Andrew chose Minecraft for the theme of his party this year. I had a vague idea of what the game was because he usually plays with his brother and their dad. I had to ask them a lot of questions and learn about it which made it fun for them. They were the teachers!
The party planning started with the head (Steve and the Creeper). I did not want to buy the ones it is sold in the stores because they are ridiculously expensive so I found a nice high resolution picture of each, set my Word to 87% view (the size of a sheet of paper) and printed them in three sheets of paper at Staples... since the box was free (I asked for them at the grocery store) I only spent $1.50 on each. The risers were all boxes collected at the grocery store. I wrapped them in plastic tablecloth from Walmart ($2.45 for three).
The food tags I downloaded for free from the internet someone kind enough to share their work http://party.catchmyparty.com/files/birthday/free-minecraft-birthday-party-printables-by-printabelle.pdf
I did have to add a few extra pictures as I wanted to add different food.
At Target I asked for boxes and the workers were kind to give me several of these little boxes (from batteries) which I used to make the pig.
Michael's had a project to make a caterpillar that came with all the toilet paper centers. I colored them with Satin finish Acrylic paint, printed the label and cut circles to close them up with candy inside.
The cake was the hardest for me because Andrew wanted a white cake. I was really excited to make a grass block but he reminded me that he doesn't like chocolate! I started with a white block and in the morning of the party I asked Andrew what that white block could be. He said it could be a skeleton... so a skeleton it became! I had already been working on the Ender dragon to go on top http://pixelpapercraft.com/papercraft/4f1baf47cb1c433c04000095/ender-dragon This was a hard project but in the end it was amazing looking!
I despise Frosting so I had a first shot at trying Ganache to cover the cake. Learned on You Tube and it worked, although I still had to add a little Fronting on the front of the cake to make the Skeleton face because it was last minute. If I had more time I would have done Fondant instead but anyways... it worked!
Shirts bought at Michael's (4 for $10) and painted with Black Acrylic paint. Mine was painted with white and pink.
The piñata was crafted from a 12 by 12 by 12 box I bought at Staples and reinforced with duck tape because the last party I used a piñata I bought at Walmart and the kids destroyed in minutes. This Ghast lasted a while and it exploded in style. It was the best piñata so far. The body was just strips of white tissue paper cut in paper grass style. I added a hole in the back to insert the candy and zip tie at the top to hang. It was well reinforced with duck tape around to last. I made the face with construction paper and gray felt.
Happy Birthday my Big Boy!