If you have little gamers in your household then no doubt you have been initiated into the world of Minecraft! My kids love to build and create in this digital sandbox. So I wasn’t surprised when my son asked for a Minecraft themed birthday party when he turned seven. Personally, I don’t get the whole Minecraft craze. When I look at the game pretty much all I see is an ugly hotel bedspread pattern! But with a little research I discovered that there are plenty of ideas and images to inspire party decor, food and games. As it happens, a Minecraft party for kids is actually a really fun theme to work with.
Minecraft Party Decorations
The Minecraft game basically involves players building structures using blocks. So this meant that squares and boxes were a perfect place to start making decorations. First, I made several characters out of cardboard boxes and wrapping paper. Then I glued faces onto the fronts. I put this Enderman and TNT block at the front door.
Next, this creeper, diamond sword and Steve head made up our ‘photo corner’. I also made this Ghast pinata and had it on display before it was smashed to bits later in the day! To make the ghast, I layered fringes of crepe paper strips over a box, and attached crepe paper streamers from the base.
The colours I went with for our kids Minecraft party were mainly greens and black. I hung a couple of bunches of balloons in these colours. I had thought about drawing creeper faces with black texta on to the green balloons but ran out of time.
Minecraft Party Dessert Table
The backdrop to the dessert table was this fabulous creeper face. To make it I got square plastic plates in green, black and white. I used blu tac to stick them to the wall. They looked so effective and one guest commented that they looked like glass tiles!
I ran a green plastic tablecloth along the table. We displayed the food on square plates and bowls with matching food signs. I discovered that Minecraft uses lots of different foods and resources in the game so I made signs for everything! We served:
“sticks” = pretzel sticks
“carrots” = carrot sticks and dip
“bread” and “cow image” = sausage sandwiches
“slime balls” – grapes
“redstone” = strawberries and watermelon
“gold” = pineapple
“golden apples” = apples (what else?)
“cookies” = creeper cookies. I made these by baking square cookies and covering them with squares of green fondant. Then I drew on creeper faces using an edible black pen.
“TNT” = red licorice
“diamonds” = silver foil covered chocolates
“coal” = homemade black rice krispies
“cake” = cupcakes with Minecraft toppers
I also put out water bottles for the kids with this “potion of healing” label.
Birthday Cake
For our Minecraft party I went with a pretty simple cake this time, but the kids still loved it! First I made a number seven by joining 2 bar cakes together. Then I covered it in chocolate frosting, and sprinkled green tinted coconut over the top to look like grass. Finally I just stuck in a bunch of character signs and had ‘Steve’ hold a birthday message.
Minecraft Party Activities and Games
When guests arrived we got them to pose for a photo with the creeper while wearing the Steve head. My husband had downloaded an album of Minecraft parody songs which were fun and made for great background music. Then we served the sausage sandwiches.
After everyone had been fed, it was time to get on with the games.
Crafting Table
First up was our crafting table. I made a grid on our trestle table out of duct tape to look like the crafting tables in the game. I put coloured squares of paper in each box of the grid and the kids used these to make their own Minecraft style masks.
Creeper Bowling
Our next game was creeper bowling. I made the bowling pins by filling empty plastic bottles with watery green paint and splashing it around to coat the insides green. Then I used black duct tape to make creeper faces. The kids took turns rolling a ball at the pins to see how many creepers they could knock over.
Scavenger Hunt
Next we went on a scavenger hunt in our backyard for rubies, emeralds and diamonds. These were actually a bunch of plastic crystals hidden earlier by my husband.
Digging for Diamonds
Then we went digging for diamonds and excavating emeralds. To make these I had placed glass beads into plastic cups and frozen three different layers of water, grape juice and orange juice over the top. The kids had a blast chipping away with teaspoons. But honestly I could have just frozen water over the top, as the kids weren’t bothered eating the frozen chips. They just wanted to mine their precious stones!
TNT Explosion
Next up was our TNT explosion! We took the TNT box outside into the back yard and made sure everyone stood well back. We started by placing a bottle of coke inside the box with the top of the bottle sticking out like a fuse. Next, my husband took the lid off the bottle and quickly dropped two mentos lollies in. It’s important to add the mentos quickly before too much of the soda fizz has evaporated in order to get a really big reaction. We didn’t have to wait long for the coke to erupt and the kids to cheer!
Ghast Pinata
Our final game was the ghast pinata! Before hanging it up, I had filled it with mini chocolate bars. Since this game involves small children attacking the pinata with sticks, be sure to have everyone stand well back!
I made these ghast noodle boxes for the kids to collect their pinata loot.
After playing all of the games, we headed back inside for birthday cake and the other sweet treats.
Minecraft Party Favours
One thing I enjoyed about this party was that the games and activities were just played for fun without prizes being involved. I find it easier sometimes if I don’t have to be looking out for a winner! That said, I still like to send guests home with a little something. In this case, they took home their masks, their pinata loot and these party favour bags.
I was able to buy these paper bags in two shades of green. Then I just cut out creeper faces and glued them on the front. Each bag contained a chocolate bar, a Minecraft bookmark and a ‘lump of coal’ in a cellophane bag. The coal of course was the same rice krispies from the dessert table.
Keen to throw a Minecraft party for your own budding gamers? Then check out our Minecraft party printables pack. This will help you on your way to crafting a party that is out of this world!