We're hosting a #DisneySide @ Home Celebration! *Link up your parties here!*

I received free products in order to host the Disney Side @ Home Celebration.

The opinions expressed here are my own.

One of my favorite things to find is an email from my friends at Disney Parks and Mom Select! Today we were offered another opportunity host a Disney Side @ Home Celebration and we could not be more excited! 

We love showing our #DisneySide and there is no better way to do that than with great friends! Have you had a chance to check out our past Disney themed parties?

Last winter we hosted a super fun Mickey and Minnie themed party for a bunch of our favorite family friends. 

And just a couple of months ago we hosted the sweetest Sofia the First Disney Kids Preschool Playdate for our favorite preschool princesses.

We can't wait to start planning our next celebration!

We are always looking for new ideas to add to our next party... do you have any to share?

An InLinkz Link-up

Or you can leave your links in the comments below!

I received free products in order to host the Disney Side @ Home Celebration.

The opinions expressed here are my own.

Disney Kids Preschool Playdate

We received free products from Walt Disney World Resort and MomSelect in order to host the Disney Kids Preschool Playdate. The opinions expressed here are my own.

To say we were honored to be asked, as part of the Disney Social Media Moms team, to host a #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate would be an understatement! We love working with our friends at Walt Disney World Resort and MomSelect and we love the focus they have on making sure that families are aware of all of the fun and practical ways that Walt Disney World meets the needs of preschoolers.

You may remember that we had a blast at our #DisneySide @ Home Celebration earlier this year so when we were invited again to have a party to share some Disney magic with our friends, we couldn't wait to start planning!

Disney Social Media Moms On-The-Road Philadelphia 2014

Earlier this summer I had the privilege of being invited to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On-The-Road in Philadelphia.  It was such an exciting honor to attend!  What a whirlwind day full of fun, learning, challenge, inspiration, and many good friends!  My husband and I joked about the fact that we drove 6 hours to attend a 4 hour event.  Well, let me tell you something...  we would do it again in a heartbeat!  It was worth every second in that car (although hopefully next year it's in Boston... either that or we will fly!).

Here's a glimpse into some of my favorite moments from the day...

Special thanks to all of the organizers, facilitators, and sponsors of this event.  The Disney Social Media Moms Celebration Team is amazing!  I am so incredibly grateful to have been a part of this special day!

We're heading to Philly!

It's time!

Tomorrow we hit the road and head to Philadelphia for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On The Road, and in case you couldn't tell, I am super excited!

Today, I followed along via social media to get a glimpse of some of the action from the the first stop on this three city tour ~ Chicago!  I was inspired by the speakers, saw so many fun photos, and am now even more excited about this opportunity than I already was.

I hope you'll follow along on social media so you don't miss a beat this Thursday, June 19! We start bright and early so pour a cup of coffee and be ready!  You'll be able to watch live on MomTV.com starting at 8:30 AM EST and follow live tweets, pics, and updates by following the hashtag #DisneySMMoms on all your social media channels.

You can follow me directly through these links!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/loriann978
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TakeTimeForToday
Instagram: http://instagram.com/loriallinder

See you there, either in person or remotely!  Let me know where I'll find you!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Paper Chain

We made this super cute Mickey and Minnie paper chain garland decoration for our Disney themed party over three months ago and it still hangs over a doorway in our house!  It was such an easy (although a bit tedious) project and it really helped set the mood for our fun day.

You'll see that we used black for Mickey and Minnie's heads, red for their clothes, white for their buttons and polka dots, yellow for their shoes, and white for their hands... or to separate them... however you want to interpret it...  Get it?!  We also used some pink for Minnie's bows... I intended to use red to match her skirt but my 3 year old informed me that Minnie doesn't wear red, she wears pink... oh, how times have changed!

Here's what you'll need:

• construction paper - black, red, yellow, white
• hole punch
• tape or glue
• ear template (small circle shape with a tab to attach to the black loops)
• bow template (small bow with a tab to attach to alternating heads)
• a little helper

Here's what you'll do:

• cut strips of construction paper in desired width
• trace and cut ears out of black paper and bows out of pink or red paper
• punch out lots of little white dots
• loop paper strips inside of one another, alternating colors, and secure with tape or glue
• attach ears and bows
• attach dots
• hang and show your DisneySide!

I am so excited that one week from today I'll be showing my DisneySide at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On The Road in Philadelphia!  I hope you'll follow along from home if you won't be there in person!

Thankfully when I return home, I'll still have my Mickey and Minnie decorations to greet me and keep me in the Disney spirit!

BUT, you don't need a party or a conference to show your DisneySide... how do you show yours?

photos courtesy of Keiko S. Dowell Photography

I'm Going to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On-The-Road!

This week I was extended a very exciting invitation and I just submitted my RSVP!  I was invited by MomSelect and the Disney Parks Social Media Moms Celebration Team to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On-The-Road this summer!

I should give some context by saying that earlier this spring, I received the most shocking and exciting email ever.  It came to me, totally unexpectedly one evening, from Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Special Events, inviting me to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Disneyland in California, an invitation only conference for about 200 bloggers from all over the country.  You don't apply for it… you just get noticed and invited.  It was such an honor to receive this invitation.  It's kind of like the invitation you can't refuse… except that I did.  I remember googling, "Can you say no to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration?"  It was so sad!  I cannot even describe the pit in my stomach when I had to RSVP with a big fat "no thanks."  If I had had any inkling that I would have been invited, my schedule would have been clear and I would have had a little savings account ready to access to get us there!  But I had no expectation of being invited to this event at all.  Unfortunately airfare from here to California was through the roof and we had literally just planned another trip for within a month of that one.  There was just no way for our family to swing it.  Needless to say, I was devastated.

That celebration has since come and gone, and I have to say, even though I wasn't able to attend in person, I followed along on social media and felt like I was practically there!  The attendees were live tweeting, instagram-ing, and facebook-ing throughout.  It was fantastic and actually a whole lot of fun to be a part of, even from home!  I learned a lot and was actually really grateful for the opportunity!

The Disney Social Media Moms Celebration Team wants to include as many moms as possible in their events so they have created some On-The-Road Celebrations at scattered locations throughout the summer and have extended invitations to those over the past week.  Pixie dust landed in my email inbox again on Monday and I'm headed to Philadelphia with my family this summer for what I think will be a super fun, super informative, super motivating, and super amazing half day conference.  I couldn't be more excited!

I'll be live social-media-ing (is that a word?!) the event, so I hope you'll follow along the way I did to the Celebration at Disneyland!  The big day is Thursday, June 19, and we'll be going strong from 7:30 AM through 12:30 PM, so be ready!  You can follow me at any of these locations but I expect twitter to be the most active:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/loriann978 (or follow the hashtag #DisneySMMoms)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TakeTimeForToday
Instagram: http://instagram.com/loriallinder

Thanks for joining me on this exciting journey!