I had to take a week out of my other projects to get ready for my grandson's birthday party. He always seems to pick a theme that was popular the previous year, so we can never find anything. This year he picked Pokemon and I thought great - it's all the rage right now. But, when I went looking for items, I couldn't find anything; not even at Party City except napkins and plates. Amazon - again no luck; just a lot of very expensive Pokemon toys. I did find a hat, which I bought to go along with the T-shirt I designed and made for him. So, grab some spray paint and a lot of dollar store products and get to work.

I made Poke Balls using clear plastic ornaments (removed the little hanging part and sanded it down with emory boards (so no child would be harmed). This is the one thing I got so pre-occupied that I didn't get a photo of the finished product, but you can see the two halves being painted and the kids were really convinced they were the real thing (Note the Rust-Oleum handles on the spray paint; thanks Creator's Studio). I added the black around the center by drawing it on each one with a Sharpie. The pinata of course - good ole paper mache. I reinforced it inside with a round piece of wood and ran the wire down through it, so it would hold the weight (I put a lot of candy in there).

The candy machines are (as I'm sure many of you recognize) clay pots and dollar store bowls. The characters that I painted were chosen by my grandson. My grandson has a food disorder and cannot eat solid foods, so cake doesn't mean anything to him; but he still wants to blow out the candles, so every year I make him a faux cake (and we serve cupcakes). The bottom is two pieces of foam that came from a shipping box. I glued them together and then squared them off. I covered the whole thing with spackle and then sprinkled saw dust to give it a grass effect. Then it was spray painted. The fence is cut up chop sticks; the large Pokemon ball is styrofoam covered in spackle and painted; the bushes, etc. came from the dollar store and are glued on. The brick wall around the side is duct tape. He found some dynamite candles and insisted on putting them on the cake, so I added an evil character and put a match stick in it's hand (not a real one; that's clay on the end) to make it blend in with the scene. The cake is based on an outdoor game challenge arena in Pokemon. The large Pokemon Ball Lanterns were made from Dollar Store chinese lanterns. Since it's Halloween they only had Halloween prints, but I spray painted them and was surprised that they held up great. I was afraid they would soak up the paint and tear.

The Poke Ball game was fashioned after watching the Price is Right - they were playing that game where you answer questions and get to punch out a spot to win money. We had just bought a new vacuum and still had the box, so I cut out an opening from the back and the holes in front. I tried spray painting, but the box was really glossy, so I paper mache covered the whole thing and then sprayed it - success. I cut squares of tissue paper and glued them over each hole from the inside. I used large plastic cups and put candy and a prize inside and then hot glued those over each tissue paper hole (make sure the holes you cut are smaller than the plastic cup). They especially loved punching these out.

I found a pattern on line for a cupcake wrapper and photo shopped the Pikachu on it. Then they were printed using yellow construction paper. The photo props were also photo shopped, with chop sticks hot glued to the back. The kids loved them; but I always hesitate to upload photos of other people's kids. The larger Pikachu "Pin the Tail" game was made with foam board.

Party a success - I have a whole year before we have to do this again.

Love Kid's Birthday Parties