Like most children these days, both of mine are obsessed with all things Among Us. If they’re not playing it on the Nintendo Switch, they’re watching other people play it on video apps. So I knew at some point one of them would ask for an Among Us birthday party.
The first to ask was not my boy, but my daughter! We just celebrated her 10th birthday. All the kids were playing an IRL Among Us game and eating lots of yummy themed snacks.
Most of my birthday parties are over-the-top with DIY decorations and detailed party favors. While a lot of DIY was still involved, I warned Lily that much of my time would be spent making the tasks for the game she wanted. So believe it or not, this is my idea of “light” decorating, haha.
Allow me to share with you everything I made for Lily’s Among Us party. You’ll see the invitation, homemade decorations, role-based foods, both a fun cake AND dead body cupcakes, party favors (including some very special ones for the kids’ parents), and, of course, the big game!
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Invitation to Join the Crew
After showing Lily various Among Us invitation designs I found online, she liked this one the best. I made a few modifications, including making the center crewmate maroon (her favorite suit color). I also added “Don’t be sus…” at the top per her request.
Googling helped me find the image for the reverse side. Something about a bunch of crewmates lying around looking at their tablets and phones felt… too real, haha.
The prints came from Mpix, whom I’ve used for years and highly recommend.
All-DIY Decor
For whatever reason, there is NOT a lot of official Among Us party supplies available. You won’t find any decorations, plates, napkins, or balloons at Party City or Walmart.
I’m used to engaging in a lot of DIY for my kids’ parties, though. So it doesn’t bother me at all!
A Preemptive Warning
I use my lovely easel chalkboard exactly twice a year – for each of my kids’ birthday parties. But at this point, I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth from it.
As our guests arrived, this is the first side of the chalkboard they saw:
I am not actually much of an artist in physical media. So I was REALLY proud of how the shushing crewmate came out. Even the words below were centered on my first try.
For the back of the easel, I always put a fun thank-you or goodbye message. In this case, it ended up being a bit of a spoiler (that no one caught ahead of time)!
My dustless chalk didn’t include a color close to maroon. Instead, I went with a purple crewmate and Lily’s name in pink (her usual favorite color). The day was, indeed, a victory for Lily – in more ways than one!
Stepping Inside
Once inside, guests saw several groups of balloons floating around the living room. I had lots of balloons on hand in the colors of the various crewmate suits. But when looking straight ahead, this cabinet – and the crewmates on the wall above – were the first things they saw.
The crewmates are all about nine inches tall (not counting their accessories). I made them with my Cricut Maker 3 and a huge existing supply of cardstock. The SVGs for these came from Etsy.
Out of all 18 suit colors from the game – and their respective shadow colors – I only had to purchase one color of cardstock (for coral)! I decided to slap them on the wall willy-nilly like they were floating around in space.
Party favors took up most of the cabinet top, but I always set out my letter board with a fun quote related to the theme of the party. Among Us isn’t exactly known for a lot of phrases. So I kept it short, simple, and funny: “Lily is Sus.”
I also ordered a bunch of mini crewmate plushes (technically squeaky dog toys) to place all over the house.
In the Kitchen
Between the food and cake festivities, most of the party action happens in and around the kitchen. For the Among Us theme, I put a plastic galaxy cover on the table.
The kitchen table is the safest place for me to keep the cake during the party. I just find ways to decorate around it. For this party, I made both a four-layer cake and two-dozen cupcakes. All I needed was something to put in the middle.
What goes in the center of an Among Us-themed table better than an Emergency Meeting button? I bought a recordable dog button and found the plastic refrigerator drawer at Dollar Tree.
The hazard tape was the most expensive part of the setup. It was almost $7 for just a few feet of tape from my local Home Depot! Boy, did I get ripped off on that one. Buy online if you can.
But in the end, the button looked super-cool and just like the one in the game.
The Buffet Backdrop
The empty space above the server in the kitchen is another space I like to decorate. I usually consider this the “main attraction.”
The Among Us crewmate font came from Etsy, and I printed out all the letters as big as I could on glossy photo paper before cutting them out with my Cricut.
With my very limited ideas for decorating an Among Us birthday party, I asked Lily what her favorite “kill scene” was in the game. She said it was the special one that happens when the imposter is wearing the cyborg suit.
So I found a screenshot of the kill, traced it in Procreate, and uploaded each color as a separate layer in Design Space so I could cut it out of cardstock with my Cricut! I had to piece together the laser blast since it’s so long, but she LOVED it.
It’s now hanging on her bedroom wall.
Among Us Party Foods and Drinks
To come up with Among Us food ideas, I decided to make a list of all the available crewmate roles – including the new ones just released this year! Then I came up with some good party foods with the help of alliteration.
There are a few items that aren’t named after roles, but all ten positions were used!
Food by the Role
- Engineer Tools: E is a tough letter to match with party foods, so instead, I named the forks. Of all the crewmates, it sounds to me like engineers are the most likely to have tools, right?
- Scientist Sandwiches: I loaded up hoagie buns with deli ham and turkey, as well as American cheese, for the main dish at this birthday party. They’re on a silver platter from the Dollar Tree.
- Massacre Mayo & Murderous Mustard: Since I make sandwiches without condiments, I set out mayo and mustard for guests to add as they please. These titles go so well together, don’t they?
- Crewmate Crisps: I am not from the UK – I am so American it hurts – but Crisps worked better than Chips for this title. I filled a bowl with bite-sized tortilla chips and made a sort of nacho bar with the dips in front of it.
- Guardian Angel Guacamole: Dip #1! A personal favorite of mine, and it shares the first three letters with Guardian, so it’s a win-win.
- Noisemaker Nacho Cheese: I’d say cheese is far and away the favorite dip for both kids and adults in my family – so I made sure to have two jars of dip #2 on hand.
- Shapeshifter Salsa: A lighter offering for guests watching their macros. Dip #3 was surprisingly popular!
- Among Us Apples & Caramel: In this case the fruit came first and then the name. Apple is one fruit all the kids at our parties will actually eat!
- Ghost Grapes: Pinterest showed me an idea similar to this, but with veggies like broccoli – which would’ve been a waste at my house. So, I used fruits I knew the kids did like to recreate the look! I made the blueberry outline on the platter first, then filled the remaining empty spaces with green grapes. The white platter came from Walmart.
- Imposter Eggs: Lily LOVES deviled eggs and I usually only make them for special occasions. The name doesn’t include alliteration, and I know technically shapeshifters are specifically the ones who have eggs, but it rolls off the tongue quite well.
- Tracker Trail Mix: This is a great grazing option to have out before all the other food is ready (or you’re still waiting on guests to arrive for the feast). I went with the Chocolate Peanut Butter Trail Mix from Walmart, and it’s so good! I don’t love nuts and dried fruits mixed together, but this stuff tastes delicious.
Deceitful Drinks
- Phantom Punch: This was a bit of a fail, albeit a yummy one. Lily wanted a clear or cloudy punch to go with the “Phantom” theme. I had convinced myself that Sprite would water down pineapple juice and lemonade concentrate enough to be pale and ghost-like. Well, as you can see, it was still quite yellow. But it was tasty, so she didn’t care.
- 2-liter of Sprite
- 46 ounces of pineapple juice
- 10-ounce can of frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
- Sus and Sour Lemonade: This is plain ol’ pink lemonade. I just came up with the name and loved it so much I had to make it! I used Country Time pink lemonade mix.
Ejected Crewmates… and Imposters
The first thing I had guests do was more of an activity than a game. I asked them to guess how many M&Ms were in this jar, write it down on a premade slip, and put it into the red cup. The person with the closest guess won! I designed the sticker in Canva and cut it out with my Cricut.
Yes, I actually counted each and every piece of candy I put into this large Dollar Tree jar. It was 912 and the majority of a party-sized bag, if you’d like to know! I turned on Netflix one night, put on a food-safe glove, and moved the M&Ms to the jar a few at a time.
Unfortunately for the winner, a few imposters also got ejected with the crewmates… which meant there were quite a few Skittles mixed in with the chocolate candies! (Don’t worry, I told the winner this so they knew what to expect and look for while snacking.)
DIY IRL Among Us Game
Lily’s party was almost at a local pizza buffet and arcade this year, but when I told her it would just be cake and presents and not all the decorations and games I usually do, she changed her mind!
In particular, she asked me to make an “IRL” (in real life) Among Us game for the kids to play. I won’t lie to you – it was extremely difficult and took a lot of brainstorming! But the game actually worked like it was supposed to, and Lily ended up being the imposter AND winning the game!
Nine unique tasks were set up around the house with a total of 12 stations (Fuel Engines and Fix Wiring both had multiple locations to complete). These are the tasks I created, all based on real in-game tasks:
Fix Wiring
Three stations were set up in the living room, laundry room, and basement. I sliced up some black foam board leftover from my son’s Star Wars birthday party and attached Velcro dots along one side of each one.
My local Walmart had a pack of pipe cleaners that happened to have exactly 12 different colors and two of each, so I twisted the matching pairs to look like wire and hot-glued one end to the side opposite the Velcro, four per board.
For the colors around the Velcro, I happened to already have all the acrylic paints I needed for the 12 colors. It’s one of the perks of being a lifelong crafter!
Fuel Engines
For this, I just printed enough screenshots from the game for each child and taped them up at stations in the living room and basement. They were given crayons to color in their gas cans and fuel tanks.
Inspect Sample
I spent SO much time figuring out how to pull off this task – maybe even more than I spent making the wires boards! To make the blue liquid change color like in the game, I needed a chemical reaction, but I didn’t want to use any harsh chemicals or something that would be dangerous for the kids to handle. And I needed it to be fairly cheap.
A lot of research went into this, but I finally found the perfect solution. Butterfly pea tea brews blue, and when mixed with an acid, it turns magenta! Vinegar is one acid that does the trick, and it is indistinguishable from water other than its smell.
To prepare, I brewed a full pitcher of the blue tea so that the sample that “reacted” could be replaced between kids. Then I filled dozens of disposable pipettes – most with water, and a few with vinegar – for quick replacement as well. Everything was set up on the stove in the kitchen for easy cleanup in case a spill happened.
With five cups, four of the pipettes always had water with the last containing vinegar. The placement of the vinegar pipette changed with each kid. The tea reacted to the vinegar instantly, so the kids didn’t have to hang around a full minute for the results. Honestly, I preferred it this way to keep the game moving along.
Start Reactor
I bought this travel Simon game because I was too cheap to spend double the money on a full-sized game, haha. But it doesn’t play the game the same way, so each kid had to complete three rounds to officially complete the task (one round was too easy).
This one was set up in my own bedroom (which is right off the kitchen) with my best friend Susan there to sign off on the task.
Replace Water Jug
This is the only task I set outside, because it’s HOT in August in Kentucky! On one end of the front porch I placed a pitcher half-full of water and a clear cup with lines marked three-fourths of the way to the top. At the other end, I had an empty gallon jug.
The kids had to use the pitcher to fill the cup to the lines, walk across the porch without spilling it, and carefully pour the water into the empty jug. They’re young enough that I allowed some spilling with this part, but they were all so careful and did a great job!
Chart Course
Using another extra piece of black foam board, I plotted out a course based on a screenshot of the in-game Chart Course with silver Sharpie. At each point, I placed a Velcro dot.
Then I took a piece of ribbon I had on hand, folded and angled it so it lay flat against the board, and attached the other side of the Velcro dot pair to the backs of those folds. Using my Cricut, I cut out a cute little spaceship with an Among Us crewmate on it to tape to the end of the ribbon.
This one was attached to the wall in the hallway bathroom!
Store Artifacts
This cute little baby puzzle came from Temu. I wanted this task to be easy enough to complete in a minute or so, but not so easy that they could slap three shapes into a puzzle and be done. It was set up on the footstool in my son’s bedroom.
Fill Canisters
I took some liberties in translating this task to real life, but the kids thought it was fun and it left Lily with a bedroom full of balloons at the end! The kids had to fill two balloons with the helium tank without popping them to complete the task. Josh was there in Lily’s room to tie them off as they were done.
Clear Asteroids
This was the last task in the basement. I had my husband save me six soda cans that I wrapped in orange construction paper (the closest color I had to “Asteroid,” haha). They started out stacked in a pyramid for each child, and they had to use a Nerf rifle from a set distance to knock them all down.
Gameplay Details
Preparation
Obviously, the game wasn’t as simple as just setting up tasks! First, I printed Task Cards with each featuring a crewmate sticker of a different color and handed them to the kids. The list included every task name and its location(s), with a blank line underneath for a signature.
The tasks on each of these cards were in a different order, and unlike the game, the kids were instructed to complete them in the order of their list. This helped prevent them all from trying to do the same tasks at the same time.
Task Stations
An adult at the party was assigned to each task station and given printed instructions for the basic components of the game. They signed off on the task cards after each kid completed that particular task, then reset it for the next child if necessary.
The Imposter
The imposter (which happened to be Lily) got a special set of instructions. She did not have to go to her tasks in the order they were on her sheet, and adults were told to sign off on whatever the next task was even if it wasn’t the one they were stationed at. This way she wouldn’t look so suspicious.
She was given small red dot stickers to hide in her pocket, and if she could get one on a crewmate before they shouted, they had to fall dead until someone found them to hold a meeting. They had to be silent the remainder of the game or crewmates forfeited the game! There were NO emergency meetings allowed other than a dead body report.
The Results
Everything actually went pretty much as planned. I’d expected Lily to get busted for being too obvious, but she managed to kill everyone in different parts of the house, so none of them ever found each others’ dead bodies! She won the game without a meeting ever being called.
Once we realized all the other kids were all “oofed,” we let them get back up and finish the tasks anyway – because some of them were really fun! They each got to pick a couple of the small plush crewmates I had lying around the house to take home for being good sports.
Homemade Among Us Cake and Cupcakes
For some reason, I’ve formed a rather dangerous habit of making both a cake and cupcakes at Lily’s birthday parties. It started with her Frozen birthday party. It’s just that I find good ideas for both, I can’t decide which one to do, and I end up making both!
The Tallest Cake I’ve Ever Made
Lily had a few ideas she wanted to incorporate in this cake: strawberry flavor, imposters, an emergency meeting button, and sprinkles that looked like stars in space. Since her desires were fairly basic and I like to challenge myself, I decided I was also going to make it a full four layers (using two-inch cakes) – my tallest cake ever.
I think I nailed it.
How I Made It
I used two trimmed food-safe dowels in the cake to keep the layers from sliding around. The figures came together in a pack, which I was very grateful for as I hate making fondant characters (and I’ve never even tried molding chocolate). Everything else is homemade buttercream using the Wilton recipe.
I used the smooth side of frosting tip #47 to lay down the gray button background (I smoothed it out with a tiny angled spatula) and the yellow hazard lines. The red button was piped with a #12 tip and also smoothed with the spatula. The 10 and LILY were done with a #3 tip.
As for the silver sprinkles – that’s a great story. I tried applying them to the sides of the cake with my large angled spatula, but they just ended up pressed into the frosting and not really visible. I sat there for quite a while, tired (it was midnight before the party) and frustrated that I couldn’t figure it out.
You know what I did?
I started throwing the sprinkles at it.
Yep. I just poured a few sprinkles in my hand at a time and threw them at the cake while I spun it on my decorating turntable. It made a huge mess in the kitchen, but it was quite cathartic. And my amused husband vacuumed up all the mess for me before he went to bed.
If you look closely here you’ll see that there’s a mix of regular straight candles and these wicked twisty black-and-gold candles. They all came together in a pack Lily and I found at Walmart! We both felt they fit the Among Us vibe pretty well.
Dead Body Cupcakes
When I came across this idea for Among Us cupcakes, I knew I was gonna make them whether Lily picked them for the party or not. They’re hilarious!
These are chocolate cupcakes with red homemade buttercream as the, um, insides of the crewmates. I cut their “legs” out of cardstock with my Cricut and taped them around the cupcakes after they were baked.
For the single giant bone that sticks out of dead bodies in Among Us, I shoved a pretzel stick into a mini marshmallow, then covered it all in melted white chocolate. They looked pretty legit as far as candy bones go, and they were yummy.
If you make them, hold off on inserting the bones until just before the party. The frosting and moist cake will soften up the pretzel sticks and make them mushy, which is a pretty weird texture.
Fun Party Favors
I never let a guest go home empty-handed! Even the adults got to take home some Dum-Dums and Silly Putty.
Custom Water Bottle Labels
The water bottles were wrapped in custom labels I printed on copy paper from an image I found online. Normally I do mini water bottles and have a few left. This time, they were all taken! Now I know everyone prefers full-size water bottles.
DIY Headwear
For the kids playing the IRL Among Us game, I made adjustable cardstock headbands. Each features some of the funnier “hats” from the game. Choices included a flamingo pool ring, banana peel, crown, toilet paper roll, Dum post-it, and plunger.
For everyone else, I made a slight modification to Walmart party hats (they have lots of very cheap “crewmate” colors). I used my Cricut to print a bunch of helmet visors and taped them on. To my delight, almost every adult had one on by the end!
Goodie Bags
The party favors I came up with were fairly small this time, so I used sandwich bags to hold them and stapled custom tags across the tops.
The kids got different bags from the adults, because in addition to the suckers and Silly Putty (in honor of shapeshifter eggs), I included homemade mini coloring books and packs of crayons.
All of the images in the coloring books came from Monday Mandala who offers the printables for free!
And finally, I made special bags just for the adults that had children at the party (we have a lot of older family members that attend our parties without young kids). These had eggs and suckers too, but they also had very special, personalized magnet sets for them to take home. This was done with my Cricut, glossy photo paper, and adhesive magnet sheets.
I couldn’t resist making a set for our own refrigerator door, too! Each magnet set included a crewmate in every single color (just like the ones on the wall). There were also lots of word magnets that could be arranged to say many phrases. My kids love changing these up every so often.
This may not have been my most visually striking party I’ve done, but all of the kids had a blast at this Among Us birthday. And that’s what matters most.
That and cake. The cake is very important to me.
I hope you’ve found some of my ideas inspiring. Especially if you’re trying to create your own real-life Among Us game. Most of those ideas were 100% original, because there wasn’t a lot of existing content to go on.
Just don’t overwhelm yourself, copy the stuff you like the best, and have a great time. Your kiddo will be thrilled no matter what!
