monsters incorporated "we scare because we care"

my son loves monsters inc!

there were MANY nights when he would not sleep

so i'd put the movie on and he

would laugh at sully and mike while i tried to tune

them all out!

if you have a child who likes the movie now, you are lucky.

not only is it cute, it was just rereleased so now you can find

monster's inc stuff everywhere. 

i was not quite so lucky.

last christmas i had to search everywhere (and pay at least double)

for anything sully or mike.

so when it was time for his birthday,

i knew i'd be creating everything myself.

there are tons of ideas for monster parties, so i started there.

you can see many ideas on my pinboard.

but i still wanted it to be specifically focused on mike and sully.

the colors would be green apple {like mike} and teal {like sully}.

....................

invites

on one side i made mike's head.

i attached a large google eye to impress the kids!

on the back are all the party details.

coordinating return address labels

......................

food and decorations

for the food table, i made a paper chain using all the party colors.

i also recreated "monsters inc" artwork i had seen.

my sister created the sully silhouette,

but i made the doors all by myself :)

for the B E N letters, i modge podged tissue paper onto 3d letters.

for sully i added purple tissue paper spots and

for mike i added google eyes.

{welcome sign}

on front door sending guests to the back yard

{monster fruit salad}

this had to be my favorite food item.

it was so easy to make and looked adorable.

i love having an alternative to all the sweets

typically seen on a party table.

these guys were cute too.

the original idea was to use pudding dyed with food coloring.

my version is was healthier...wait for it...

vanilla (or plain) yogurt colored and

FLAVORED with jello mix!!

i kind of made it up then googled it to see if it was doable.

i found out that lots of people on diets do this with sugar free jello.

(i did not use sugar free)

i have to say, they were very tasty.

i think i used about 3 packets of jello for 2 large tubs of yogurt.

i kind of tasted as a went to get the right amount of flavor/color.

{these also had sprinkles on top}

{sully's sprinkled popcorn}

popcorn tossed with melted white chocolate and sprinkles

served in a cup to make it easy to grab and go!

{applesauce}

another healthy treat

my trick to make them more fun is to add a cute lid cover!

{mike's eye}

i had seen lots of fruit platters that looked like sesame street characters

on pinterest, so i just adapted that idea.  we used green grapes,

marshmallow dip and blueberries.

{s'more doors}

in honor of the part doors play in the movie...

graham crackers with marshmallow fluff and hershey bar pieces.

the idea for these came from my daughter.

she thought we should make a door cake

and use hershey bars for the panels.

{lemonade with monsters inc wraps}

the can wraps (available in my etsy shop) are printed on

regular paper then covered with packing tape.

"happy birthday" banner

end pieces

i sent the mike and sully silhouette image to the shop that

i have bought his birthday shirt from each year.

the shop is my personalized tshirt on etsy.

she prints right onto the shirt so that the image holds up to washing.

....................

cake

i decorated the top to look like mike and

the bottom layer like sully.

the tip used on the bottom is for making grass or fur.

{overhead shot}

dark brown sprinkles helped make the pupil more black

....................

activities

since the party was in the summer,

we had water activities (sprinklers and water slide).

but i still wanted some party themed games for kids ages 2-8.

{make your own monster}

this was so cute!

i cut monster bodies out of cheap wrapping paper.

using monster clip art, i made huge eyes, mouthes and horns

for the kids to pick and create their own monster.

we had them all hanging on the garage doors

so they could work on them whenever they felt like it.

i love open ended games that don't need a lot of monitoring.

{pin the eyeball on mike}

can't have a party without pin the something!

(he refused to wear the blindfold but the other kids all did!)

..................

favors

the favor included:

bubbles, sixlets, homemade monster slime,

and suckers or candy sticks

since i couldn't find any monsters inc themed party favors,

i made my own bubble wraps.

i know i have a problem.

but i hate passing out a goody bag full of random junk.

i want everything to be somewhat useful and it

must coordinate with the party.

i will admit that the suckers and candy sticks

were left over from a previous party.

i obviously really enjoy teal as a party color....

everything was packaged in a cellophane bag.

the favor tag has mike on one side...

and "i wouldn't have nothing if i didn't have you!"

on the back.

happy birthday to my little monster!

please visit

my etsy shop

for any of the party printables you have seen here!