DIY Among Us Birthday Party with Some Fun, Easy, Creative Ideas for those on a Budget!

“You’re being so ‘Sus’ Mom,” my now eight-year-old would say at the beginning of his Among Us obsession. To which I had to ask what in the world he was talking about, and the explanation of one of the most popular games right now came about.

I knew that as we quickly approached my son, James’ 8th birthday, I was running out of time to plan. In past years I had overdone it. Last year, I did a Roblox party that had several games based on some of James’ favorites at the time. Bee Swarm Simulator became a punch game where each person got a hand-crocheted bee based on some of the characters that they then got to take on a hunt for hidden hunny drops for prizes.

The noise level and the craziness was quite the spectacle, but the kids had a blast! It’s not my first rodeo when it comes to planning parties, but I felt bad that my intention was to have a quieter LESS crazy sort of party this year. I’m tired! What can I say?

I had to think fast with two weeks til the big day, so first up I went on Amazon. I purchased two packs, one with decorations, goodie bags, and balloons, and the other with Among Us themed goodies for said goodie bags.

We went to Party City and ordered a number 8 mylar balloon, an astronaut mylar (makeshift Among Us) balloon, and a rainbow of latex balloons to scatter around the first floor to be picked up the day of.

Let’s talk about what “tasks” we’ll be completing throughout the party!

… First Task …

My kids have been on an art-kick lately, loving to draw, paint, and be creative, so I knew I wanted one activity to be a craft. I pondered the idea of getting clay and having them make Crewmates from the game, but thought that would take too long, need to be baked, and by then they probably wouldn’t want to paint them. Do I know kids or what? This craft had to be easy and somewhat quick…

So, I tried to think of another material that is readymade that we could make Crewmates out of, and I had it… corks! I decided against wine corks and used those ones you’d stopper a potion bottle with. Thanks to Amazon Prime I had 100 of them delivered within a day or two.

But they don’t look like Crewmates, you say? Well, not yet they don’t!

You wonder where my craftiness comes from and you can look no further! I gave my woodworking, handyman dad a blueprint of what I wanted and even though the corks were a lot smaller than I had thought they would be, he did exactly what I had wanted and made about 35 Crewmates or so, primed and ready to paint!

THANK YOU DAD!!!

The kids loved painting the Crewmates!

I used toothpicks and some foam cubes to hold the Crewmates while the kids used Posca Pens (I felt these worked best as they dried quickly), and acrylic paints to get the base colors down first. They each got up to three to paint. Once the base color was done, we went on to the next game while the paint dried before putting on the final masks.

I had a couple of examples I’d made so they could have something to look at for reference while they worked. They could come back later to do the masks at their leisure.

Okay, we had the craft project done, but what else is Among Us about but trying to discover the Imposter among the Crewmates?

… Second Task …

We printed off pictures of Imposters and taped them to red dixie cups.

Then, we set up the cups with Halloween candy (Shhhh…) underneath each one, so that if the kids shot one from a distance we set, they got the candy beneath.

My husband brought out his artillery of Nerf weapons and darts.

That game was a huge hit and even the adults started playing around with the cups and Nerf weapons afterward. We’re all big kids at heart, right?

Phew! I thought I was done.

We’d make hot dogs and hamburgers, eat, open presents, and call it a successful party. But then, I looked up and into the eyes of the kids as one of them said, “What’s next?”

WHAT’S NEXT???

They were used to me having 3-4 games at James’ parties. So, what was next? I couldn’t disappoint these eager kiddos looking to keep the fun alive, now could I? So, I quickly ran through the ideas in my head of games I’d read about on Pinterest, and decided to create an easier version of playing the real Among Us. Fair warning, it will get loud and crazy, but the kids will have a blast!

In the meantime, while I got everything setup, I came up with a last minute task!

… Third Task …

I told the kids to go around the downstairs area and find all the “Sus” Crewmates that I’d hidden prior peaking out from around corners, floating on balloons, hiding in plant pots, etc.

There was no prize for who got the most, but it didn’t matter, they just loved running around finding them all. These were supposed to go in cupcakes, but since we did donuts, I decided to repurpose them!

… Fourth Task …

**Disclaimer: As this was a spur of the moment game, I neglected to take pictures, so I’ll just sprinkle some others from the party to share.**

Count the kids and write down on slips of paper Crewmate or Imposter (just one Imposter unless you have a large group and would like to do two). Put the folded slips in a birthday bag, shake, and have each kid grab a slip to find out who they are in the game. Once everyone has chosen, have them put the slips back in the bag for the next round.

Now, instruct the kids that if they are the Imposter, they will use pointer and middle fingers together to form their weapon and they will secretly poke any of the Crewmates. If a Crewmate is poked, they must lay down and not move or speak the rest of the round.

When a Crewmate finds them, they call a meeting at the dining room table to discuss. They will write down their guesses on small slips of paper, put them in a cup and an adult will read them off. The person voted out will say if they are the Imposter. If they aren’t another round can occur with the same Imposter, and so on and so forth. All Crewmates should go around pretending to do tasks (or if you have time, you can create task cards and hand out three separate tasks to each kiddo. See this Among Us party post for the more involved version of the game).

We found that the kids just wanted to be different roles every round, so that is another option: make each round determine if the Imposter or Crewmates win.

Even when dinner was ready, they kept wanting to play! After dinner we played a couple more rounds, they jumped on the trampoline, opened presents, enjoyed a donut tower (since my son is not a cake fan), and generally just had a fun filled rest of the night.

The Among Us Party was a Success!

Goodie bags were distributed, Among Us cork characters were packed, we cleaned up, and patted ourselves on the back for another successful birthday party!

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing and seeing how we created a party without breaking the bank, by getting creative and crafty!

Please let me know in the comments below, are you planning an Among Us party? What themed parties have you planned? If you haven’t read my post series about the Harry Potter Baby Shower I helped plan, check it out here: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three! That was another one that was a huge blast to plan!

If you’d like another fun option for your party that’s absolutely FREE (can’t beat that price!), why not check out these Wanted Poster Templates?

I’ll leave you with what is, no doubt, the best picture of the lot! What do you think Arthur is saying?

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