DIY Minnie Mouse Gift Basket

   This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser @Walmart. All opinions are mine alone.  #MagicBabyMoments #CollectiveBias


  I mean, really, just how much fun is it to shop for babies?! Those adorable little outfits, the bibs with the witty sayings, the toys that Kay presses all the buttons on and then walks away (okay, those I could skip...)

  So when I was asked to make a gift basket for my 6-month-old niece Maddie and share it with my awesome readers, it didn't take me long to give a resounding yes!

I started out with a theme. Really, I did. First it was learning toys, then just Minnie. But then I'd see something else I'd just *have* to include. It's really not my fault. If Walmart didn't have so many cute Disney Baby things it wouldn't have been a problem, right?

  I settled on three things I would have been happy to get if I was a mom to a baby: Something useful, something soft and something entertaining. 

  Maddie is teething so the adorable teething toy was an easy call. The blankie was so soft that I knew she'd love that one. (My baby always loved to rub her cheek on her soft blankie as she fell asleep!) And Kay is going to love playing with the pop-up toy with her. (Entertaining two kids for the price of one? Score!)

  But what to put it in? A regular old basket wouldn't do. No, I wanted something with a little pizzazz!

  I went with a wooden basket (actually for CDs, but worked great for this too!) and painted it a Minnie-ish color (pink, of course!). 

Then I traced round Minnie Mouse ears on black craft foam and glued them to the side of the basket. Finally, you can't have Minnie without her trademark bow, so I used pink ribbon with white polka dots to give it a try. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing, but I like how it came out all the same! 

How we made our Minnie Mouse bow: 

 * Cut about 9 inches on ribbon. Fold the ends to the back so that they overlap just a little. Then pinch the ribbon in the middle and it's finally starting to look like a bow. I used a staple to keep it in place, and then cut about 3 more inches from my spool, folded it in half legnth-wise, and wrapped it around the middle. Viola - bow complete! 

  We glued it all in place and filled it with the good stuff. I'm hoping this basket will be as fun for Maddie to get as it was for us to put it together!

   What would be one of your must-haves to include in a gift basket for a baby or new mom?

(Psst...Check out Disney Baby for more ideas!)