My daughter Bug wanted to have a Minecraft sleepover birthday party this year.  As of this writing, there are no licensed Minecraft items for birthday parties - no plates, napkins, treat bags, balloons, cake toppers - nothing.  So, I scoured pinterest and the web, found some ideas and came up with a few easy projects of my own, too.  

Bug decided to make the invitations herself.  She used paper blocks that I cut to create a creeper face.  I used clip art and created the detailed inside.




I purchased a six pack of small green fabric bags with handles at Hobby Lobby.  I used scrabble tiles and fabric paint to stamp the face of the creeper onto the bags.







We put the Creeper Peeps in the treat bags along with a square puzzle eraser and two Rainbow Loom Minecraft bracelets that Bug created - a creeper one she designed on her own and a Steve bracelet (see below) she made using this youtube tutorial.




...but we also played pin the tail on the pig, using a block pig I made using multiple colors of pink and a square punch.  


Lastly, Bug wanted some kind of Minecraft cake.  I took inspiration from this cake and came up with a similar design that used dairy-free chocolate cake, homemade rice krispie treat blocks, and blue finger jello.  Making a dairy-free frosting that was the right consistancy and flavor for my taste was a challenge (and one I didn't expect), but it turned out pretty tasty.  For the topper, I used a fold-able paper cut out from Cyberdrone at DeviantArt which I altered slightly before printing by putting her face (pixelated, of course) over Steve's.  








We had tacos for dinner and then served Twizzler bites and "window" pretzels to keep with the square Minecraft theme for late night snack. 

While planning my daughter's birthday party, I came across a Creeper Peep recipe and a free printable label at Say Not Sweet Anne.  I'd never attempted to make marshmallow before, much less a homemade peep, but it was so easy!  Here's what I did.



To make the Homemade Marshmallow Creepers, you will need a stand mixer and these ingredients: 

2 1/4 cups of granulated white sugar 
green food coloring 3 packets of unflavored gelatin
1 cup light corn syrup 1 cup cold water
1 tsp vanilla 

Start by making some green colored sugar.  You can purchase this at a store, but it is so easy and cheap to make, why not do it yourself?!  Put 3/4 cup of the sugar in the bowl of your mixer.  Add 20-30 drops of food coloring and mix until the color has spread through the sugar.  Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl for an even coating.  If the green is not quite the shade you are looking for, add a few more drops of coloring.  Once the color is even, spread the sugar out onto a cookie sheet to dry.  It looks a little like a lunar landscape if the moon were made out of green cheese...



I let the sugar dry for about an hour before I poured the sugar back into the mixer and used the whisk to break up the clumps that had formed.  A few seconds on low and I had completely granulated green sugar.  While the sugar is drying, I sprayed the bottom and sides of a 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Once I finished whisking the sugar, I wiped the mixer parts with some non-stick spray.

Next up is the marshmallow making.  Start by putting 1/2 of the cold water into the mixer bowl.  Add the packets of gelatin set it aside.



In a measuring cup, I mixed the remaining water, the corn syrup, and three drops of green food coloring.  I thought it was fascinating how the coloring dissipated in the mixture.



Pour the mixture into a medium size sauce pan and add the rest of the sugar.  Heat on medium high, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves. 


Heat the concoction until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. This took me about 10-15 minutes.  In the original post, she said it took about 5.



Once it reaches 240 degrees, turn your mixer on low and slowly pour the boiling solution into the gelatin mixture in the mixing bowl.



Once you've got it all poured in, turn the speed of the mixer up to high.  Add the vanilla extract. Let it mix until it is thick and fluffy.  For me, the marshmallow fluffed so much that it began creeping it's way up the blades of the mixer after about 7 minutes.
 


Once it is fluffy, spread it into the greased casserole dish.  Smooth the top with a lightly greased rubber spatula until it is flat.  Coat the top with the green sugar.





Allow to set for about an hour and then carefully turn out and flip over the marshmallow onto freezer paper.  Cover the bottom and sides with the green sugar.     


Use a greased pizza cutter to cut the block in half length-wise.  Sugar the raw edge.  Then use the cutter to slice the halves into creeper size pieces.  Dust the raw edges with sugar.  



Use a greased knife to cut the four legs of the creeper.  Be sure to sugar each raw edge to prevent the marshmallow from sticking to everything!



Now you will need to paint the faces of the creeper.  In the original post, she suggested using a chocolate ganache (her recipe is in the link above).  My daughter has a dairy sensitivity so I whipped up a quick ganache using 2 tsp dairy-free chocolate chips and 2 tsp of homemade dairy-free heavy whipping cream.   Paint it on using a tooth pick and a lot of patience.


 Your creeper should turn out looking similar to this and will taste DELICIOUS!  My taste testers told me that these tasted "way better" than peeps that you can buy.  Mission accomplished!!