kids were all set up with t-shirts to color, a cute bracelet, and a pack of Craisins.  The moms were going to enjoy some girl time then take home a beautiful litho poster and a photo-printing pack from HP.  Sounds fabulous, right?  Check it out!

It was all set until school got called out three days in a row.  That’s absolutely unheard of in our area; we’re known for going no matter the weather!  Then we expected Saturday the 15th to be just fine, until the ice came along.  So we were homebound again.  We had it all set up just in case, but since only a handful of friends could safely venture out, we decided to make the kits available as a to-go order.  Two moms were able to come with their kids (sans the husbands) but the others were not going to be able to come at a different date.  So, we delivered the party goods to each mom & dad over the next couple of weeks and shared the cool ooooohhhhs- and aaahhhs with each one.  Sharing our favorite Disney stories made this all worthwhile.  Even though the party didn’t turn out as I expected, I loved that each family got to enjoy a fun package and the kids could still play with their party kit.  Making the home deliveries was really fun, too, since we got to spend time talking with each family about DISNEY!!

For the moms who were able to venture out into the cold, we had a great time sharing our Disney stories.  My kids love to talk about their favorite rides, look at Disney pictures, and just basically rehash our trip. It turns out that they liked different rides than their friends at our little get-together, so they had a fun time thinking about our next trip.  My daughter is already asking if we can go back because she’s craving a Dole Whip.  The moms ended up sharing tips on favorite restaurants and shows.  I also realized how different our tastes are in hotel accommodations!!   We all agreed on one thing though.  Getting together to talk about our Disney trips makes us all long for another Disney adventure.

We decided to get our DisneySide in with some homemade Mickey waffles.  I made these by cutting a freezer waffle into a Mickey shape (with a cookie cutter of course — you can get these at the Disney store online!).  Topped with Nutella and some fruit, these remind me of the delicious waffle sandwiches we love from Sleepy Hollow at Magic Kingdom.

If you want to throw a little bit of pixie dust on your own Disney @Home Celebration, check out these great party planning tips. You don’t have to receive a party kit like mine in order to make yours a magical celebration. I do hope the weather cooperates a little better for you than it did for us!