Christmas Gifts for The Disney Fan

disney gifts

Pretty much anyone who has ever met me knows that I am a huge Disney fan. The music, the movies, the parks, the man himself…I love it all! I couldn’t resist creating a gift guide for the Disney Fan in everyone’s life, so check out what I think another Disney lover would enjoy!

Disney Tee

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 2.00.36 AM

I often refer to Disney World as my second home. Whether they’re in the parks, planning their next trip, or reminiscing about Disney memories at home, any “Disnerd” would love this cute tee.

Limited Edition Magic Band

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 1.59.05 AM

If you know someone who goes to Walt Disney World often or has an upcoming trip, it would be fun to surprise them with a limited edition Magic Band. These are used all over the resort now, and one with their favorite character would be fun to show off during a trip!

Disney Music

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 2.01.48 AM

One of my favorite parts of the Disney legacy is the music. This collection includes over 50 songs from Disneyland attractions that will keep any true Disney lover happy at home until they can make it back to Walt’s original park. I may or may not have teared up previewing some of these songs…

Fun Decal

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 2.24.46 AM

Disney lovers want to display their love wherever they can, so they would never turn down a fun decal! Whether it goes on their car or their laptop, this inexpensive gift will “stick around” and be appreciated for a long time.

Character Vans 

Screen Shot 2015-11-30 at 12.14.54 AM

These awesome Disney Vans came out this past year, and they have so many cool options. They’re available in multiple styles for girls, guys, AND kids, so you could knock out half of your Christmas list just by snagging a few pairs! From different prints to tons of characters, you’re sure to find a pair to suit everyone.

**Extra tip! Wrap their gift in a Disney-themed Backpack! Not only would this be great to carry around the parks or at school, there are countless options, so you’re sure to find your friend’s favorite character!

Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 2.31.06 AM

Trust me, from a true Disney fan, I guarantee any Disney lovers in your life will be thrilled to get any of the gifts above! And if they don’t? Feel free to pass them along to me. 😉

If you need more gift ideas, check out my guides for The Fashionista, The Foodie, and The Homebody! And not to fear…I have a few more guides on the way! Happy shopping!

DottedSiggy

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase using these links, I may receive a small percentage at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Hoots of a Night Al!

Continue Reading

February Favorites!

header

It’s March! What?! I’m excited for springtime colors and (hopefully) pretty weather, but I’ll miss boots, hoodies, and chili!  Today marks March 1st along with the end of February, so I wanted to share a few of my February Favorites with y’all…

Disneyland: I haven’t really talked about it much here, but Louis and I went to Disneyland again from February 6-10, and it was so fun! We spent 3.5 days at the park enjoying rides, sharing ice cream, and meeting characters. I also got my first two pairs of Mickey ears! Spending all summer there made it feel like “home,” so we were happy to visit again. Now we have equal love for the Disney Resorts on both coasts! Guess we need to go to some international parks now? 😉 I need to post some trip recaps soon!

4 3 2 1

The Monuments Men: We were so excited for The Monuments Men to come out this February, but it didn’t get very good reviews (scoring only 34% on Rotten Tomatoes). Thankfully, we decided to risk it anyway, and I’m so happy we did! It was funny, emotional, and (loosely) based on a great, true story. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of Clooney, Damon, Murray & Goodman! My only criticism would have been more Bill Murray screen time because his character was pretty hilarious (as always)!

Monuments Men

Revlon Matte Balm in Sultry & Standout:  I’ve already blogged my love for Revlon’s new(ish) Matte Balms, but I seriously loved wearing them this month. I even went against my better judgement and wore Standout to substitute for Middle Schoolers. Sultry has been my go-to everyday lip product because it packs just enough of a punch to be dramatic without making me look stupid. So..yay for that.

lips

Nalgene: This one’s kind of silly, but I’ve been using my favorite Nalgene a lot more lately. I’ve always been a big water drinker, but this post, on Sweat Stretch Eat encouraged me to drink even more and keep track of how much I drink to ensure I get enough each day. Since my Nalgene is 32 oz, it’s easy to keep track of exactly how much I’ve consumed. Plus, since it has a screw on lid, it’s easy to carry around with me. And that bright orange? Love. I snagged mine at Target for under $10, and they have tons of great colors if you’re interested!

nalgene

Chevron Ombré Tile: I snagged this Chevron Ombré Tile at Target on the clearance rack at the beginning of February to add to our bedroom for $9! It’s still listed at $19.99 on their website, and I could only find a tiny white-on-white ding on mine, so I was psyched! It matches our bedroom wall perfectly, and Lou said it’s his new favorite thing in our room, so I’d say that’s a success. It’s much more vibrant in person, but you know I had to add that Instagram filter.

tile

Downton Abbey: Another season of Downton Abbey has come and gone (everyone in the UK is like…uh, ya, we know.) much too quickly. I look forward to this show every week, and my favorite thing may just be the costuming…or the accents. I’ve started saying the words blueberry, strawberry, and spoon with a British accent for some insane reason (I’m not making this up unfortunately), and I can only assume it’s due to this show. My one, very serious, qualm is how short the seasons are! I’m sure it costs about $1.7 million (uhh..or pounds?) to produce each historically accurate (maybe?) episode, but come on. We need at LEAST 12 episodes a season. Please producers, listen up. Give us more Downton.

downton abbey

Super Nintendo: Yes, you read that correctly. My hubbs is a computer genius (not exaggerating), and he bought this mega-cheap computer (I think it was like $25?) called a Raspberry Pi (it’s the cute little rainbow box below) several months ago (could I have had any more parenthesis in this sentence? So sorry.). He’s used it for various projects here and there, but this month he made the incredible decision to turn it into a video game console. We can now download and play virtually any video game from the original Nintendo up to a Playstation 1. I’m not much into current video games, but Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 were my jam back in the day. He can also download old school arcade games. We bought a USB Super Nintendo controller off Amazon, and I’m pretty sure we’ve played almost every day since he set it up. Our current fave is Diddy’s Kong Quest, since we beat Donkey Kong Country. Of course, Mario has to sneak in every once in awhile, too. I really can’t get enough of it. Talk about cheap entertainment.

snes

Hope y’all’s Februarys were amazing, and you’re ready to jump into spring!

Black all caps siggy

Continue Reading

God Bless America & Disneyland

Fireworks Instagram

Since Louis & I are in Cali, we couldn’t attend my parents annual 4th of July Party this year. To distract ourselves from that, we decided to spend our Independence Day at Disneyland. Nothing’s as great as being with family, but we definitely had a fun day! Since we are in a hotel, I didn’t get to decorate for America’s Birthday. To appease my pain, I decided to decorate my body as much as I could. Okay, that sounded weird. What I mean is, I wore red, white, and blue eyeshadow and painted my nails navy and glitter! It was probably too much, but when else can you be that patriotic and not be judged?

Red, White, & Blue Eyeshadow!
Red, White, & Blue Eyeshadow!

For anyone DYING to recreate this American look, the products are as follows: Blue-Ulta eyeshadow, Red-Urban Decay Gash, White-MAC Blanc Type. My eyeliner is Maybelline Unstoppable Eyeliner in Onyx, and my mascara is Maybelline Falsies in Blackest Black.

American nails!
American nails!

For my nails, I painted two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Navy Baby. Once that dried I added a stripe of Essie Beyond Cozy for some American sparkle.

Don’t worry, I don’t always do my makeup and nails this obnoxiously, but I figured I might as well go all out for the 4th!

Louis and I headed to Disney California Adventure first, so we could ride the thrills over there before heading to Disneyland for fireworks! It was a beautiful, sunny, hot day. We rode Tower of Terror THREE times without a wait! I guess everyone wanted to spend their day in Disneyland, and we were happy to have DCA to ourselves.

DCA Louis TOT

After Tower of Terror, we enjoyed the Disney Animation Academy building (a nice break from the heat), Toy Story Mania (Louis’s fave), California Screamin’ (another great way to cool off…it’s speedy!), and Soarin’ over California (one of my faves). Those are all favorites of ours, so I’m happy we were able to enjoy them! We figured Disneyland may reach capacity for the fireworks, so we headed over there around 3:30 PM to enjoy more rides. We grabbed lunch right away (corn dog for me! Yummmmm.) and enjoyed some people watching in Frontierland. After a bit of relaxation, we headed to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. Is there a better way to celebrate Independence Day than with Pirates and Ghosts? We didn’t think so. By then it was almost 6:00, so we decided to get a spot for Mickey’s Soundsational Parade.

Parade

The parade was cute and a fun way to see several of my favorite characters. We also had a great view of  Sleeping Beauty Castle and of Matterhorn Mountain.

Castle

Matterhorn

As you can see, it was a beautiful, blue sky day! Another thing it was that day? CROWDED. The fireworks were scheduled for 9:30 PM that night. Louis and I assumed we could stake out a good spot around 8:00 PM. However, when we got our seats for the parade at 6:00 PM, there were already people saving seats for the fireworks! Even crazier, we talked to the people sitting behind us, and they had been saving their benches since 8:00 AM!!! They hadn’t gone on any rides or anything! They took turns grabbing food and using the restroom, and that was it! Louis and I weren’t that insane, but we decided to stay put to keep our spots for the fireworks show. While Louis saved our seats, I grabbed him a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar and a nice cold Coca Cola to wash it down (along with some Space Mountain FastPasses!). The crowds were so crazy and thick, that it was almost impossible for me to get back to him!

AstroOrbiter

The time went by surprisingly fast as we chatted with the fellow Disney lovers sitting around us. We all exchanged stories, tips, and memories, and had a great time. Soon the castle was lit up for the evening.

Night Castle

Finally, 9:30 arrived and the incredible fireworks show began! The entire thing was probably around 20-30 minutes with speaking interludes, fireworks synced to patriotic music, and projections on the castle. I can’t lie, I definitely teared up a few times, while thinking about how proud I am to be an American! The show was beautiful, whimsical, patriotic, fun, and magical! Everything I have come to expect from Disney! The pictures below are a small sampling of one portion of the show, but they definitely don’t do it justice. The final picture is from the finale, which was obviously too bright and amazing for my iPhone camera to handle! Haha!

DisneyFireworks

When the amazing show came to an end, we headed toward TomorrowLand because I was craving a yummy Mickey Pretzel. We perused the gift shops until our Space Mountain FastPasses were eligible, and then we hopped on our rocket to outer space! Since Louis had work the next day, once our rocket returned to earth, we decided it was time to head home. I passed out kept Louis company on the drive back, and we got back to the hotel around 1:00 AM. After our showers, we fell into bed, exhausted from our long, exciting 4th of July. It was a fun-filled day and a great way to celebrate America!

siggy3

Continue Reading