Minions Drive-In Movie Party

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MinionsAtTarget #CollectiveBias
The Minions movie just came out on Blu-Ray/DVD and I’m excited (don’t you just love a movie you can enjoy watching with your kids!?) Are you excited? In honor of the release, I decided to celebrate with a drive-in movie party for my daughter and a couple of her friends. As an only child, Jade really enjoys (basically lives for) playdates and the chance to socialize with other kids, and these littles were ready to come party with her and watch the “min-e-yins” movie. The agenda for this minion themed party included lunch, minion goggle beanies, minion-themed crafts and watching the Minions movie. Heads up, this is a picture heavy post, but I’ve got tutorials for all of the minion fun, so stick with me.

For the drive-in movie/minion themed (and very kid-friendly) menu, the spread included hotdogs, blue soda, blue milk (milk with blue food coloring), minion “munch” (a mixture of minion cereals, eyeball candies, with blue and yellow candies), minion caramel corn (look for the recipe below), popcorn, minion fruit snacks and jars of minion colored candies.  Minion Goggle Beanies

Initially I thought this would be a fun craft for the kids to make, then I remembered that there would be hot glue, black paint and three-year-olds involved… So I decided to make them myself the day before.

For this project you’ll need:

• A yellow beanie
• Black, gray and white felt
• Black buttons
• Hot glue
• Black paint

I started by writing the names of each child on the back of the beanies with black paint. While they dried (it takes a few hours) I cut the felt into circles to make the goggles and a long one inch piece of black felt for the strap. I glued the gray and white circles (for the goggles) together, and added the buttons for the eyes. Once the names were dry, I glued the strap and goggles into place. Then they were ready to be worn.

Minion Cardboard Box Cars

The design of the cars were inspired by the adorable minion toys: Bob, Kevin and Stuart (shown above, and purchased at Target.) Honestly, I couldn’t stop playing with them myself. When you push the button (shaped like a pocket) on their overalls, they blink and open their mouth!! They are SO cute I had to make the cardboard box cars modeled after each of them, plus they’re the stars of the show!

For this project you’ll need:

• Cardboard boxes
• Black tape
• A box cutter
• Yellow and black spray paint
• Two plastic cups
• Black, white and gray felt sheets
• Buttons
• Hot glue
• Scissors
• Yellow tape
• Black pipe cleaner
• Red paint

To make these adorable cardboard minion-like vehicles, start with a cardboard box, preferably a size your child could sit comfortably in. Fold over a side flap and trace a line down the edge. This will be your “engine”.Cut along the marked line and then cut away from the front flap, removing and setting those pieces aside.
Use one of the cut edges to create a windshield. On the other pieces, trace four large circles for tires, using the plastic cup as your guide. Using three light coats of paint, spray paint the tires black.Using strong tape, secure the front “engine” together and tape on the windshield. Then tape the back flap down inside as a seat. Draw a “U” shape on the side, as a way in and out of the car, cut it out and repeat on the other side.Cut the top and bottom inch off two plastic cups, used for the headlights and tail lights, glue them into place with a hot glue gun. Spray the car with three thin layers of yellow spray paint for optimal coverage.
Allow the paint time to dry. Trace and cut two circles (using a plastic cup) on white felt to create the whites of the “minion goggles”. Use black tape to create the goggle strap, glue the white circles over the “headlights”, glue the button eyes, and finish by wrapping one inch strips of gray felt around the eyes and securing with hot glue.Glue on the wheels, add minion hair with black pipe cleaner and paint on a smile. I finished by painting the tail lights with a little red paint.Aren’t these adorable?! The kids loved sitting in them and loved decorating their minion cars with stickers. I thought of different ways for the kids to personalize these cars, but again factoring their age and how trustworthy they could be with markers and paint in my house, stickers ended up being the winning choice. Sure, the stickers ended up being a lot simpler than the grandiose plans I had in my mind initially, but it really goes to show that kids can be entertained with the simplest of things.
Minion Overalls Treat Bucket

To complement the yellow of the minion cars, I made little favor buckets that looked like the cute minion overalls to hold treats. This activity was a big hit, let me show you how to make them.

For this project you’ll need:

• Small metal buckets
• Old baby jeans
• Hot glue
• Scissors
• Fabric glue, buttons, jewels and pompoms to decorate

Using a small metal bucket, (I found three small metal buckets in the dollar section of Target) and an old pair of my daughters shorts, these were actually size 18 month and they worked perfectly, I was able to cover them quite easily.First, I cut them in half right along the seam (one pair does two buckets).Then I stuck the bucket though one leg and glued the hemmed edge down to the bottom.Once that dried, I pulled the pants tight at the top of the bucket and with fabric scissors trimmed the excess that hung over. Then I glued the top into place, cutting a little slit in the side to wrap around and cover the handle, securing with more hot glue.
Then I carefully cut-out the back pocket and hot glued it in the front to cover up where the shorts didn’t reach the top of the bucket.
Once the glue was dry, these were ready to go.To decorate I had little plastic plates with a dime size spot of glue and lots of jewels, pom-poms and buttons for them to decorate with. They absolutely loved it! The kids did a great job dipping the pom-poms carefully into the glue and bedazzling their buckets. Surprisingly, this activity took about fifteen minutes to do, which is a lot of time for a three-year-old!Minion Caramel Corn Recipe

Caramel corn is my specialty and go-to movie night treat, so this blue and yellow twist inspired by the Minions movie, went perfectly with this party.Ingredients

• 1-2 bags of microwave popcorn, popped
• Half a cup of melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups of white sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbs salt
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Yellow food coloring
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• Blue food coloring
• Eyeball candies

Evenly spread out the popped popcorn on a cookie sheet and set aside. In a large sauce pan, combine the butter, sugar, water and salt. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir making sure to immerse all of the sugar in the liquid. Cook on high heat without stirring for 10 minutes, don’t let it get too dark, you just want the sugar to caramelize. Once it is a smooth consistency, remove from heat, add yellow food coloring and baking soda. The caramel will foam up and it might overflow. Mix a few times to tame the foam, then generously pour over the popcorn, mixing and pouring as desired.Melt the white chocolate in a small dish in the microwave (stirring every 10 seconds) and add blue food coloring until its the desired color. Transfer the chocolate to a plastic baggie, cut a small hole in the corner and drizzle over the top of the popcorn. To finish, sprinkle eyeball candies on the top.
If you haven’t bought the Minions movie yet, run over to your nearest Target store or find it online here while they still have the $5 gift card promotion going. I got the cute Minons movie Blu-Ray/DVD Metal Pak, which is a Target exclusive. Target is my one stop shop for all of my party shopping needs (and then some, Target has tons of Minions licensed products) and I was able to grab the Minions movie right as I checked out. I love that this Blu-Ray/DVD set comes with tons of exclusive content and bonus material and I also got a $5 Target gift card at checkout with my purchase, which was so nice. 

This minion themed drive-in movie party was such a blast! But the best part was seeing how happy it made my daughter and her friends. If you liked this post or have questions for me, please comment below. What fun movie night ideas do you do with your kiddos? What activities will you be doing for your next minions party?