Throwing an Encanto Birthday Party

All about how I put together an Encanto birthday party:

Like many people, I have fallen in love with Encanto. When it came time for me to decide on a fun theme for my birthday party this year, it was the obvious choice. In addition to the movie being a new favorite, it involves lots of bright colors and ways to incorporate the theme into your decorations. There are also a lot of fun food options, especially if you want to try some Colombian inspired dishes!

As an adult, my parties have a big focus on food and drink. We did have some fun with the decorations as well though (butterflies everywhere!). We watched the movie together and it was a really fun group of people who had seen it many times, as well as a few who hadn’t seen it yet. I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I at least had a blast! 

If you want to put together your own Encanto birthday party, here’s a look at some of the details and ideas I incorporated:

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Encanto Decorations

For an Encanto birthday party it makes sense to decorate with lots of bright colors – and especially butterflies! For a kid’s birthday party there are Encanto themed decorations available now, but as an adult I try to get a little more creative than just having Mirabel’s face on everything. One easy way to do this was with butterfly tablecloths – I got this Butterfly table cloth from Amazon. 

I also got this set of 3D gold butterfly wall decorations, and my friends helped me get a little crafty too – I gave them instructions and they made some paper butterflies. Huge shoutout to a few of my awesome friends who helped with all of this. I might have fallen a little behind in my planning and they totally saved the day!

I complemented all of this with some items I found at the local dollar store, including some tissue paper flowers and garlands, and some small containers that had butterflies on them for putting snacks into. I also printed out some of the Encanto quotes that I had designed to hang on the wall. I actually had a few people reach out to me and ask me if I might be able to offer these to print, so I put some of them up in my Etsy shop as printables. If there’s enough interest I could look into getting them printed for purchase as well so high quality printing is available.

For serving and paperware, I found these floral paper plates that looked Colombian inspired to me. I had also ordered party napkins from Target, but despite having a delivery estimate of a few days before the party, they didn’t arrive in time. We served drinks in a few different kinds of glasses or cups, but one cocktail is traditionally served in coconut shells so we also had

In order to label all of the food and drink items, I purchased these Encanto party food tents and printed them. They came with a number of different designs with the various characters, and were very easy to print and set up. Definitely an easy way to add to the Encanto theme.

Finally, in a nod to Antonio and all of his animals, I hung these parrots and toucans from the ceiling, and we had a special guest appearance from everyone’s favorite capybara, Chispi (I grabbed him from the Shop Disney site).

Encanto Birthday Party food ideas

During the Encanto party we served a number of snacks, desserts, and food items. I actually have an acquaintance whose family is from Colombia, and she was able to make some recommendations and suggestions for some authentic food items. For quick bites and snacks, we had available plantain chips (very popular in Colombia) and animal crackers (in honor of Antonio).

We wanted to offer some filling options as well, so we ordered some food from the Colombian restaurant located near us called Mi Pais. Their food is fantastic – if you have an authentic Colombian place located anywhere near you, I highly recommend checking it out! Of course we had to order a number of arepas con queso (Mirabel even mentions them in the movie!). We also got some Colombian empanadas.

Finally, my husband very kindly cooked a traditional Colombian soup called Ajiaco. You can actually see that the characters in Encanto are eating it for dinner the night that Mariano is going to propose to Isabela. It’s a simple but tasty soup that has chicken, potatoes, corn, and capers. We used this recipe.

Encanto Cupcakes

I had originally thought to put together some sort of Encanto birthday cake, but the more I thought about it I couldn’t really come up with one idea or one design that would capture all of the characters. I am not the most skilled cake decorator, so the idea of trying to recreate Casita was definitely out. There were some impressive cakes on Pinterest that people made that looked like Mirabel’s skirt, but to me Encanto is really about the whole family, and I wanted to try and incorporate all of the Family Madrigal.

So then I had the idea to make cupcakes! And I would attempt to decorate different cupcakes to represent each of the main family members. In an effort to not go crazy I wasn’t going to make Felix or Agustin cupcakes. And full disclosure, the Camilo cupcakes did not quite end up working out in time so sadly he was not represented. I can just say that his cupcakes shapeshifted into something else…

Since this was mainly just going to be about the decorations, I decided to make it slightly easier on myself by using a boxed cake mix for the cupcakes instead of doing anything fancy. I did some vanilla cupcakes and some chocolate.

Mirabel cupcakes

For these I just used white vanilla ice cream and then had a little fun with the decorating and the bright colors to be reminiscent of her outfit. I added some frosting butterflies, flowers, and small pearl sprinkles in a variety of colors.

Luisa cupcakes

Luisa’s strength was represented on the cupcakes in the same way it’s represented on her skirt in the movie – with a barbell. This one was created out of mini chocolate donut holes and pretzel sticks.

Isabela cupcakes

The Isabela cupcakes may have been my favorite because they turned out so pretty! I used a frosting tip to make flowers in pink and purple.

Julieta cupcakes

I was a bit stumped for Julieta, because she doesn’t have anything about her that’s super definitive in terms of style. By her very nature it makes sense for her to have cupcakes because she’s all about the baking! So I decided to keep it simple and just do some chocolate cupcakes with a dulce de leche frosting to tie in some of the Colombian flavors.

Bruno cupcakes

I found this great idea over on this blog for Bruno prophecy cupcakes. It involved making hard candy to then break into pieces to look like the prophecy. I have to say this took a lot longer and was more difficult than I expected… but I think they turned out really well!

Pepa cupcakes

For Pepa and and the sun, I kept it relatively simple and created a sun design with frosting on top of her cupcakes.

Antonio cupcakes

Ideas to involve Antonio are pretty easy, since he’s all about the animals and there’s tons of animal related options out there for cupcakes. I went with a pawprint created out of Oreos and mini oreos. 

Dolores cupcakes

This one probably could have turned out a bit better, but the idea I was going for was creating the pattern of sound waves on top and incorporating her colors of red and yellow.

Abuela cupcakes

Finally, Abuela did get her own cupcake and was represented by butterflies. To incorporate a little fruit we cut up strawberries to look like butterflies (again, huge thank you to my friend who took over this project!).

Encanto themed drinks

Of course as an adult birthday party we had to have a little fun with cocktails and drinks! I put together a few themed cocktails for the party. We also had wine, beer, soda, and water available. 

One of the cocktails I created was the “Jacarandas Hurricane,” as it was themed after Isabela (and inspired by the lyrics in her song “a hurricane of jacarandas!). It was basically like a floral gin and tonic. This drink was made with purple gin, elderflower liqueur, and tonic water. And of course garnished with an edible flower!

At one point I had thought about making themed drinks for each of the characters, but then I decided to do that with the cupcakes instead so it was only Isabela who really had a drink themed after her. For the other cocktails I explored some of the more common cocktails that are popular in Colombia and went for an authentic vibe. This included the Coco Loco (rum, tequila, vodka, coconut cream, coconut water, and lime juice)and the Refajo Colombiano (a simple mix of a light beer with Colombiana soda). We were able to get Colombiana soda at the local Colombian restaurant we have, which also has a small grocery section.

The last drink I made was the Bandera Colombiana, which is a layered drink made to look like the Colombian flag. The bottom layer is grenadine, the middle blue layer is Blue Curaçao, and then the top layer is a mix of orange juice and rum. This was really tasty and looked great too!

Encanto Party games and activities

Of course watching the movie had to be part of the evening! We put on the sing-along version so those who were familiar could sing. We had some people who hadn’t seen the film before, so it was also fun to watch them experience it for the first time.

We also put on some of the special features that were offered on Disney+, so we watched some of the deleted scenes and behind the scenes info, which I thought was really interesting.

To round out the evening (in addition to just plenty of socializing and chatting!), two other activities occurred. We played Disney Scene It, and just put it on party mode. Finally, a friend of mine who attended brought his guitar and played some of the Encanto songs and some of us sang along. And you can always take a look at my Disney Conversation Starters if you need some ideas for getting discussion going at a party!

Of course, if you’re having a party for kids you’ll probably want more structured games and activities. I actually hosted an Encanto themed event at my library where I work for the kids, and I’m hoping to put together a blog post on that soon as well. But some of the things we did with them included butterfly crafts, designing your own “Encanto door”, playing a Spanish language learning game, and Encanto/Colombia trivia.

Where to get Encanto party supplies

Finding the items to round out your Encanto party can be a little bit tricky if you’re looking to go beyond the typical paper plates and cups with the characters on them. One key for me was getting creative in my searches. I looked for butterfly themed party supplies, flowers, and Colombian parties for ideas. 

While I got a lot of my Encanto party supplies on Amazon, I also ended up shopping at the Dollar Tree nearby for some things. Etsy came in handy as well, especially if you want some quick and easy party supplies that are a bit more unique!

What is your favorite part of this Encanto birthday party?