Minnie Mouse Highchair

I'm sad.  This is the last of the "Avery's Minnie Mouse Birthday Bash" tutorials I'll be posting.  I hope if you're having a Minnie themed party of your own, you've gotten some ideas for your party too!  So, here it is, the last tutorial:  *drumroll*  a Minnie Mouse highchair (as seen here as my little girl chows down on her birthday cake)!

 I lucked out on this chair.  I had been wanting a cheap highchair for pictures to paint a bright color, like yellow or turquoise, until we decided that Avery would be having a gigantic Minnie Mouse party and this idea was born. 
Wanna know how to make one for yourself?  Here's what you'll need:

• Highchair (obviously)
• Black spraypaint
• Minnie Mouse polkadot fabric
• Foam circles
• Polka dot ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Sandpaper

I found my highchair at Goodwill for.....get ready.....$5.  The legs wobbled a bit and it didn't have a tray to go with it, but it was FIVE DOLLARS.  I could deal.  It was also a little bit dirty.  So, step one was to sand the highchair down to remove all the stickers and junk that littered the arms and seat of this bad boy. 

After sanding, I began to spray paint. It took two coats of black spray paint (I bought the cheap Walmart brand) to cover the whole thing.



 

When the chair was spray painted and dry, I brought it into my house to add the Minnie skirt along the bottom.  Finding the fabric that perfectly matched Minnie's skirt ended up being the hardest part of this project.  I went to FOUR different fabric stores before I found the perfect print (Thank you JoAnn's Fabric).  I got two yards and it ended up being JUST enough, so get 2 1/2 or 3 to be safe.  I was sweating as I was coming to the end because I really thought I was going to run out.  Here's how to attach the skirt (and if my instructions don't make sense, hopefully the pictures will....I'm a visual person, not a descriptive one). 

 

Take your hot glue gun and put about an inch worth of glue along the chair and attach the fabric.

 

Now, put about a quarter of an inch of glue along the end of the fabric that you've just glued to the chair.  Fold the fabric back and glue it down. 

 

Repeat the above two steps.  You'll be creating a sort of ruffle effect along the entire chair. 

 

Once you've done a few "ruffles," you'll get the hang of how to do it.  Continue along the entire chair. 

 

When I first started working, I wanted a floor length "skirt" on my highchair.  Because I didn't get enough fabric, I had to cut it in half to have enough to finish the entire chair.  I like the finished look better, I think.  It's appropriate because Minnie doesn't wear a floor length skirt!

 

After you've finished the skirt, spray paint the two foam circles black (this will take MULTIPLE coats with a heavy hand because the foam soaks up the paint like crazy).  Then attach with a hot glue gun to the sides or top of your chair.  Glue a matching red and white polka dot bow to one of the ears and you have your very own Minnie Mouse highchair!!

 

I hope you all have enjoyed the entire Minnie Mouse series!  If you're interested, check out Avery's Minnie birthday invitations and envelopes, canvas bag party favors, personalized Minnie Mouse wreath and Minnie Mouse birthday bash recap (including a Minnie Mouse Cozy Coupe)!  Now, what to do for the 2nd birthday......