Monster Party

Following discussions within the DIY club, it was suggested that it would be good to share some of our past DIY experiences. So here goes my ‘Monster Party’ experience… (This is a really long post, but so worth it! Well, for DIY-ers anyway J)

I have a nephew who turned four last year. He was going through a Monsters University (MU)  phase and was obsessed with all things Mike and Sulley! Fortunately, this meant that I could be party planner for his birthday party. YAY! 

The client, i.e. my sister, had a very specific idea – she wanted a sweet station with an MU theme. I started off doing research on Pinterest for all things MU-related. Invitations, balloons, cakes, food, décor, games… You name it, I googled/pinterested it! Pinterest is a great place to conduct research because the search results generated are so varied that you are bound to see something new and interesting! Just be prepared to spend time sifting through pics and reading the associated website articles (side note: Silly me did not keep a record of all the information sources I used L I’ll try to remember and update as they come back to me.)

Invitation

I used Microsoft PowerPoint to create the invitation. The big find was that I was able to download a ‘Monsters University’ font off the internet! I remember specifically how excited I was to have found this font that I even called my sister to exclaim that I had just found the BEST thing in the WORLD!!!! J  I printed the invitation at a local printer shop on regular A4 paper.

Birthday Invitation

Name tags, Food labels & Thank you tags

I used Microsoft PowerPoint again to create the labels and tags, and used the ‘insert shape’ function to create the dots and squares on the tags and labels. I modelled the labels on pics I had seen on Pinterest. The big score again was using the MU font for the words! 
Some of the food labels were glued to purple cardboard to make free-standing cards, while others were attached to the glassware of the food item displayed using purple ribbon and sellotope.
The name tags were either tied to the food item using blue ribbon or were pasted directly on to the food item.

Name tag

Thank you tag

Food label

Sweets & Coldrinks

All the sweets had to match the MU theme, so I bought blue, green and purple sweets from a local cash & carry store. These included steri stumpies (milkshakes), hard sweets, soft sweets, lollipops, sour worms, wonderbar chocolates, sour powder (sherbet), fizzers. Cooldrinks served was blue and green Energade in matching green and purple-lid plastic jugs.

Monsters University Sweet Station

Thank you favour bags

Using brown paper bags, I used the leftover sweets and chips and made favour bags for the kids. The thank you tags were stuck down using pritt (glue) and the bags were stapled closed.

Colouring sheet

Colouring sheets

Another gem found on Pinterest: MU-themed colouring sheets!

Monster Jelly

Monster Jelly

My sister wanted Monster Jelly cups, i.e. green, blue and purple jelly set in layers in tiny containers. At first I was sceptical because it seemed like sooo much extra work, but in the end they were worth it! Lesson: always listen to your sister *wink*

You have to make the jelly one layer at a time and allow each layer to set completely before pouring the next layer on top. Once I poured the second layer into the containers, I became excited and could not wait to see the overall result! [tip: allow the liquid jelly to cool for a bit before pouring it on the set jelly layer(s)]

Green Marsh Squares

Cookie, Meringue Cakes & Marshmallow Squares

My sister made delicious blue and green colour-coded candy cane cookies, meringue cakes and marshmallow squares using recipes from Stephanie’s Joy of Baking website. 

Cupcakes!

Cupcakes & Cakepops

My sister ordered MU-themed cupcakes and cakepops from a local baker, For Heavens Cakes. She decided on chocolate flavour for ‘Sulley’ and vanilla for ‘Mike’. The cupcakes and cakepops looked and tasted AMAZING! The chocolate was definitely my favourite *nom nom nom*

Movie Posters
I made three MU movie posters so that my nephew could put it up in his room after the birthday party. I googled MU pictures and chose one with Mike and Sulley together, and then one of each of them individually. Pasted the pics into PowerPoint, and added MU-font text and a border. I printed the posters at a local printer shop on plain white A3 paper and had them laminated.

Other items bought:

MU-themed tablecloth, birthday banner, paper plates & cups, serviettes

Balloons (plain blue, green and purple)

Plastic forks and spoons (plain blue and white)

Blue straws

Crayons

Phew, finally done. And that was just the prep for the party! The party was a great success and a fun time was had by all!

Me after the party

W

(PS: Although I state above that ‘I did this’, the truth is that I had help generating and executing the ideas. Thank you to IN, V, IL, D and R for all the help! J)