Minecraft Hama bead keyrings

It's only been a few months since we introduced Minecraft, but already Harry is pretty well addicted. I did have reservations about getting the game for him, and it is a little concerning how he would play it all day if he could, but I'm also very impressed with how well he gets on with it, he builds all sorts of complicated structures with things that move and so on, and the game really appeals to his mechanical little mind.

It's his birthday in January, and I somehow seem to be finding myself hosting a Minecraft party at our house for a few of his friends. Not an easy party where they sit and play Minecraft, but a themed party with various crafts and activities to keep them all entertained for a couple of hours. It's a bit daunting but luckily I have some good friends helping me out, and I'm sure I'll be sharing some of our ideas in a blog post shortly!

In the meantime over Christmas I've been working on the party bags. I found that small official Minecraft toys were quite expensive, and Minecraft themed partyware isn't really available, so I've been making a few things myself and with Harry's help. The first thing that we made together are these Minecraft Hama bead keyrings.

For the designs I used these Minecraft designs for Hama beads from Minieco. They are so simple to make on a square pegboard, and if you are looking for different designs it's easy enough to take the pattern straight from the Minecraft game itself, as it's perfectly suited to Hama beads!

I ironed the beads firmly on both sides so that they would be sturdy, but I made sure not to over iron so that the holes were still open. Then I bought some blank keyring chains (affiliate link) which I could attach to the corners of my designs. The end ring fitted nicely through the hole in the Hama bead when opened with some pliers.

I hope that his friends are pleased to receive them! The party bags themselves in the picture are simply green paper bags (affiliate link) which I decorated in black pen with a Creeper face. I'll be sharing some of the other things that I made for the party bags in a few weeks!