This Cheap DIY Minecraft Nether Portal and Ghasts was such a hit at our house.  It was fun, it was easy, inexpensive and I loved hearing the little exclamations of surprise as the kids found it (Since having a hallway of hidden ghosts… I mean Nether World Ghasts) was… well hidden.

They got to discover it when they needed to use the bathroom or wash their hands, and at then end of the party the kids got to go in with their blow up diamond swords and attack.

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

Total Cost: $4.50

Supplies Needed:

• Two different shades of purple party streamers ($1.50/each at Dollar Tree, or this Purple Foil Curtain from Amazon would work well too)
• 20 white balloons ($1.50/bag at Dollar Tree)
• Red Marker (I’d suggest a permanent marker)
• Black Marker (I’d suggest a permanent marker)
• White Plastic Shopping Bags
• Scissors
• Tape
• Thread

On a door or hall entryway hang the purple streamers so they cover the opening, like a beaded curtain. If you’re feeling extra crafty you can grab some cardboard or paper and make a sign over the top that says “Nether Portal”.  We did this going down our hallway.

Get your plastic bags (white ideally) and cut them in half, then with the solidly white half cut slits up the the back side, not quite to to the top to make them kind of look like tentacles.

Blow up your balloons, and use your sharpies to draw a “Ghast” face on the balloons, then tape your plastic bag tentacles on the opposite side that you drew the face.

Finish by taping a bit of thread to the top of your balloon and your ceiling at different heights so they appear to be floating.

Our Nether Portal was huge hit, and at the end of the party we had them break free from the Nether and kids got to attack them with their blow up swords.  The plastic bags made perfect tentacles because they were nearly as light as the balloon so there was still lots of floating action, and they were my favorite party decorations.

You can view moree easy ideas from our DIY Minecraft party here

Minecraft is such a fun cube-ular building game, and I knew I wanted to bring some of the games creativity into my son’s birthday party, and I couldn’t think of a better idea that letting the kids frost and decorate their own Minecraft style cupcakes as a party activity.

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

Supplies Needed:

• Cake Recipe or Box Cake Mix and necessary ingredients
• Square or Rectangle Baking Pan (I used the Wilton one linked)
• Frosting (Chocolate and Green Vanilla)
• Melting Chocolate (Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate and Green Candy Melt Chocolates) – I linked all these chocolate to Amazon, but they seem a lot more expensive there.  I think I paid about $4 per chocolate melt buying them at Walmart.  We had ten people at the party I use only one of each color and had plenty with lots of leftovers.
• Foil or Wax Paper
• Pizza Cutter

I started with buying a bunch of chocolate melts and make them into different shades by added different amounts of white and dark chocolate to colored candy melts.  I ended up using dark chocolate, white chocolate, green candy melt chocolates and two shades of blue (in case they wanted to make water). If I were to do it again, I’d skip the blue and just do a few shades of brown and a few shades of green. The kids seemed to prefer those colors anyway.

I followed the instructions on the packaged for stirring and melting and then I used a spatula to spread my melted chocolate over a piece of foil (parchment paper would probably work better, but I was halfway through melting my chocolate when I realized I was out) in any case foil ended up working fine.

Let your chocolate cool and harden.

If you happen to have a ruler I think you could make these work a little better by ruling them out so the squares are even… but I’m kind of a “Good Enough” type of person, so I just eyeballed the lines and then used a pizza cutter cut/scored the chocolate into squares.

Once you’ve scored or cut your chocolate into squares, carefully bend the foil and peel them off.  I stored them in some plastic bags until the party (and our party got delayed a few weeks, even with the delay the chocolates held up great in their bags until it was party time)

The little squares were perfect for cupcake decorating.

I did some big and some little because I wanted colored squares for the kids to decorate their cupcakes with, but also some big ones for the cake.  In hindsight I wish had made them all small squares and I think my cake would have looked better with lots of little squares rather than a few big squares… but again, good enough, and my son loved it as it was, so I guess no regrets? Certainly not enough to remake or redecorate it.

For the party cupcakes, I make up two box cake mixes in a rectangle pan – one chocolate (to be “Mud Bricks”) and one vanilla (to be “Sandstone”) and cut them into square/cube pieces.

When it came time to decorate I let each child choose their “Mud Brick” or “Sandstone” base, gave them each a smear of brown chocolate frosting and green vanilla frosting on their plates, as well as little cupcake wrappers filled with my square chocolate melts to decorate with, and let them have at it.

They loved it, and it was a fun time filler and transition from a very chaotic activity to a more chill one.  We planned to show off our creations before eating them, but they proved to be too delicious and ended up getting snacked on before our display, but I made a few after the fact to give an idea of how they looked.  I’d give this one a 10/10 rating because I had fun preparing it, the kids loved it, and it was a fun creative way to play with food and transition eagerly between party activities. 

Check out more of my Easy DIY Minecraft Party Ideas here 🙂 

I realize that it’s hardly September, but Halloween is one of our favorite holidays at this house and I think it’s already on all of our minds… and if I’m already thinking about it and planning for it, I see no reason not to share the fun with you using these 5 minute easy graveyard halloween themed cupcakes.

This past Monday my youngest son and I took a trip to Dollar Tree and they had all of their fun Halloween stuff already out. As you might have guessed that got my wheels spinning and after loaded up a cart full of spooky fun we came home and got to work creating.

Three year old loved helping me with this, and he’s quite the semi decent baker, and at the very least an incredibly eager helper, especially when it comes to desserts so he was all in with this little project.  Thankfully I had kids and ease in mind with it, and we had a great time together.

Disclosure: This post may be sponsored or contain affiliate links (which means I make a small percentage of the sale if you buy something).

Graveyard Halloween Themed Cupcakes

Supplies Needed:

• Cupcakes (I used a box mix)
• Chocolate Frosting
• Oreos
• Plastic Skeleton Pieces (I used a Dollar Tree Skeleton Garland that we pulled apart and washed, but I know they tend to sell out early in the season, so I’ve got this linked to something similar on Amazon)

Step 1:

Make (or buy) your cupcakes

Step 2:

Open your oreos and separate them into two bowls, one with chocolate cookie part, and the other with the inner frosting/filling part.

Then take the part with the cookies and grab a cup or glass and grind those puppies into dust, or as close to cookie dust as you can manage.

Step 3:

Frost your cupcakes with a thin, flat layer of frosting, then press them into the oreo cookie dust to make it look like dirt is on top of your cupcakes

Step 4:

Cut up, or take apart your plastic skeleton pieces, clean them, and press them on top of your cupcakes.

Done and Done, they looked cute and spooky, and I was able to manage making them with a three year old a newborn, which was about the level of involvement I can handle right now.

We love halloween at our house, and I’m pretty sure for at least half of us, it’s our favorite holiday.  One of my sons also has a birthday just a few days before Halloween, and loves all the spooky things so we are constantly thinking of easy food and craft things we can do as fall sweeps in and we can embrace all things creepy and fun.

Shopping this last week I saw that a bunch of the stores are now flooding with Halloween props and that got my wheels spinning.

I wanted to make a treat that was both pinterest worthy and cute, but also took five seconds and very low effort to make (I’ve got four young kids, one of them being a less than a month old baby, so ease is key for me this year) and thought these tombstone cupcakes checked all the boxes.

Disclosure: This post may be sponsored or contain affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something).

Supplies Needed:

• Cupcakes (I used a box mix, you could also just buy premade cupcakes from the grocery store or make them from scratch if you want to go more fancy)
• Edible Ink Markers (I used wilton ones, you can find them here on Amazon for only a few dollars)
• Milano Cookies
• Oreo Cookies
• Chocolate Frosting

As for making cookies, these are seriously the easiest.

Step 1:

Make (or buy your cupcakes)

Step 2:

Frost them, with a small flat coating of frosting

Step 3:

Open your oreos and separate them into two bowls, one with chocolate cookie part, and the other with the inner frosting/filling part.

Then take the part with the cookies and grab a cup or glass and grind those puppies into dust, or as close to cookie dust as you can manage.

Step 4:

Take your frosted cupcake and shove the frosting into your oreo cookie dust, coating it to look like dirt

Step 5:

Grab that edible marker and your milano cookies and write out some great headstone on the top half of them. (Headstone text ideas at the bottom of the post)

Step 6:

Shove the unwritten on portion of the milano cookie into your cupcake, and bam, these are ready for being devoured or displayed.

Cookie Headstone Name Ideas:

• Alex Blaine Lader
• Allie B. Back
• Anita Sombody
• Barry A. Live
• Barry M. Deep
• Ben Better
• Ben Dover
• Berry D. Hatchet
• Candy B. Goode
• C. N. Worms
• C.U. Lader
• C.U. Soon
• Daisy Pusher
• Dr. Acula
• Doug Graves
• Doug M. Up
• Dustin Rott
• Emma Ghost
• Frank N. Stein
• Huge B. Next
• I. B. Ded
• I. M. Next
• Ima Gonner
• Ima Nerd
• Izzy Gone
• Izzy Deadyet
• Jess Gogh
• Justin Pieces
• Justin Sane
• Kay Davver
• Kerry M. Off
• Lee Ning
• Lefty B. Hynd
• Manny Bones
• Mark A. Place
• Pearl E. Gates
• Owen Bytheway
• R. U. Dunyet
• Reid N. Weep
• Rob R. Duckie
• Roman D. Earth
• Russ T. Chain
• Seymour Bones
• Shelby Mush
• Ted N. Buried
• U. R. Next
• Will B. Back
• Will E. Comeback
• Willy Rot
• Will U. Joynme
• Xaviar Breath
• Y. Mee
• Yetta Nother
• Yul B. Next
• Yule B. Hersune

My blog posting has really slowed down for the last little bit, but I’m pleased to announce the reason why is because our family has grown!

In August we got to welcome a baby girl to our crew, and trust me when I say my three little boys have been over the moon for her, and this caboose baby is going to be well loved, and I fear, terribly spoiled all of her days, being both the youngest and the only girl of our kids.

During my whole pregnancy the only name my husband would suggest was Tara, but spelled, Ptera, and short for Pterodactyl, lol.  Since my three year old is obsessed with dinosaurs he was pretty down with that idea, and since she’s been born it’s a nickname that has kind of stuck around with the older crew.

The three year old, who we thought would have held fast and tight to the nickname has instead opted to call little miss Baby Pineapple Tree, and will correct anyone who calls her a different nickname,… nevermind that pineapples grow on bushes.

In any case our little Pineapple Tree is doing fantastic, She is a sweet, snuggly, little thing that none of us can resist.  I’m also happy to report the labor was fairly easy and trouble free and my recovery has been smooth (thank goodness, because I’ve got a full crew at home eager for me in all my many roles).

For now, we’re taking it slow, or at least as slow as we can, and I’m making the most of my camera and my years of learning how to use it, and trying to remind myself that while I finally have a baby that I can dress up in dresses and bows, she’s not a dress up doll… even if she doesn’t seem to mind the endless photoshoots.

Also for the record, I totally paparazzi my baby boys as well, but boy clothing is just so much less fun, both to dress them up in and to photograph, and I can’t deny that all the hair bows and dresses melt me. (I grew up with four sisters and no brothers, so I know girl world well, and have been eager to share it with a daughter for some time.)

Anyway, I’m sure little miss will be making occasional appearances going forward, and my heart is so full having her here safe and sound.