I have a confession to make:  I love Toy Story almost as much as my girls too.  I normally am not a fan of sequels, but I actually like Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.  In fact, I think they might actually be better than the first movie.  When my stepdaughter picked Toy Story as our next Disney Family Movie Night, I had this crazy idea to do a Toy Story day:  all three movies, three themed meals, and three themed activities.  It was a jam packed day, but lots of fun!
The decorations:  I bought a Toy Story table cloth, paper plates, napkins, and plastic cups from Party City.  Finding Toy Story decorations was harder than I thought it would be.  I was also disappointed that the plates, napkins, and table cloth did not have Jessie on them.  My 3 ½ year old loves Jessie and kept asking why “Jessie Yee-Haw” wasn’t on her plate too.  Jessie, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, and Mrs. Potato Head joined our table as a centerpiece.

The menu:  For breakfast we had Hamm’s ham and cheese casserole and Mr. Potato Head’s hash browns (I just used a frozen bag of hash browns).

For lunch we ate Rex’s dinosaur chicken nuggets, Mrs. Potato Head’s French fries, and Jessie’s cowgirl hat cookies.  (Our awesome looking cookies were decorated by a 12 year old and a 3 ½ year old if you can’t tell.)  To make homemade French fries, heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees (or over medium heat in a deep pot on the stove).  Clean potatoes and chop to desired thickness.  When oil is hot, carefully add potatoes and cook until they float to the top and turn golden brown (about 15 to 20 minutes).  Drain on a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with season salt.

Dinner consisted of Pizza Planet pizza, green alien salad, and Buzz and Woody’s delicious hot s’moes (s’mores).  To make things simple, you could have pizza delivered or make frozen pizza.  Since my picky eater won’t eat either, I made barbeque chicken pizza and taco pizza.  For the s’mores, I wanted something that would be easy for my little one to eat and extra options since my oldest won’t eat marshmallows, so I decided chocolate fondue would be best.  For the s’mores, we dipped the marshmallows in chocolate and then rolled them in crushed graham crackers.  I also put out Lotso’s strawberries and pound cake.  No cute name for the pound cake, but it was yummy dipped in chocolate!

The activities:  First, we played There’s a Snake in My Boot.  My awesome husband made a boot for us out of a cardboard box, and the girls took turns tossing rubber snakes into it.  Second, I found these super cute Toy Story photo props and let the girls play photo booth with them.  Last, we made Toy Story teeter toys.  These were kind of a dud.  They were time consuming and didn’t hold up very well.  The girls definitely enjoyed the first two activities much more.

Even though it was a jam packed day (and I have a super messy kitchen as a result), the girls had a blast.  I’m just not sure if we will attempt a triple threat like this again anytime soon!

It’s little one’s turn to pick again.  She picked Pocahontas!  I am looking forward to having an easy planning day after our Toy Story day!

Alexia Christensen