Ashton's 12th Birthday Pokemon Party

For my twelve-year old's birthday, he wanted a Pokemon Party. The invitations were a photo of him holding Pikachu in a party hat and made to look like Pokemon trading cards. I made and printed them at home on postcards.

There was minimal decor...the food table was covered with one red and one white plastic tablecover, held together with a strip of black duck tape down the center and I placed a black plate in the center with a smaller white plate inside of that, to resemble a Poke Ball. Plates and napkins were red and black.

Food and drink was kept with the theme. The cake was a bunch of red, black and white frosted cupcakes placed in the shape of a Poke Ball. There was a bunch of finger foods and drinks, all identified with tent cards I also made and printed at home - cheese balls (Flareon Fireballs), Peeps on lollipop sticks - cheeks and ears drawn in with edible markers (Pikachu Peeps), Sour Patch Straws (Tauros Tails), Jello cups (Jigglypuff Jello), carrot "chips" (Caterpie Chips) and Ranch dip (Deino Dip), water bottles with customized labels (Wailord Water) and Capri Suns (Squirtle Spit).

For the activities, crafts and games, each party-goer made their own Pikachu or Poke Ball goody / treat bag. They had the opportunity to make a set of Pikachu ears, draw some Pokemon characters using a set of "how to draw" guides, coloring pages, etc. There were seven activity "stations" and they were able to collect some "stuff" from some of them, depending on the activity:

Training Exercise 1: Intelligence Gathering (Printable Activity Pages, Coloring Pages & Memory Game)
Training Exercise 2: Beat Team Rocket Target Practice (suction cup gun - the most hits to stick wins)
Training Exercise 3: Fishing for Pokemon (fishing “pole”, magnets, small toys, plastic tub)
Training Exercise 4: Balance (tongue depressors and dice - The kids put a large Popsicle stick in their mouths to see how many dice they could stack on top without them falling over.)
Training Exercise 5: Evolve a Pokemon (craft: pipe cleaners, pom poms, wiggle eyes, glue, fun foam pieces, etc.: http://frogprincepaperie.com/easy-pokemon-party-games-and-activities/)
Training Exercise 6: Find the Poké Balls (egg hunt style game; ping pong balls; winner is who finds the most - give centerpieces/decor as prizes: http://thecreativepartymom.blogspot.com/2010/08/pokemon-party-adams-9th-birthday.html)
Training Exercise 7: Pin the Tail on Pikachu (printable game pieces: http://cutesycrafts.com/2016/05/pokemon-party-ideas.html)

Note: all these ideas were spawned from the internet and Pinterest!

• What People Ate

  Cheese balls, carrot chips and dip, sour patch straws, Peeps

• What People Drank

  Water and Capri Suns

• Desserts

  Cupcakes

• Party Favors

  Party/favor bag, Pikachu ears, activity sheets, coloring pages, their homemade Pokemon, ping pong balls

• Activities / Games

  Party/favor bag, Pikachu ears, activity sheets, coloring pages, their homemade Pokemon, ping pong balls