Are you a fan of those adorable, mischievous, yellow creatures in blue overalls? If you have little ones, chances are these minions may have already invaded your household! If you have a minion loving little one and want to throw the ultimate minion party, these budget-friendly ideas will help make your party a hit!
Our party was based on the 2015 Minions movie with the Scarlet Overkill and their journey to find a villian to follow but you could also use these ideas for any of the Despicable Me films. Check them out!
THE INVITE
To get guests in the party mood, let everyone know you’re having a Minion party & invite everyone to dress up — if they want to — as a minion (yellow shirts and blue jeans or overalls). They could also come as their favorite Minion associated character!
(If you have a group that goes all out, you could also have a costume contest at the end of the party).
DECORATIONS
To keep costs low, our decorations were pretty simple – we had a Minion Birthday Banner, some Minion Paper Goggles, and a few minions from the Dollar Store. Then we used solid blues and yellows throughout the rest of the party. While we did use the Minion Paper Goggles on the party table, we also added a few to some yellow balloons and spread them around the party 🙂 We also purchased a few packets of stickers and cut the little minions out. Then we sprinkled the stickers around each of the party tables. This doubled both as an additional decoration & as a final ‘game’ – the kids could keep as many as they could find after the party.
If you have any minion toys and don’t mind having them out, those would make great additions to the party as well! AND, if your kiddo is in need of some activities a few days before the party, they can help with decorations by creating a few easy crafts. A quick search and you kind find a TON of kid-friendly craft ideas. We picked a few easy ones: Minion Toilet Paper Craft and Minions Paper Plate Craft.
We also created some labels and signs for the party with a ‘Minionese’ twist. Apparently, Minionese is an actual language that borrows words and grammar from several languages. We, of course, don’t speak Minionese (who really does? 🙂 ), but we used the Minion Translator from lingojam.com to help us translate a few phrases, like “Happy Birthday” and “Cheese Pizza.” (Click here to check them out!)
THE TABLE
With just a few Minion items, you can create an awesome table perfect for your Young minion fans! We kept things pretty simple in the themed-items area, purchasing just a few Minion Dinner Plates, Minion Dessert Plates, and Minion Napkins. We also set a google from the Minion Paper Goggles set for each setting – everyone got to pretend to be a minion 🙂
In the middle of the table, we added some minion trivia and some Minionese phrases from the movie. Guests could pick a card and ask the group during the meal. At the end of the party, everyone was talking in Minionese phrases – err trying to 🙂
THE PHOTO BOOTH
Photo backdrops are a great way of setting a theme and double as a nice and easy activity! Pick a backdrop that functions as decorative, add a few props to the scene and you’ve got a great place to hang out!
For this party, you could definitely go with a London Backdrop since a good chunk of the movie is set in England; however, there are some more generic backdrops that would also work: Yellow Backdrop.
If you’ve got the time, you could also create some Cardboard Minions: Minions are fairly easy to make (as long as you don’t get too detailed) – you just need a bit of yellow and blue paint or paper. They’d make great props to stand and take pictures with.
Note, you don’t have to go all out with a photo backdrop stand either. Grab a few pieces of tape and an empty wall & you’re all set!
PARTY FOOD
No party is complete without some party food! You can always serve some typical (or fancier) party food, but you can also keep in theme with a few clever labels 🙂
We created labels that had both the Minionese description and the English one to give the table a fun touch. This worked really well because we really only a had a handful of food and snacks in ‘Minion Theme’. But our regular party food was just as much a hit – everyone was trying to refer to each treat in Minionese 😉
- Minion Food:
- Bananas
- Anything Banana Flavored: banana bread, banana pudding, banana muffins, a banana split bar.
- Apples
- If you’re feeling adventurous, you could also create some minions look-a-likes out of some food:
- Twinkies using Free Printable Minion Stickers by skiptomylou.com
- Corn Dogs with Candy Eyes
- Yellow Pudding Snack Cups with some googly eyes
ACTIVITY TABLE(S)
We typically set up an activity table for kids to keep entertained while everyone arrives AND after all the games are done. These activities are simple and easy and typically don’t require too much supervision.
- Which Minion Are You. For this party, we set out a tablet, so everyone could figure out which Minion they were by taking a super accurate online quiz from buzzfeed.com: Which Minion Are You. You could have some Blue & Yellow Name Tags for everyone to write down who they ended up as OR you could turn this into a guessing game throughout the part.
And while we didn’t have these crafts set up at our activity table, you could also add these in for some more before or after party games fun. (We used them in areas throughout the party)
- Minion Toilet Paper Craft from mombrite.com
- Minions Paper Plate Craft by theinspirationedit.com OR one with the minion overalls by Easy Paper Plate Minion Craft from kidsactivtiesblog.com
GAMES
What’s a party without some fun and memorable games??? Kids will definitely have fun just running around and coming up with their own games, BUT adding in a few themed games will definitely be a hit with your guests! Here were a few of ours:
In the Minions 2015 movie, there’s an introduction of the different villains they minions tried to serve (and failed). For our party games, we had our little minion guests try to see if they could be a ‘better’ minion and save their villain! We played the games in a group but you could definitely split up into teams if the friendly competition would add some fun to your group 🙂
- Save the T-Rex (from a lava pit). In the movie, the T Rex, one of the first Villain Masters, falls into a Lava Pit and the minions are unable to save it. For this game, we set up a “lava pit” (a bucket with red tissue paper in it) and a miniature T Rex figure. Each “minion” got a turn trying to save the T Rex from being tossed into the bucket (we had planned for an adult to toss the figurine into the bucket but ended up with kids wanted to try that part too :))
- Protect the Caveman (from the Bear). In the movie, the minions serve the caveman. When a bear comes to attack, however, they are unable to save him, using only a flyswatter for defense. For this game, we did not have a flyswatter but used spatulas instead. We also had brown pom poms to symbolize the bear (using a stuffed animal bear just seemed too cruel!). The kids had to “swat” away as many “bears” as they could.
- Build a Pyramid. In the movie, the Egyptian pharaoh commands the minions to build a pyramid. The minions, however, don’t build a stable one and it falls onto the pharaoh. For this game, the goal is to build a strong pyramid. We opted for playing cards since those are relatively inexpensive (you can get a few packs at the dollar store). Alternatively, you could use mini marshmallows/blueberries/grapes and toothpicks, kinetic sand, blocks, etc..
- Get the Cake. In the movie, the minions serve Count Dracula and try to make him a birthday cake. Unfortunately, they also open the curtains and let the sunlight in. For this game, we played a version of red light / green light. If the “it” person showed the image with the cake and clouds and yelled “shadow”, then the kids could run toward that person. If the “it” person showed the image of the cake without clouds and yelled “sunlight” the kids had to stop. First one to the end won.
- Find the Rubies. In the movie, Scarlet Overkill announces that anyone who can get the Ruby from her will have the honor of becoming one of her henchmen. Rather than having everyone pile up on one of us adults, we hide ruby images all around the party area. The one who found the most won! Alternatively, you can hide ring pops, red acrylics, or fake red gems.
- Release Excalibur. In the movie, Scarlet Overkill wants the Crown and tells the minions to steal it for her. In the scuffle to steal it, one of the minions also ends up pulling out Excalibur. For this final game, we had a really simple pull string pinata with mini swords attached to the end.
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you so much for checking out our party planning post. Hopefully it gave you some great ideas for your next celebration!
If you did enjoy this, please let us know below or follow us on Pinterest! Also, If you haven’t already and are still looking for that perfect party theme, feel free to check out some of our other party ideas!
Happy Party Planning
