For Jeffrey's 3rd birthday I decided to do a "Monster Theme Party"
recently he had become obsessed with Monsters Inc. Well its been a awhile since the movie has been out... I knew I was going to have a hard time finding items for this party. So I went with "Monster bash party" I had a lot of fun researching ideas for the party so many great ideas out there. Since I was on a tight budget I made a lot of the decor myself and used all my resources wisely.
First I started out by making my own cupcake toppers. I had found monster invitations at Walmart for only $.97 for a pack of 6 that was I deal I couldn't pass up. The plates, napkins and table cover were also $.97 each my kind of bargain.
So for the cupcake toppers I used the extra invitations I had and cut out the monsters.
After I cut out the monster I found some extra card stock I had laying around and cut them into squares to use as the background. Then I used my trusty glue gun and started my project. I had tons on tooth picks laying around the house so I then glued them to the back of the card stock square, then to finish it off a little scrap paper to cover up the tooth pick.
Then they were ready to go....
I really enjoyed making my own Monster cupcake toppers they were super easy, very cheap and matched the other decor perfectly
I also made all the "signs" for all the food and drinks, I used Halloween paper again at Walmart I think the pack of 6 different types of paper was around $1.00. I then cut the paper to make a tee pee affect and got creative I used things like "Monster Eyes" (meatballs) "Green Slime" (green punch) etc.... It really added some uniqueness to the food and drinks.
I used the same paper pattern to make my own "happy birthday" garland. I traced a triangle out and then wrote "happy birthday" I taped the back to some string I had around house then hung it up
Next I decided to make my own monster party hats... I found this cute idea on a blog during my research.... http://hiphiphoorayblog.com/2011/01/little-monster-party/
so I went and bought some felt... with no pattern for the party hats I kind of did a trial and error.
First I measured on Jeffrey's head what size would be best, then I found a item around the house that had the perfect circle shape for the eye. After I had traced the eyes out in white I then did the same in black. With the black felt I cut in a circular motion to make the smaller inner eye, with the extra felt in between each eye that I cut out I noticed it made a great monster mouth so I used that as the mouth, then with the scrap white I cut mini triangles for the fangs.
With my trusty glue gun again I glued it all together and... I think they turned out great!
I then used a hole puncher and pipe cleaners to finish them off. I had them right at the front door so as kids came into the party they could put them on right away. However getting toddlers to wear anything is a challenge so most of the party they didn't wear them but all in all a fun project.
For a fun game I had wanted to do "Pin the eyes on the monster" My mom and her husband Steve were visiting and asked if I needed help with anything for the party I said yes! I need a artist to draw a monster on poster board. So Steve did, he looked at the invitations then drew a monster free hand... it turned out perfectly :) So for the kids to play I cut out strips of cardboard then glue wiggle eyes to them and when it was their turn we put tape on the cardboard and they placed it where they thought it might go. It was a simple and fun game for some of the older kids.
I love doing crafts for little kids so I had set up a table for the kiddos to make their own goody bags. I found some awesome monster crafts on Orientaltrading.com the kids really enjoyed making their own bags and then later on they had something to hold all their candy from the pinta. I had some credit to Oriental trading from making previous purchases (I am firm believer in signing up for "rewards programs" in any company)I found tons of monster favors everything matched very well.
Those were just a few of the ideas I used for the MONSTER party on a budget :)
The final party came together very well and kids had a great time
