This post is very outdated, so sorry. Life has been busy as usual.

Since Mackenzie is away for the Disney College Program, Taryn & I decided to send her & her 5 roommates a big Valentine's Day surprise package. Valentine's would mark about one month since they'd been away from home, & that was Mackenzie's first Valentine's Day away from Ben since they'd been dating.

We decided to make everything Disney-themed, & we had so much fun coming up with everything! We asked for each roommate's top 3 favorite Disney movies, & tried to make gifts based on those.

For her roommates' gifts...
One roommate got Alice in Wonderland roses - White roses painted red.

Another got a Beauty in the Beast "enchanted rose" in a glass jar.

A third roommate got paper lanterns, based on the ones in Tangled.

& two roommates got pretty arrows - One set themed around Peter Pan, & the other around Pocahontas. They were  loosely based on this tutorial.

Mackenzie got a Mickey Mouse box (based on this tutorial), an Up card (based on this bookmark), & a Mickey heart banner (based on this tutorial).

Each girl also got a homemade hair bow. Top is Peter Pan, middle row is Esmerelda & Flynn Rider, & botton is Maleficent & Tarzan. Mackenzie got one too! Inspiration is linked.

The girls also got some candy & paper Valentines, some of which were found on Pinterest. If you search "Disney Valentines," tons of them will come up! Here's a link to the inspiration for a Baymax one we used.

All of the valentines were put in little Disney cups (those ones you can get at Walmart for $1 or whatever!), except Mackenzie's because she had more stuff (& her's went in the Mickey box!) All of this was loaded into a big box to ship to Florida, which we decorated with Hercules lyrics & Disney coloring pages. We were also super annoying & stuffed the whole thing with rose petals.

Hopefully they enjoyed opening their package as much as we enjoyed making it!

As I mentioned before, Mackenzie was accepted to the Disney College Program this past fall. For those who don't know about the DCP, Mackenzie had to go through an application process, followed by a series of interviews. After passing through each round, she was notified of her acceptance to the Spring 2016 program!

As a DCP cast member, she will be working at Disney World in Orlando (although some go to Disneyland in California, too!). DCP cast members can be assigned to work in the theme parks themselves, in Disney businesses at Disney Springs, or at Disney resorts. These can include a variety of jobs - anything from being a character performer to cleaning staff to restaurant service. Mackenzie knows she was assigned to work in restaurant service in part of Magic Kingdom, but will find out exactly where later on. She will also be living in Disney apartments with 5 roommates who are also in the program during her time there. 

We are so excited for Mackenzie! She worked so hard to get into the DCP, & it is a dream come true for her. Our family has a huge love for the Disney company, & we are looking forward to visiting her for Spring Break!

However, before she left, Taryn & I wanted to make sure Mackenzie had a good send-off. We planned a surprise going away party for her with just the family (& Ben & Levi, of course), & tried to make it worthy of her new Disney lifestyle!

Taryn & I made all of the decorations, most of which were based on things we found on Pinterest. For the most part, we didn't follow exact instructions, but just based our ideas on the photos we looked at. We did however, use the exact recipe for the Oreo Fluff Dessert as our "Grey Stuff." I'll post links below - Just click on the titles.

Baymax Balloons
Toy Story Alien Balloon
Pooh & Piglet Balloons
Wreck-It Ralph Sugar Racer Kabobs
Mickey Cupcakes
Oreo Fluff Dessert ("Grey Stuff")
Mickey Party Hats

For the balloons, I either drew the designs on with Sharpie, or drew the designs on paper & taped them onto the balloons. Taryn had the difficult task of hanging them!

The Sugar Racer kabob candy holders were things I already had. I purchased them at $1 Tree, not knowing what I'd use them for, but they were so cute! I bought wooden skewers for the candy, & purchased several kinds of gummies & some marshmallows to put on them.

The cupcakes are red velvet. Taryn decorated them with whipped cream icing & Oreos.

As mentioned above, the Oreo Fluff Dessert is exactly from the Pinterest recipe. We dipped graham crackers in it, but you could also dip Oreos or other cookies.

Taryn & I covered regular paper party hats with colored scrapbook paper using hot glue to make the Mickey party hats. We didn't have a pattern - We just eyeballed everything & they turned out really well!

Laker made all of the signs to go with the food on the computer, & I made the "We'll miss you," banner with chalkboard wrapping paper. Laker also helped me make some super cute photo props, which we totally forgot to use. Oops.

& Ben kept Mackenzie away while we were decorating!

For Mackenzie's gifts, I made her three things:

The first had nothing to do with Disney. Mackenzie & I share a love of dramatic, sometimes ridiculous TV shows, which means we both loved Gossip Girl - especially Blair Waldorf. I made her a mug based on this design. I don't have a picture of the finished product, unfortunately!

The second was a dinglehopper hair clip. If you don't know what I'm talking about & are confused as to why I'd want my sister to wear a fork in her hair, you need to watch more Disney movies, but I posted a couple of clips below, just in case! I got the idea from this post.

Next up is a pin holder, designed to look like Mickey. I based it off of this painting design, but since it was being made to hold pins, I used felt, added the word "pins", & added a rod & string at the top so Mackenzie could hang it in her apartment. You may be wondering why she would need something specifically to hold pins. At the Disney parks, many workers collect pins. They wear them on their lanyards & trade them with park guests. So I figured Mackenzie might like a place to keep her collection! As you can see, she already has a couple added - her birthday button from check-in week (She turned 20 the week she left home!) & the Ravenclaw Head Girl badge I got her as part of her birthday gift.

Her last gift was a Scrump doll, based on Lilo's doll in Lilo & Stitch. This is a bit more of an obscure reference, so I posted a video of that scene too. I used the instructions for this sock doll, & then I sewed on buttons, hair, & a face. I made it in colors to match her room in her apartment.

Mackenzie is all settled into her apartment now & had her first training today. We're so excited to see what's next for her!