Saturday, June 6, 2015

Minecraft Birthday Bonanza

Alright...summer's here!  Time for me to catch up on all the fun things I've made this year!  Here's the first post (of hopefully many) detailing the excitement of my son's 8th birthday party theme: MINECRAFT!

As I learned from our local party store, Mojang (Minecraft's creator) does not sell a Minecraft license that enables companies to make and sell commercial birthday supplies. So...most things I found while scouring various websites were handmade, and subsequently, mine were too (which I quite enjoy).

See below for ideas for a Minecraft Birthday Party!


Invitations and Thank You Notes
I designed the invitations and thank you notes just for Collin.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut envelopes with a Creeper face to contain the invitations.  So fun!

  

  
  
Finished invitations and envelopes!

Thank you cards for family...

Thank you cards for friends!

Treats for School
 My son requested Krispy Kreme  donuts for school treats.  Because I wanted to stick with our theme, I called and asked Krispy Kreme  if they had any green glaze that they could use instead of the regular.  THEY DID!  They were more than happy to make glazed green donuts and MORE than happy to supply Krispy Kreme balloons and hats when I picked them up from the store.  I'll definitely be returning if I need another 'custom' donut!
Product Detail

Another idea to make Minecraft donuts is to have filled donuts glazed in green (above).  This creates the perfect canvas for a creeper face.
Melt chocolate candy melts, put in a frosting bag, and pipe over a creeper face template (you can see one here).  Let the chocolate harden and carefully place one on top of each donut.  How fun!






Balloons
I searched and searched the internet for balloons to use for his party.  I wasn't happy with anything that I saw...so I decided to get some basic round balloons in Minecraft colors: red and purple latex and green and black mylar and a huge #8 balloon.  

On the black mylar, I added Enderman eyes- 1"x4" strips with a 1"x1.5" purple rectangle for the center.
On the green mylar balloon I cut a creeper face with my Silhouette and attached with double sided tape.

 

 ***Note: when adding paper to mylar balloons, use regular printer paper.  Cardstock is too heavy and will weigh the balloons down (as I found out and had to re-cut with regular paper and hope the balloons didn't pop as I moved the tape around!)


Cake
 The cake was by far the hardest for me as I wanted something unique, yet doable.  There are many wonderful ideas if you search "Minecraft cakes" on Pinterest or Google.

I chose to create my own cake and used Minecraft action figures to decorate the tops.  I made 2 cakes- one 9" square and one 9"x5" loaf pan.  I let them cool and cut the 9"x5" cake into thirds. which I added to the square cake.  You can see the final design (before fondant) above.

I used green and blue fondant, found at Joann's or Michael's craft stores, to cover the cake and finished the edges with frosting.  I added the action figures to the tops and made them blend in with the cake by using Wilton tip #233 with green frosting.  My son was amazed to see the finished masterpiece!


 Finished masterpiece!

Enderman and Diamond Steve action figures were found at Target, but they can been found at most toy stores or amazon.com.  

The creeper was one of the hangers I purchased for the party favors (below)- I just removed the top piece.  I did the same for the animals on the cake too.

I added diamonds to Steve's treasure chest by using blue sixlets, found at Target!


Party Favors

I made party favors from large glow-in-the-dark cups that I ordered from Oriental Trading.  We held the party in a room with a blacklight, so these were perfect!  I created the Creeper face on my Silhouette software, cut it out of black vinyl, and attached them to the cups.


I filled the up cups mostly with shredded paper and then added the fun items like (keep reading for links for where to purchase):
-Sticks of TNT
-Minecraft hangars
-Mining pencil
-Glow stick 



I used candy pretzel bags, red licorice, white paper, and a TNT sticker (made and cut on my Silhouette) for the TNT sticks.


 
I also found pickaxe pencils on orientaltrading.com that were perfect for the Minecraft theme.  They sell for $6.99/dozen at orientaltrading.com.

I also put Minecraft hangers in each party favor.  These are keychains with a variety of Minecraft characters attached.  There is a good variety on amazon.com.

The last item in the favor was a glow stick- from the $1 bin at Target.

The party was a huge hit!  Everything came together wonderfully and Collin had a great time!  I loved, loved, loved seeing how happy he was!!!