Nathan's Minion Birthday Party

I was really glad when Nathan requested a minion birthday party (from Despicable Me), because they are little yellow oblong creatures that are easy to replicate, even for someone like me that has 0% decorating skills. Because of our family and all the schedules to work around, we didn't actually throw the party until a few weeks after his birthday but it allowed time for his excitement to build. ;) He watched me very closely (as in, "you are too close to the cake, move away before your snot drips into it!" Close) as I made a minion cake and marshmallow pops and he was just so thrilled. "I'm gonna tell everybody I have a minion cake! I'm gonna tell everybody I have minion marshmallows!" Often times when we do things for our kids, it's hard to know if they truly appreciate it or not, but he loved everything and there was no mistaking that he was so thankful.

 The cake idea was from Betty Crocker. You can find it here. I didn't follow all of the steps perfectly, mainly because my grocery store was out of tootsie rolls and I couldn't be bothered going back to see if they had restocked. I also made my own frosting and colored it--so much better than the store bought stuff!

 Let me tell you--I have no cake decorating skills. Zilch. So if I can make this cake in a short
amount of time and have it turn out halfway decent, anyone can! It's not perfect, but it was cute and the kids loved it!

 The marshmallow pops were just as easy. Thankfully, the decorating section in the baking isle had candy eyes. They were my saving grace because I doubt I could have hand drawn all of those teeny eyes! I dipped the marshmallows in white chocolate that I added yellow food coloring to. I stuck them in the strainer holes so they wouldn't be flat on one side. Necessity is the mother of invention! Once again, nothing that would win me a job at Carlo's Bakery or anything, but cute enough for kids. ;)

As for the rest, I just bought yellow and blue of paper products at the Dollar Store. We blew up about 20 yellow balloons and I drew little minion faces on them and left them all over the floor. Sometimes they ended up underfoot while I was trying to cook, probably like real minions would. Ha! It was super easy, cheap and quick to put together. It's easy to go crazy once you get a theme in your head, but I have neither the time nor energy to spend more than a few hours on party prep and cake for a 3 year old.

He loves his cousins :)

So, so thankful for my sweet 3 year old and all of the joy (and sometimes tears!) he brings us every day!