Minecraft Mania Birthday Party
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| Yes, he is being a silly zombie in this picture But it is the only pic of the whole cake table that I have ! |
Do you know Creepers, diamond swords, iron ore, redstones? Well I didn't just a few weeks ago. I admit I didn't even know if they were saying "Mindcraft" or "Minecraft" even though that's all I was hearing most kids in the 5-15 year range talk about.
As soon as my son was able to get the Minecraft app for iPad, (btw he had to earn it by reading 8 books) he started absorbing himself into the Minecraft world as well. It didn't take long before we knew it would be a great theme for his birthday party which was just a few weeks away.
I quickly realized this was, yet again, another theme with no supplies available at the party stores. (secret: I kind of like it that way. It gets my creative juices flowing and the end result looks less "merchandised". Honestly it is less expense too.) So I patrolled Pinterest, browsed blogs and searched sites to uncover ideas to complete our party.
To start off the party, the kids threw beanbags at the large Creeper cut out. This was the first thing that we made for the party. It was actually made from a huge cardboard box that his little sister's playhouse came in for her birthday just 2 weeks earlier. My son drew the simple creeper face on the box and cut it out with his own pocket knife (no worries Grandma, he was supervised) He then requested the opportunity to spray paint it himself. (he claims that he knew how because he had spray painted at Papa's before) He did a great job spraying it with the black spray paint we already had. I spruced it up a bit with a few green duct tape squares and some white squares created with large mailing labels. I scored a huge roll of them for 10 cents at a garage sale the week before. (I knew I'd find a use for them!) I just placed random groupings of them all around the creeper face to make it look a little more pixelated. Now you can go all out and make your own Minecraft bean bags. But I opted to just used some red and blue ones I had around the house. Would you believe those creative kids pretended they were redstones and blue diamonds they were throwing at the Creeper!! Everyone wanted a second and third turn!! Bonus: The Creeper face/Bean Bag toss doubled as a backdrop for a lot of our group pictures!
After a few throws at the Bean Bag toss, kids came over to create their own Minecraft swords. I purchased 6 standard size white foamboards from Walmart for $1.77 each. We traced around the one (really expensive) real Minecraft merchandise sword from Target. We were able to fit two swords on one board. I sweet-talked my hubby and step-son into cutting out 12 Minecraft swords out of the 3/16th in thick foamboard. (He taped 3 boards together and cut it easily with his skill saw) . I already had several Sharpie permanent markers in many different colors. So the partiers used the markers (and crayons too) to design, create and color their personal Minecraft swords! This was a great activity. It took quite awhile but we had plenty of table space and they all enjoyed chattering about Minecraft as they created their unique swords. We took a great group photo of all the kids and their finished swords.
Then each friend got to make their own Minecraft wristband. They were created with two pieces of green duct tape stuck sticky sides together. (I made one slightly larger than the other so the ends would wrap up and over the other piece of tape..just 1/4 of an inch or so....so that it looked polished.) I put a piece of Velcro on each end so they could take it on or off their wrist easily. Each friend used the black permanent marker to create the simple Creeper face.
Next up, the Pinata!! I provided each kid with a little green party sack. (I wanted to cut Creeper eyes and mouth out of black construction paper and glue it to each sack but I didn't get around to it) So they just had plain green sacks. I put everyone's name on their sack before the birthday boy took the first swipe at the Minecraft Pinata!! My hubby also cut out a sword from some 1/4 in plywood we had in the garage. My son and I used black, dark blue, light blue and white Acrylic paint (that I already had) to paint the "diamond sword". At first, we had planned to just use the Target purchased foam Minecraft sword to hit the piñata, but it was man from a sturdy cardboard box. Therefore I was afraid the sword wouldn't break the box or would break itself. So now we had a very sturdy sword to use for the Pinata whacker.
(Homemade plywood "diamond: sword on the left, Homemade Creeper head Pinata, middle, store bought, foam sword on the right)
To create the Pinata, I got a square cardboard box. I wrapped the box in green butcher paper like you would wrap a present (This set wasn't necessary) I cut a small hole/flap in the top of the box to insert the candy and toys. I poked a jump rope through the premade handle holes on each side of the box. We used the jump rope to hang the Pinata from our basketball hoop. Next I used green crepe paper/steamers to cover the box. I cut slits into one edge of green crepe paper steamers. Then I used Elmer's glue to stick it to the box. To cut the slits more efficiently, I fan folded several layers of steamer on top of one another and cut several slits along one edge all at once. I just used black streamer to make a Creeper face on two sides of the box. Then I taped a few green and black steamers on the bottom of the box to hang down while it was hanging up. Finally, use the secret hole at the top to fill the box with candy.
At the party, each blind folded party-goer hit the Pinata with the wooden "diamond sword" once. Then we went through the line again and they each hit it once again before the Pinata spilled all of its contents!
Finally, cake time! (If you can call it cake) Michael chose the Minecraft landscape for his cake. The "cake" was actually different flavors of Rice Krispy treats and chocolate cubes randomly stacked on one another. I made three different kinds of Rice Krispy treats. Regular Rice Krispy treats were the sand. Coco Rice Krispy treats were the stone. Black colored Rice Krispy treats for coal. Chocolate cake was the dirt. Blue Jello was the water.
To begin, I made a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix and baked it in a smaller 9x9 baking dish so it would be super thick. I made a batch of regular Rice Krispy treats and a batch of cocoa Rice Krispy treats. Then I colored melted marshmallow with some Wilton black food coloring and mixed it with the Rice Krispy treats to make black coal. I cut the Rice Krispy treats and cake into large cubed pieces. Then I stacked up a few of each kind leaving the chocolate cake for the top so I could ice the "dirt" with "grass". To make the grass, I simply colored some buttercream icing (purchased in a tub from Walmart) with Wilton food coloring Evergreen. I put the green icing into a piping bag with the grass tip and iced some grass on the top of each chocolate cake cube. If you've never used a grass tip, get one and try it. It takes very little cake decorating skill yet makes a huge impact. It doesn't have to be perfect for it to still look great! I've used the grass tip a couple of different times for grass but it also creates awesome looking fur for animals. (I believe I used it for cookie monster.) Next I mixed up some blue Jello per the directions on the box and let it cool until I was ready to put it on the landscape. (I searched all over for a square shaped container to put my Jello in. But next time. I think I would just use my regular 9x9 cake pan for the Jello and cut the middle of it out to place on the landscape.) I tucked a few Rice Krispy treat pieces in front of the cake to give it more of a finished edge. The little trees, Creeper and pig are all make from flavored Tootsie rolls. I kept the whole landscape in the refrigerator until the party. But I don't think you would need to. The Jello water held up for a long time.
One of my favorite things was the LAVA! My son loves orange sherbet so we didn't even taste test this before the party. It turned out to be well liked by all!! The LAVA is just a tub of orange sherbet, a tub of vanilla ice cream and a couple of two liters of Strawberry soda. I mixed it up during the party and all the kids watched. (That way they all knew what was in it. It looks kind of cool and bubbly while your pouring it too!) I served it in a cake server with the top turned upside down to make a punch bowl.
Since there were no party decorations available at stores, I bought (@ Target) one set of the Minecraft cardboard cut outs that you fold and create 3D blocks etc. My neighbor had the deluxe kit and had done all the hard work of folding them, so she let me borrow them to decorate the table. A few black and green balloons and steamers rounded off the Minecraft theme.
Creeper Juice was super simple. We just tore the labels off of the 20 oz. Sprite bottles and drew the Creeper face on each one. I displayed them on the cake table in a green Minecraft box that Target let me have. (I think the little Minecraft plush characters were displayed in the box at the store but they were all sold out. ) I covered each table with green plastic table clothes. (Paty City) I had a bowl of "blue diamond" Rock Candy. I finished off the cake table with green square plates, black napkins and green forks. (Party City) I drew the Creeper face on the handle of each fork.
I started out not knowing a thing about Minecraft and honestly I still don't know much. But I think Michael and his friends enjoyed it and that is all that matters! :)
Leave a comment below or leave a question if you have one!
After a few throws at the Bean Bag toss, kids came over to create their own Minecraft swords. I purchased 6 standard size white foamboards from Walmart for $1.77 each. We traced around the one (really expensive) real Minecraft merchandise sword from Target. We were able to fit two swords on one board. I sweet-talked my hubby and step-son into cutting out 12 Minecraft swords out of the 3/16th in thick foamboard. (He taped 3 boards together and cut it easily with his skill saw) . I already had several Sharpie permanent markers in many different colors. So the partiers used the markers (and crayons too) to design, create and color their personal Minecraft swords! This was a great activity. It took quite awhile but we had plenty of table space and they all enjoyed chattering about Minecraft as they created their unique swords. We took a great group photo of all the kids and their finished swords.
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| Here is the group photo of everyone wielding their finished swords, Creeper wristbands in front of the Creeper bean bag toss game. |
Then each friend got to make their own Minecraft wristband. They were created with two pieces of green duct tape stuck sticky sides together. (I made one slightly larger than the other so the ends would wrap up and over the other piece of tape..just 1/4 of an inch or so....so that it looked polished.) I put a piece of Velcro on each end so they could take it on or off their wrist easily. Each friend used the black permanent marker to create the simple Creeper face.
Next up, the Pinata!! I provided each kid with a little green party sack. (I wanted to cut Creeper eyes and mouth out of black construction paper and glue it to each sack but I didn't get around to it) So they just had plain green sacks. I put everyone's name on their sack before the birthday boy took the first swipe at the Minecraft Pinata!! My hubby also cut out a sword from some 1/4 in plywood we had in the garage. My son and I used black, dark blue, light blue and white Acrylic paint (that I already had) to paint the "diamond sword". At first, we had planned to just use the Target purchased foam Minecraft sword to hit the piñata, but it was man from a sturdy cardboard box. Therefore I was afraid the sword wouldn't break the box or would break itself. So now we had a very sturdy sword to use for the Pinata whacker.
To create the Pinata, I got a square cardboard box. I wrapped the box in green butcher paper like you would wrap a present (This set wasn't necessary) I cut a small hole/flap in the top of the box to insert the candy and toys. I poked a jump rope through the premade handle holes on each side of the box. We used the jump rope to hang the Pinata from our basketball hoop. Next I used green crepe paper/steamers to cover the box. I cut slits into one edge of green crepe paper steamers. Then I used Elmer's glue to stick it to the box. To cut the slits more efficiently, I fan folded several layers of steamer on top of one another and cut several slits along one edge all at once. I just used black streamer to make a Creeper face on two sides of the box. Then I taped a few green and black steamers on the bottom of the box to hang down while it was hanging up. Finally, use the secret hole at the top to fill the box with candy.
At the party, each blind folded party-goer hit the Pinata with the wooden "diamond sword" once. Then we went through the line again and they each hit it once again before the Pinata spilled all of its contents!
Finally, cake time! (If you can call it cake) Michael chose the Minecraft landscape for his cake. The "cake" was actually different flavors of Rice Krispy treats and chocolate cubes randomly stacked on one another. I made three different kinds of Rice Krispy treats. Regular Rice Krispy treats were the sand. Coco Rice Krispy treats were the stone. Black colored Rice Krispy treats for coal. Chocolate cake was the dirt. Blue Jello was the water.
To begin, I made a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix and baked it in a smaller 9x9 baking dish so it would be super thick. I made a batch of regular Rice Krispy treats and a batch of cocoa Rice Krispy treats. Then I colored melted marshmallow with some Wilton black food coloring and mixed it with the Rice Krispy treats to make black coal. I cut the Rice Krispy treats and cake into large cubed pieces. Then I stacked up a few of each kind leaving the chocolate cake for the top so I could ice the "dirt" with "grass". To make the grass, I simply colored some buttercream icing (purchased in a tub from Walmart) with Wilton food coloring Evergreen. I put the green icing into a piping bag with the grass tip and iced some grass on the top of each chocolate cake cube. If you've never used a grass tip, get one and try it. It takes very little cake decorating skill yet makes a huge impact. It doesn't have to be perfect for it to still look great! I've used the grass tip a couple of different times for grass but it also creates awesome looking fur for animals. (I believe I used it for cookie monster.) Next I mixed up some blue Jello per the directions on the box and let it cool until I was ready to put it on the landscape. (I searched all over for a square shaped container to put my Jello in. But next time. I think I would just use my regular 9x9 cake pan for the Jello and cut the middle of it out to place on the landscape.) I tucked a few Rice Krispy treat pieces in front of the cake to give it more of a finished edge. The little trees, Creeper and pig are all make from flavored Tootsie rolls. I kept the whole landscape in the refrigerator until the party. But I don't think you would need to. The Jello water held up for a long time.
One of my favorite things was the LAVA! My son loves orange sherbet so we didn't even taste test this before the party. It turned out to be well liked by all!! The LAVA is just a tub of orange sherbet, a tub of vanilla ice cream and a couple of two liters of Strawberry soda. I mixed it up during the party and all the kids watched. (That way they all knew what was in it. It looks kind of cool and bubbly while your pouring it too!) I served it in a cake server with the top turned upside down to make a punch bowl.
Since there were no party decorations available at stores, I bought (@ Target) one set of the Minecraft cardboard cut outs that you fold and create 3D blocks etc. My neighbor had the deluxe kit and had done all the hard work of folding them, so she let me borrow them to decorate the table. A few black and green balloons and steamers rounded off the Minecraft theme.
Creeper Juice was super simple. We just tore the labels off of the 20 oz. Sprite bottles and drew the Creeper face on each one. I displayed them on the cake table in a green Minecraft box that Target let me have. (I think the little Minecraft plush characters were displayed in the box at the store but they were all sold out. ) I covered each table with green plastic table clothes. (Paty City) I had a bowl of "blue diamond" Rock Candy. I finished off the cake table with green square plates, black napkins and green forks. (Party City) I drew the Creeper face on the handle of each fork.
I started out not knowing a thing about Minecraft and honestly I still don't know much. But I think Michael and his friends enjoyed it and that is all that matters! :)
Leave a comment below or leave a question if you have one!
I love the homemade look and feel of your son's party! It never would've occurred to me to use a saw on the foam board--smart thinking!
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