Eight-year-old boys are so hard to please when it comes to throwing a birthday party. Since my son is obsessed with Minecraft I figured a Minecraft themed birthday party would be the perfect fit! Your party guests will have a blast at this Minecraft themed birthday party that includes simple DIY ideas, party games and fun favors. Check out a few fun ideas that are sure to be crowd pleasers.
A great birthday party includes a few key elements; decorations, food and fun. To get this party started I had to dive into the crazy world of Minecraft. My eight-year-old did most of the translating for this newb and taught me all about this crazy video game world that he is so obsessed with. To get started, I began with the party backdrop. The base of my backdrop was a sheet of plywood that I covered with the Mad scientist wall backdrop. I love using plywood as my backdrop because I can staple directly into it, which makes decorating a breeze. I added a few tissue paper fans in a bright lime green to add a bit of color. I stapled these together in a cluster before attaching to my backdrop. I added the swirly hanging ghast tears as well. While scoring these in the game is difficult, scoring them for your next party is a breeze! Check out the shopping list on the right hand side of this page.
To decorate my backdrop I created a custom TNT banner. You can read more about that HERE. Underneath the custom banner I hung a Minecraft Happy Birthday banner. I made some construction paper torches to decorate the castle walls too. Just roll the construction paper into a cylinder and staple at the top and bottom. You can use orange float pomps and red tulle to create a flame for your hanging torches. To help set the mood and make guests feel like they were the game I created a few hanging creepers. Just use square green plates and the green creeper napkins. Staple the napkins directly to the plate and then staple green crepe paper streamers to the bottom. These can hang anywhere around your party and are fun to watch blow in the wind.
After setting up all the decorations it was time to think about food. Feeding eight-year-old boys can be quite the challenge. Fancy party food is lost on these fickle guests so it's best to keep things simple. Go with their faves. Keeping with the party theme I chose foods that were part of the game. There was chicken, carrot dippers, some strawberries (redstone), candies that represented water (blue M&M's and Sixlets), Hershey Nuggets (iron ingots), gold coins, chocolate carrots, trapdoor pretzels and of course a Minecraft themed cake. I used a few of the FREE printable tags and little Minecraft figurines to help decorate the food trays. Game on!
To set the food table I started with a Minecraft plastic tablecloth. I layered on an artificial grass table runner, and used the blue pixel bandanas to represent water. A few of the leftover TNT bundles from the DIY TNT Banner were placed around the food table.
A one-of-a-kind cake was definitely in order for this special party. It was created using brownies and marshmallow cereal squares. Simply cut brownies and marshmallow cereal treats into square pieces then layer to create a desired shape. I used a grass tip icing applicator and green colored icing to create grass. Add in a few hidden gemstones and some blue M&M's and Sixlets for water as well as some Minecraft figurines and you are all set. I created a TNT candle using rope licorice. Just cut the licorice into smaller pieces and bundle together using black duct tape. Add a TNT tag and some sparking candles inside and you have your own TNT sparklers for this special occasion.
With decorations and food checked off the list now all you need to do is bring the fun! Since Minecraft was the overall theme we had to have a little gaming time for these Minecraft pros. Party guests walked through the Nether Portal into a gaming area. We used several iPads and devices to play and encouraged our guests to bring their own. They joined worlds and got lost in Minecraft while they waited for other party guests to arrive. To make your own Nether Portal just use purple pixel bandanas and some purple streamers. I folded the bandanas into triangles and stapled the streamers to the back before hanging. This is a great way to keep your guests occupied until everyone arrives.
A party isn't complete without some arts & crafting time. I wanted these little boys to make something they could take home so I created a little hidden design puzzle for them to solve. I used unfinished wood squares and primed them. Guests colored the square marked with a B using a black sharpie. All the other squares were colored with various shades of green. When they were done they had their very own creeper to take home with them!
After all the gaming and crafting these boys needed to get active! Our last two games were full of fun and kept these boys moving! The first game we played was a little creeper tag. One party guest was chosen to be the creeper. This person got to wear the creeper mask and tried to tag the "Steves" and turn them into creepers. The last man standing was the winner and got to be the creeper for the next round. The boys loved this game!
After playing tag the boys enjoyed a game I created just for them. This game was called "punch a creeper" and was a unique twist on the traditional birthday goody bag. Instead of making treat bags, the party guests got to punch out the creepers and reach in to grab their surprises. You can check out how to make your very own HERE. This was a crowd pleasing game for sure!
After all of the Minecraft fun it was finally game over for these boys. We said goodbye with a few of our favorite themed treats. You can check out how to create these DIY Favor boxes and treats HERE.
