Hosting a Minecraft Birthday Party

My son, like practically everyone in his school, is a huge Minecraft fan. So naturally when I asked him what kind of theme he would like for his party, he did not hesitate saying the world of zombies, pick-axes, and lapis lazuli. Having successfully done a princess-themed party for my daughter last year, I thought I would try my hand at a Minecraft party (she is also a big Minecraft fan).

It is a whole lot cheaper to avoid buying all the Minecraft-licensed stuff and, fortunately, you can do a lot with only a little, as I describe below.

For invitations, I downloaded some Minecraft fonts and fired up Microsoft Word to create the invitations. Minecrafter V3 and Minecratia were the two I used.

For the cake, I went to my local Publix (which makes the best birthday cakes I've ever had), and had them make a layered chocolate and vanilla cake with white buttercream frosting and red squares of varying sizes on top. This is to make it look like the cake that appears in the game itself.

For an extra Minecraftian sugar kick, I went I to a candy store and bought goodies that looked like Minecraft objects. I used the placards from the party printables site I used for the Bingo game (see below). This was a big hit with the kids! Of course we had to have an adult serve out the candy - otherwise it would have been like a pack of wolverines fighting over a fresh kill!

Now for the best part - the activities!

We are having his party in a private room at a local pizza place, so the activities are going to have to need a small footprint and not be messy. Here is what I have come up with:

Minecraft Tile Puzzle Craft

It is tough coming up with an easy, low cost crafting activity - but I was inspired by a recent trip to a Lego event where you assembled a small 2" by 2" square and added it to a specific location on a larger board, which ultimately created a mosaic of a larger picture.

Legos are expensive, but thanks to the work of this site that has color-by-number Minecraft pictures, you can do your own with just a little work!

You will need the following materials:

• Hard copies of one or more color-by-number pictures
• White card stock
• Foam board (found under school supplies at your local retail store)
• Glue stick
• Box cutter / razor knife
• Colored Sharpies

First print out a few of the color by number pictures on white cardstock paper. Then use the glue stick to coat the back of it as completely as possible. Using cardstock prevents the paper from getting wrinkles and will be easier to color on. 

Glue the picture to the foam board and then cut the grid into squares using the box cutter. I've found 5x5 squares work best. Be sure to keep up with the key so you know what color goes with which number!

When you have a drawing cut out, write down a sequential number order on the back side. If you are doing more than one picture, be sure to use different colored Sharpies! You can also color the side of the foam board for extra help in keeping the pieces together. 

The great thing about this activity is that you can have many kids working together to put the picture together without having to take turns or wait on a particular person. This is a great first activity so people that arrive late can still participate without holding up the party. It is also good for younger siblings who may be tagging along to the party.

Gravel Pit Explorer (a Jenga game variant)

This game is the one I am most looking forward to trying out, since this is my own idea. If you have ever played Minecraft, you know that you have to watch out for gravel blocks. Unlike all the other non-liquid blocks, they will always fall to the ground if whatever is beneath them is removed. This can be very dangerous if you are digging over your head!

The premise of the game is that each player wants to find and extract the most valuable ore without causing the surrounding gravel to collapse. To create the game, you need the following materials:

• 1 Jenga game
• Avery address labels 5160/8160 (30 per sheet, 1" x 2 5/8")
• This template
• Scissors

Making this variant is pretty easy. All you do is print off the template on the Avery address labels, cut out the squares (you may need to trim them up a bit) and stick them in the center of each Jenga block. Note that there are more stickers than blocks, so you can balance out how much you want of each type. Here is how I weighted the distribution:

16 Cobblestone
11 Coal
9 Iron
7 Redstone

5 Gold

3 Lapis Lazuli
2 Diamond
1 Emerald

You can either assign a point value to the ore types or you can play more loosely. What is neat about the game is that as it progresses, you will begin to see ore before having to move pieces. (You will want to mix up the blocks before each game and keep people from looking during set up!) Then the challenge becomes whether to go for it or take a chance in picking an unknown block.

The game ends when the Jenga tower falls. If you want, you can punish the one who causes the tower to fall by having him or her lose one of the most valuable ore claimed during the game.

Creeper Knock-Down

A classic game with a Minecraft theme. Knock down the creepers using a ball or another ranged weapon!

You will need the following materials:

• 6-12 green plastic cups
• Black Sharpie
• Toy bow & arrow (or a wiffle ball)

This is pretty simple. Just draw creeper faces on the cups! You are good to go. 

Pin the Pixelated Tail on the Pig

Another classic game - Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but with Minecraft style! Instead of a donkey, you will make a Minecraft pig. For added fun, instead of a blindfold, you can use the Minecraft masks you can buy at Target and tape up the eye holes so there is no peeking.

You will need the following materials:
Pink, white, and black construction paper (lots of pink)

• Poster board (if you don't want to hang it directly on the wall)
• Minecraft 3-D Mask (or a regular blindfold...but not as much fun!)
• Masking tape for the pig tail game pieces

Again, this is pretty self-explanatory. One tip though is to have each kid put his or her name on the tail so you can keep up with who wins!

Minecraft Bingo

This one is as simple as you can get, thanks to the great work of Jillian over at CatchMyParty.com. Just print off this template and get a couple bags of Skittles or M&Ms for board pieces. 

Just read off the numbers/pictures randomly. Stress to the kids that they can't eat their markers until they get a Bingo.  The kids can eat them after the game! 

I'm not big on having a highly competitive game at a birthday party so having the reward for getting a Bingo to be able to eat their pieces makes it fun because everyone wins and the ones that are done still sit quietly as they eat their candy. This worked really well at our party!

Well, that's all I've got. I hope this is helpful to you. The party was a big success and everyone had fun. All that and I saved quite a few bucks in the process!



RESOURCES

Here are links to the resources I will be using:

Minecraft Fonts
http://textcraft.net/download-fonts.php

Minecraft Bingo Game
http://catchmyparty.com/blog/free-printable-minecraft-bingo-game

Gravel Pit Explorer Tiles Template

Disney Princess Party Ideas

So here is the connection for this blog - Disney owns Lucasfilm and they also own (created) the Disney Princesses. Plus Leia is a princess too right?

Anyway, I was planning a birthday party for my little girl and she *loves* the Disney Princesses. So with some creativity and a few Pinterest searches, I came up with a lot of activities and I thought I'd share these with you. 

These are all very budget friendly - nothing you can't get at your local dollar store or Walmart...or even around your house!

Here they are, arranged by princess:

Rapunzel Race

This one was a lot of fun. It recreates the scene from Tangled where Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are being chased by the palace guards. You wrap up each princess in yellow streamers and give them a small saucepan (we used a couple from my daughter's toy kitchen). They run a short course and come back to the start. We ran two girls at a time. Even some of the older boys joined in on it!

Snow White's Wishing Well

This is a simple idea but a surprising hit with all the kids. Just decorate a plastic bucket and get some pennies. The girl stands a given distance and tosses each of the pennies to see how many she can get into the bucket. 

Make Your Own Enchanted Mirror (Belle)

Here is a crafting activity for Beauty and the Beast fans. Buy some hand mirrors from a dollar store and jeweled stickers from a hobby shop. The jeweled stickers can be a little pricey so we supplemented with small, regular flower stickers. Each girl decorates her mirror however she would like and gets to take it home with her. 

Anna's Snowball Practice

Remember when Anna and company met Marshmallow the snow monster? She threw a snowball and had pretty good aim, albeit ineffective. Well here is a game for the girls to practice. 

All you need are small, clear plastic cups and a soft ball. You could use a wiffle ball though I found a spongey baseball-style ball at the dollar store. Then you find a picture of the Frozen snow monster, shrink them down so you can fit nine to a page on landscape-oriented paper, print it out and cut them out. Now just tape one to the inside of each cup and you are set. 

To play the game, just stack up the cups into a pyramid shape and have the girl try to knock down as many as she can with the ball. 

It's also nice and compact for storage!

Ariel's Collection

This is one I haven't done myself but thought it was a good idea. You know how Ariel likes to collect things? Well it is the job of each girls to help Ariel with her collection.

Gather three to five of several types of objects. You need one type of object for each girl playing the game. One obvious type of object you can use is plastic forks for dinglehoppers. You could also use sea shells, spoons, hairbows, or other things that fairly small. Assign each girl one object, by giving each girl one of the that type. Now take all the remaining objects, mix them together and spread them out in a pile. The girls now have to hunt through the pile to find all of her objects. 

I used the word "object" quite a bit there...

Cinderella Shoe Race

Here is a Cinderella-themed activity that is easy to do. We all know that she had a hard time keeping her shoes on, right? When she was carrying breakfast up to Lady Tremaine and her step-sisters, she had to recover a shoe on the staircase. Then, of course, we have the famous loss of a glass slipper as she was running to her coach at midnight. All you need for this activity is several pairs of your wife's shoes (probably a good idea to check with her first though!). The game is have each girl put on this overly-large footwear and run a short course. If a girl loses a shoe, she has to stop and put it back on.

- - - 

Well that's it! I hope these ideas are helpful to you. 

Make Your Own Creeper Soap

This was my first real attempt at soap making and I dare say that it turned out better than I hoped! Of course I it helps when you get lots of advice from an experienced soap maker. It actually is not that hard. 

Here is what you need (you can get this stuff at Michaels or another local hobby/craft shop):

• 1.5 pounds glycerin melt-and-pour soap

• Green soap dye (or food coloring)

• Black soap dye (or food coloring)

• Orange essential oil (or other scent)

• One 16 oz silicone loaf mold

• A soap slicer or sharp knife

• A 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup (you could use something smaller but will have to do two batches of green soap)

1. Melt 8 oz of glycerin soap in the microwave. Do it like you would nacho cheese. Meaning heat for 30 seconds, stir, repeat. This should only take about 2 minutes. When it is fully melted, add in a few drops of black food coloring until it looks like how you want it. Stir slowly to avoid air bubbles. 

2. Pour into mold. It should be 1/3 to 1/2 full. Freeze for about 10 minutes or until hard. 

3. When hard, pop the black soap out. Use a knife or soap slicer to cut into strips. You will need two thin strips for the edges of the mouth and three shorter but square pieces for the eyes and center part of the mouth. Put these pieces into freezer. 

4. Clean out your Pyrex dish. Melt 16 oz of soap and color it green an add in your desired essential oil(s) for fragrence (I used orange). Pour the soap into the loaf mold until it is about 1/4 inch deep. Put the mold in the freezer for about 5 minutes or until hard. 

5. Pull out the mold and the two long thin black pieces from the freezer. Reheat the green soap as needed. Position the black  thin pieces (vertically) and pour the green soap around them. Pour until the level is about halfway up the black pieces. Hold then in place for a minute until they are held in place by the cooling green soap. 

6. Let the mold site for a few minutes and the. Put back into the freezer for 5 minutes or until hard. 

7. Now pull out the mold and one of the square black strips. Heat the green soap again as needed. Place the blackstrap in the center, between the two thin strips. Pour the green soap around it until the level just covers the square black strip. 

8. Freeze the mold again for 5 minutes. Then pull it out and the last two remaining square black strips. 

9. Place these black strips on either side of the awaited strip you placed last time. Reheat the green soap and pour the rest out until you reach the top of the mold. 

10. Let it sit and cure for about two weeks. Then slice it like you would a loaf of bread. You now have several bars of Creeper soap you can share with your kids, family, and friends!

Oh, and if you are wondering what the soap slicer or loaf molds look like, here is a picture of mine (right after the soap was finished). This one is actually a four loaf version: