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“It’s time to get back to work, Minions!”

Otherwise entitled: How To Throw a Back to School Minion Themed Party Your Kids Will LOVE.

Our Back to School “Minion” party was a big hit, and it was so super easy (and not very expensive!) You like that, don’t you?

The idea struck me literally only a few days before our first day of school and I was so taken with my moment of genius (<-humble right?) that I totally ditched my other plans and went to work on this new idea immediately. The. Kids. Loved. It.

Back to School Despicable Me Party Decorations

After the kids go to bed on the night before the first day of school, I decorate for our party while they are sleeping. They wake up to a fun-filled day and it’s almost a little like Christmas morning. 😉 This year I did a little more than normal; it was a lot of work but it was fun!

The old “streamer the bedroom door” trick.

This was hilarious because it was the first time I ever did this and the kids had never seen that before. For each one of them I knocked on their door and called for them to come out. All three of them made the same face when they opened their door to find they were “trapped in” by streamers. The look said something along the lines of “what the heck is this?” and “it’s way too early to have to work this hard to get out of my room.” I laughed. I love having fun with my kids. =)

Minions, Minions Everywhere!

Seriously time consuming. Seriously. Cutting out all those goggles?? But it was worth it because we had fun with our minions all day. All you need is a $1 pack of yellow balloons and this $4 goggle download from Etsy. (Edited: Looks like that one is unavailable, but this one would work!)

Some tape, a marker, some string and EIGHTEEN cut out pairs of goggles later, I had a room full of minions. Tip: for the standing balloons, I cut one-and-a-half-inch strips of posterboard and taped them in a circle for a stand.

Unifying Theme – Whiteboard Message

Every party needs a theme! This is what started it all. Something made me think of “It’s time to get back to work, Minions!” and the rest is history. I was going to make a banner, and you totally could, but I decided to go the easy route. So this message on the white board greeted the kids in the school room. (I couldn’t find ANY yellow dry erase markers at any of the stores in town. I know they are at Walmart, but apparently, not grocery stores and dollar stores. In a pinch, orange will do. *pout*)

Back to School Gifts

The kids each get a new outfit for the first day of school (that comes in handy for pictures later!) I don’t normally wrap them or anything but this year I picked up cheap yellow gift bags and added some Minion goggles. The kids have also been asking for watches so I found some at the Dollar store and used them to really drive home the “TIME to work, minions” message. =)

Minions need to eat!

Minion-Esque Breakfast

I haven’t seen Despicable Me 2, but the kids have, and I know that the minions are kind of obsessed with bananas. (I don’t blame them, I love bananas!) Using canning rings to make the “scrambled” eggs, and adding bacon “hair”… we have happy little breakfast faces.

Twinkie Minions!

We have snack time at three o’clock every day (it’s the only thing we are REALLY reliable with.) And how could I resist making the Twinkie minions?? All you need is candy eyes, a tube of black decorating gel, and some blue fruit roll-ups. I let the kids make their own of course. =)

Some “After School” Despicable Me Entertainment

Of course we watched the movie but the real entertainment of the afternoon was the Minion Operation game I found on Amazon. It was a lot of fun! I’d kind of like to get the Despicable Me Monopoly also. =)

Another fun thing we did – I painted the girls fingernails. They each wanted one nail to be Agnes and one nail to be a unicorn in addition to the little minions. All I have to say about that: A LOT OF WORK. But so cute. And they love it. (Oh, the boy? He played with all the minion balloons of course.) 😉

Meet My Little Minions!

Every themed school photo needs good props. Alexander already had a construction hat and each kid has their own clipboard. We bought the printable party masks from Etsy. (Edited: Those are unavailable, but these are nice!)

Catie, 13, My Funky, Artsy Minion

Arielle, 10, My Musical, Entertaining Minion

Alexander, 7, My Imaginative, Ambitious Minion

And now you have everything you need to have your own Despicable Me “Minion” party! I bet your kids would love it. Mine did!

(Or if you’ve already gone back to school the year, you could do this for a 100th Day of School party, a birthday party, or…what would you do with it?)

Update: While I was looking for Minion mask and goggle replacements on Etsy, I also found this cute Pin the Goggles on the Minion Game and this great set of minion scrapbooking backgrounds that could be very useful.