Despicable Me "Just Because Party"

My littlest minion is a big fan of Despicable Me.  Have you seen the movie?

She asked me last week if we could have an end-of-the-summer celebration

with a Despicable Me family party.  What a fun idea, and why not!

I began by creating minion goggles and logos from the movie characters,

Gru and El Macho.  Being a graphic designer sure comes in handy.  

Feel free to print from my Despicable Me inspired printables for your event!

Our kid-friendly Despicable Me menu included hotdogs, 

chicken nuggets, and mini-meatball sandwiches.

My girls enjoyed dinner from the Gru and El Macho trays.

I've created a template if you want to make these easy trays, and

you can print and cut out the Gru and El Macho logos from my printables.

I filled the yellow minion glasses with pineapples

and the evil minion glasses with blueberries.  For the crazy purple hair,

I used felt wool.  You can find them at Michael's Craft Store.

Yum!  For dessert - chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, topped

with chocolate piped minions.  I used Merckens chocolate candy melts.

I really need to practice more with piping chocolate.  

It was tricky because the melted chocolate would cool too quickly
in my piping bag before I was finished.  I recommend working with

the chocolates one color at a time, before moving to the next.

The party hats were my favorite things to craft!  To make these, 

print out the large goggles from my printables and cut them out.

Glue them onto yellow poster board (4 1/2" high), including a strip

of black poster board for the goggle bands.  Cut out the mouths and 

glue them onto the hats.  I made six hats from a $1 yellow poster board.

We had lemonade with dinner.  That was a winner, from our usual 

milk-with-dinner rule.  I printed, cut and glued the minion goggles from 

my printables onto disposable cups, and glued googly eyes 

over the printed ones.  Don't these look silly?

We had a super fun end-of-the-summer celebration and family dinner.

Good luck with back-to-school season!  Are you ready?

More parties: Mermaid Surprise Party, Book Launch Celebration

Urban Girls' Show and Tell #1

I'm always inspired by my girls, and their talents.  

Did you know they are my critique group?  I work with the best!

Mouse with strawberry

My teen, Yaya, is amazing with paper.  

She's passionate about origami, and I fall in love with everything she creates. 

I started teaching Yaya origami when she was ten years old,
but she has super-exceeded my skill level.  That's pretty cool! 

Self portrait in pencil

Younger teen Juju is a beautiful illustrator, and enjoys all mediums.

She uses my traditional art supplies much more than I do.
I honestly wish I can draw like her!

"Entrance to Butterfly Oasis"

And the "baby" of the family, Moo Moo, has sweet, innocent, creativity. 

I treasure the way she thinks.  Butterflies, unicorns, princesses...  I love it!

Thanks for taking a peek.  I'm a proud and blessed mom!