My son wanted a Minecraft party. They do not make Minecraft party supplies. You have to make them yourself. The very name “Minecraft” even has the word “craft” in it. Here is the problem: My name does not.
A dilemma was born. What is the lazy, uncrafty mom to do?
Attempt to make invitations. In bed. With a glass glasses a lot of wine. While watching the Food Network. Call it done. Send them out and hope the parents think your child made them. (This actually worked out exceptionally well, as several parents called me to tell me my son did a great job on the invitations. Cheers!)
Thankfully, there are many moms out there who are crafty. And they will sell you the things they have made… For a price. I purchased most of the items for my son’s party from Ebay. Unfortunately, most of the items have increased in price by more than 30% since I purchased mine. Bummer!
They are cute, though. And the kids loved the masks.
My good friend, Kellie, taught me how to make candy molds. If I can do this, anyone can. It has to be Merckens chocolate. The Wilson chocolate that you can buy at craft stores is… not my favorite. The Merckens brand is delicious. So good. I actually think it tastes very similar to Lindt’s white chocolate. We have a cake shop in town that sells it. Amazon also carries it. But it is much more expensive there. Check your local area first.
After I finished making the last mold, I licked the bowl. I stood there over my kitchen sink and licked that bowl clean. My family was clueless in the other room. I have good manners like that.
I just melt one small batch at a time in a bowl. I put it in the microwave for thirty second intervals. Stirring in between. Usually it takes one minute. Just stir the bits of chocolate around until they are all melted. Pour the chocolate in the candy mold. Gently tap it to get rid of air bubbles. Refrigerate the candy mold for about thirty minutes. Pop chocolate out. Bag it. Repeat. This is so much fun and the kids love this. I made big white chocolate video game controllers for each kid. In typical Jenni fashion, I made the wrong kind of controller. However, I bet they tasted good, all the same.
For the cake, I ordered a half sheet cake in green with writing on the corners. Then my husband broke up some hershey bars and made a creeper face (this was my idea in my head.) It was touch and go. It was definitely another Jenni DIY project. As in, the kids liked it. I hid it from the adults. We had twenty minutes to make it. It was actually fantastic for the time allotment. I was having a meltdown with the candy bars and the stickers while my sweet husband made the face.
And there you have it. We went to a trampoline park. The kids had fun. The facility cleaned up. Score! This mom went home and had pizza and wine. I thought I would do a post on this in case there were any other uncreative moms out there with kids who want a Minecraft party. In searching for ideas, I ran across so many awesome DIY moms who did amazing parties. I am not that mom. The parties these moms threw (I mean…Wow! Just google it. But then come back here for a dose of reality. And don’t cry.) had me in a panic. A cold sweat. Tears. I knew I was on my own. You are not alone! There is hope! Invest in some hershey bars and wine. Then call it a day! Your kid will love it! (The candy bars, not the wine.)
What have been some themes your kids or yourself have requested? Did you run into the same problem I did? What did you do?