Caleb turned 7! At first I really didn't want to do another birthday party. But I felt like the last child was getting the short end of the stick. So I changed my mind and let him have a party. That meant that his party was 2 weeks after his birthday, since I originally wasn't going to do one. My goal for this party was cheap, easy and fun. Could I pull it off? Caleb seemed to think so!
He wanted like 6 different party themes. I showed him my ideas for a Minecraft party. His excitement told me THIS was the party theme he should have. (A shout out to my friend Janelle. I took some of my ideas from a party she did for her son that I saw on her blog. So thanks Janelle!)
Once I got planning and working, it was fun again and I'm glad I changed my mind and had a party for Caleb. **I should add a disclaimer here.** I know NOTHING about Minecraft. All my kids love it and play it. Nathan even programmed mods for an online game before his mission. They've all tried to teach me how to play it. I just DON'T GET IT! My best guess is it's like virtual Legos. You build things with squares. That's about the extent of my knowledge. And I've heard the kids mention key words before. So that's all I had to go on for this party. Caleb was excited though, so I think I did a good enough job at faking that I know what I'm doing.
Here's what we did:
When the kids arrived, they made Minecraft torches. I printed and cut them out prior to the party. (7 year old boys wanting to sit still and cut paper? Nope! I've learned the hard way that's not gonna happen! 9 year old girls? Maybe. 7 year old boys? No.) So they folded and glued and taped them together. That was enough for them. Then they added a glow stick and tissue paper to make the "light up". I gave them an extra (non-broken, still usable) glow stick in their goody bags so they could take them home and use them that night as a night light. I was surprised by how much they liked this. One boy was late, and wanted to go back at the end of the party and make a torch. Apparently torches are good in Minecraft?
After all the kids arrived and torches were made, I gave all the kids inflatable pick axes.
It was time to MINE!
(Note to self: paint end table and couch legs. I didn't realize how bad they are until I took a picture of them. Funny how that works.)
They had fun searching. Most were in plain site because they are so small. I just hid a LOT so it would be fun.
Jumping over my couches?? Ugh.
(*The dog on the table will be explained later.)
There were also diamonds to mine.
I only bought enough diamonds for each kid to have one, so they were "rare", just like in Minecraft. The diamonds were the HIT of the party! Later that day, after the party was over, Caleb's friend invited him to play. When they got to the boy's house, he was running around trying to find his diamond. He HAD to have his diamond. Then they played games with the diamond and pick ax all during their play date. Elizabeth and Caleb played made-up games with the diamond and "ore" for the rest of the weekend. So, huge hit! Caleb still uses his diamond when he plays Legos. It's a "power source" for whatever he builds. Anyway, they had fun. *Oh and the dog you'll see in the pictures is for Star Student of the Week. Caleb brought him to our house for the weekend and had to journal about all his adventures. Way fun for the kids, but this old mom has done it 6 other times and is kinda tired of it. See a theme here? Tired Mom.
Then we opened presents. I wanted to do all the indoor activities first, then go outside and leave them outside till the end of the party, so no one would track grass and mud in my house. It had rained a lot the day before, so this was mostly just clean-freak/chaos-control me. So we did presents first.
One of his friends gave him a Creeper wallet. Caleb has wanted a wallet for months! He was so excited. And they put a few $1 bills inside. Such a cute idea! They even wrapped it up as TNT from Minecraft.
Then we went outside to "Craft a Cake". In Minecraft, you have to gather ingredients to make other things. (I think! **See disclaimer above. ) I hid "cake ingredients" in eggs. Then I made clues and they went on a scavenger hunt to find the ingredients. They loved running. That's what 7 year old boys do! There were lots of smiles.
And one annoyed kid who was mad he never got to find a clue.
They needed 3 milk, 2 sugar, 1 egg, and 3 wheat to make a cake. This is the same as the game (apparently **see disclaimer again.) Once they found all the clues, they had to follow the "recipe" and put them all together. "Recipe":
Then voila... a cake appeared!
This is what a cake looks like in Minecraft.
I had grand plans to make awesome Creeper cupcakes. Then I saw this and thought, EASY! I also thought I'd make this cake a 2 square 2 layer cake and frost the sides. Life got busy, and at 8pm the night before the party, I was talking about it to Lydia and getting ready to cut it, assemble it, and frost it. (At least it was already baked.) Lydia said, "Why mom? No one will care if it's square or rectangle! Just frost it and leave it a rectangle." Out of the mouths of babes! So I frosted it, added red fruit by the foot, and DONE. EASY! She was soooo right. 7 year old boys really DON'T CARE! They loved the cake... even as a rectangle, and didn't even notice. And they all wanted seconds, so I guess it was good. IME usually kids don't even eat a first piece. But they wanted seconds. I tasted it later, and I gotta say it was good. I had a leftover cake mix from Valentine's Day that needed using up, and I didn't want to go to the store. It had red sprinkles in the cake mix. I didn't care. Later I learned it's a really yummy flavor. I made homemade cream cheese frosting though. I don't really like store-bought frosting, and Caleb LOVES homemade cream cheese frosting!! It's one of his favorite treats ever. He doesn't get to eat many dessert treats because of his peanut allergy. And he specifically asked me to MAKE the frosting. It was yummy. And not hard at all.
After cake, I informed the kids that "CREEPERS ARE COMING!!!!" They all freaked out... that was kinda fun. I led them to the front yard where, indeed, there were Creepers. They each took turns shooting the Creepers with dart guns. This took longer than I planned, which is good because some of the other games took shorter than I planned.
love how one of Caleb's friends is holding his tongue "just right" while Caleb aims at the creepers. It made me laugh.
After all the Creepers were attacked, I just let them run wild and make up their own games. I had planned to do that because 7 year old boys just want to RUN. And I've learned that if you give them the right materials, they'll make their own entertainment. So I gave them their pick axes and told them they could use the Creepers and diamonds for their games. They ran around and fought each other with pick axes, they hid the Creepers and attacked them, they jumped on the trampoline with the Creepers and pretended they were TNT, they yelled and screamed and just generally had a great time!
By that time, parents were arriving, so perfect timing. It was actually a really fun party! I wasn't too stressed out by it because for the last 25 minutes, I just let them do their own thing. I sat at our picnic table watched them, and smiled at all the fun they were having. Caleb really enjoyed it and I'm glad I changed my mind and did a party for him. And the best thing was it was cheap, easy and FUN! Success.
ETA: Oh and goody bags. I guess I didn't take a picture of the contents. They each got a rubix cube (that looked pixelated, so it counts, right?), a square green sucker, a green finger flash light, and a glow stick. And of course the pick ax. I made them small because I didn't want to spend a lot on filling them up. The entire party cost me around $50 for everything... cake, goody bags, games, etc. So much cheaper than all the other options I was looking at. And it really was one of the easiest parties to plan for, and host. But it was really fun too! So I'm glad I did it.... for many reasons, mainly to see Caleb so happy!
