With the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman behind the main characters of Mike and Sully, Monsters Inc. provides the classic “scary monster in the closet” scenario. However, that scary monster is a little girl, affectionately dubbed “Boo”. With a lot of love and a whole lot of running, Sully and Mike work their hardest to return “Boo” to where she belongs: home. Along the way, there are laughs galore! With such a great story behind the movie, Monsters Inc. is a great theme for your next child’s birthday party.

To start off the party, why not play a version of freeze tag. Sully and Mike are constantly getting chased by Randall, so the person doing all the freezing can be called “Randall”. Once “Randall” has caught everyone, pass the name to a new guest and start all over again.

Next, you can split the guests into teams and play “Match the Door”. Like a giant version of “Memory”, pieces of poster board can be decorated so that two match. (Make about 20 different doors, for a total of 10 matches.) The team that finds the most matching doors wins.

Other common games that can be modified to fit the Monsters Inc. theme are:

1. Pin the Eye on the Monster
2. Musical Doors – use the doors from the above memory game to modify the party favorite “Musical Chairs”.

For a craft, there are some reasonably priced “monster magnet” crafts available through the company Oriental Trading. The guest will be able to create their own scary or silly monster magnet, which they can take home and use everyday. Another craft you can find online is “monster masks”. Either craft idea will be fun to make and a great party favor to take home.

Food at a Monsters Inc. party can be pretty much anything you want it to be. There are many snack ideas with “monster” names that you can choose from. Many can be found in Halloween themed cookbooks and online. One food shown in the movie is Fruit Loops! You can actually make this food into a game by splitting the guests into pairs. Just like Sully threw Fruit Loops to feed “Boo”, so can your guests!

At the end of the party, when presents have been opened and guests are good and tired, why not pop in the movie “Monsters Inc.”? This will give everyone a quiet time to relax after all that activity, but still be entertaining and enjoyable. If you don’t have that much time, or are avoiding the television at your party, you can always read one of the numerous books based on the movie to the guests.

Although the Monsters Inc. theme party supplies are no longer manufactured, you can always use a variety of colors from the movie for your party supplies. Cups, plates, napkins, decorations, streamers, invitations and thank you notes, can be found at local party stores or online in teal, purple, gold and green, to follow the many colors of the monsters. Auction sites like eBay do have some of the party supplies for this theme listed, but you’d need to purchase early. (Tip: when ordering online, leave plenty of time for shipping!)