For those of you who not familiar with this phenomenon called Minecraft, here is a short introduction from the Minecraft website.
Less than a year ago, we (at least I) had no idea what this whole Minecraft thing was. I saw students at school drawing Minecraft pictures (usually axes, picks and other such implements) and I actually assumed it was a fighting video game, and not something that would be good for my 9 year old son.
Then Kaleb was introduced to Minecraft, and we realized it was a pretty cool BUILDING game. It was a natural obsession for a boy who loves Lego, since it is really just a virtual, computer version of building with blocks. And he's been hooked ever since!
So of course it was a complete no-brainer for him to choose to do a Minecraft theme for this 10th birthday!
I should add that the idea of 10 ten year old boys in my home for several hours was a bit daunting to me, and so I actually tried to talk Kaleb into have an "out" birthday. I offered him a pool party at the Rec centre. I offered bowling. The movie theater? But Kaleb was committed to having a Minecraft birthday at home. And so the planning began...
Way back in the beginning of May, the boy and I started a board on Pinterest for all the ideas we were finding online for this Minecraft party. Kaleb would regularly ask to see our online pinterest board, and often asked in the morning if I'd "pinned" anything new to it (knowing it is in my down time in the evening that I am usually looking for ideas online)! The whole party really was a labour of love that the boy and I worked on together.
So without further chat, here are pictures of the party. Forgive the billion pics, but the beauty of this party was in the details. :) So they MUST be documented!
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| The cool invite a sweet friend offered to do for us! |
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| The decorated dining room, all ready for the arrival of the guests! |
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| Hard to capture because of the sunlight, but here is part of the pixelated bunting! |
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| The decorated table |
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| Place settings: square plates & napkins, "Enderman" juice boxes |
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| Creeper and ghast goodie bags! |
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| Creeper piñata |
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| Food table! With all special Minecraft food! |
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| Cheesie "carrots", mini chocochip cookies, Rolo "gold"! |
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| Watermelon, Jello "water" blocks, licorice TNT, and Creeper juice boxes & marshmallow pops! |
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| Marshmallow mushrooms, and choco-dipped pretzel stick "torches"! |
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| Lego Minecraft block and Origami Steve |
Kaleb's biggest project was to make these purler bead creations. We found lots of ideas and patterns online and all three kids actually got very into making these. Several afternoons were spent creating these cool Minecraft objects! Each party guest got to choose one of these magnets to take home.
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| Purler bead creations on the "crafting table" centre piece. |
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| The birthday boy, with the cake! |
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| What ten looks like!! |
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| My cake creation. Three batches of rice krispie squares and marshmallow fondant! |
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| What I was trying to recreate! |
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| Square pizza with square pepperoni |
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| Creeper pizza |
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| The gang, all linked up & getting instructions from the game master (aka Andy!) |
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| So fun/funny to see 10 ten year olds linked up and having to work together! |
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| Such characters, all of them! |
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| Getting instructions from Andy for their next challenge! |
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| A group challenge! Such concentration going on here! |
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| Cookie challenge! This was so much fun to watch the boys do! |
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| Yes, we sure got some strange looks from those walking the greenway! |
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| The game crew! |
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| Me and my "Diva"! |
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| Mummified birthday boy! |
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| Selfie with the birthday boy! |
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| The challenges have been completed and all the ingredients for cake have been earned! |
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| Cake time! |
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| Creeper Kaleb getting ready to hit the piñata! |
