I started the year vowing to stick with my mantra of “more basic, less extra” in 2019. I also vowed to #DoneWithFun Daddy that the boys’ birthday celebration wasn’t a party — because a party implies significant effort. No, I promised him, it would just a be a gathering with cake.
Well … in my defense, I did dramatically simplify my usual efforts. I mean, goals are a moving target, right? I scaled back, let go of some things, and focused on maximizing my time to put together a fun event for my zombie hunter birthday boys.
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Zombie Apocalypse Theme Party Details
Let’s start with the things I didn’t do (because I think you should always focus on your triumphs):
- Too many themed foods with cutesy descriptive tags
- Any sort of fancy punch
- Balloons
- Over-the-top decorations
- Overpriced decorative paper plates and napkins
Now that we’ve established that, let’s focus on the little things that I did right — and did on a tight budget to boot.
Simple Decorations
I kept it super-simple in the decorations department, limiting myself to colored plastic tablecloths (black, naturally), some quick printable signs, and the Caution tape I had left over from Easton’s construction-themed 2nd birthday.
Supplies:
- Disposable black tablecloths
- Roll of Caution tape
- Nerf Zombie Strike inflatable target (already owned, so why not?)
- Lime green and bright yellow plates, napkins, and cups
- Printable signs
- Wall-safe painters tape for hanging
- Zombie army action figures (leftover from making the cupcakes)
Download Zombie Survival Camp letter-size sign (PDF)
Download Warning: Zombie Apocalypse Ahead tabloid-size sign (PDF)
All the zombie party printables in one easy location for download
How to:
- Print out assortment of letter-size and tabloid-size signs with my free printables and hang on key locations in party room, including the door
- Decorate cups to hold plastic flatware with labels leftover from the Zombie Antidote hand sanitizer favor (free printable!)
- Cut random swaths of Caution tape and hang strategically around house, specifically across doors and around tables.
- Use leftover plates, cups, and napkins in lime green and yellow to fit the zombie theme. Or buy them from the dollar store – solid colors are so much less expensive than the fancy decorative ones.
- Accent your setups with mini zombie army action figures leftover from your cupcake decorating.
- Embellish your party setup with inflatable zombie target if you happen to own it already.
Total time spent: 30 minutes.
Menu
The party food is another aspect that I focused on easy and inexpensive. I had a group of about 15, and in the past, I’ve ordered pizza, brought in McDonald’s burgers (the boys’ favorite), or picked up catering trays of Chick-Fil-A nuggets for the party.
This year, I got out my trusty crockpot and simplified my life with a pared-down menu:
- Italian beef sandwiches and rolls (heated in the crockpot)
- Guacamole and chips served in a cauliflower “brain” (with blue corn tortilla chips to add to the creepy effect)
- Other assorted veggies
- An assortment of green and red fruit (green for zombies and red for blood, duh)
- A giant Mediterranean salad (bag mixes purchased from Costco – incidentally also red and green)
- Zombie zucchini eyeball bites (the easiest combination of sliced zucchini rounds, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and sliced black olives)
Want to make a cauliflower brain? Buy the biggest head of cauliflower you can find at the store, flip it over and carve out most of its stem/base. (If you carve the entire stem off, the head of cauliflower will crumble apart. If this happens, just push it back together and stack the florets. Line the divot you made with a little bit of foil and fill with guacamole until overflowing. Serve with assorted raw vegetables and tortilla chips.
The zucchini bites get baked in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until the zucchini cooked through and cheese melts. I use about 1/4 tsp of pizza sauce on each zucchini round and sprinkle the whole foil-lined pan with mozzarella. Remember to spray your foil with Pam before starting!
I wanted to reprise my glow-in-the-dark Jell-O eyeballs for this party too, but I flat-out ran out of time. Besides, that would be just a little too extra, right? 😉
Total time spent: 1 hour hands-on (and if I hadn’t insisted on the cauliflower brain, it would have been about 40 minutes).
Dessert
I know you’re thinking that dessert should be included as part of the menu, but in this household, dessert is its own category. #DoneWithFun Daddy gives me a hard time about the “sweets table” I set up at every birthday, but I’m a girl that likes to have choices — or sample one of everything.
“Sweets table” offerings:
- Zombie graveyard monster hand cupcakes – vanilla frosted and hot cocoa whipped cream frosted
- Oreo truffle zombie brains (surprisingly easy to mold – recipe coming next week!)
Total time: More than I care to admit (~2 hours total for cupcakes and ~3 hours total for zombie brains). But these two things were the center points of the party and I don’t regret the time spent based on the end result.
Party Favors
Even if your guests are all adults, a party isn’t a party without a little something to take home. I packed up cupcakes and brain truffles in 9 ounce plastic punch cups (the perfect way to transport cupcakes!) to send home with guests, and Easton handed out the zombie antidote – travel size hand sanitizer with a cool label.
Total time spent: 30 minutes.
So that’s a wrap, friends. While I had to admit to #DoneWithFun Daddy at the end of the night that this event was, in fact, a party, I made him admit that all things considered, I kept it to a realistic amount of time, effort, and money — for the first time ever in my #momlife. I’m learning!
Share your own inspired zombie party details on social media with #NeverDoneWithFun and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest for daily ideas and inspiration!
P.S. Want easy access to all my zombie party printables? I added all of them in one resource page for quick reference.
