Low-key and fun Pokemon birthday party for our 7-year-old!
Our boy turned 7 at the end of August, and he is ALL into Pokemon this year, and really wanted a Pokemon party for his big day. I had high hopes of getting all the crafty things done for his party, but I have to also be realistic. I’m not always a perfect Pinterest mom, and when we didn’t have a ton of RSVPs a few days before the party I contemplated even having the party. (In the end, we had almost 25 people show up. I was shocked!)
Last year we started having family over so the actual party could be friend-centric. This year we did the same. Since my son’s birthday was Friday, we let him choose dinner (he wanted burgers at our house) and we had cake after dinner. He was also able to open presents from family, which he loved.
Leading up to his party, he told me that he wanted a Pikachu cake. He described it and even said, “It’s easy!” I mentioned it to my boss, and she even made me believe how easy the cake could be. I was initially going to create a Pokeball cake (just a circle cake designed to look like the ball) and in the end, I’m glad I branched out and created a Pikachu cake. Keep in mind, as of that Thursday morning, I was still going to make the ball. By lunchtime I was buying ingredients for a Pikachu cake.
The cake was fairly simple! I made two round cakes (from a box mix – because let’s be real here.) One round cake was the face, and the second one was cut into ears – I cut the left and right ear to fit on top of the other circle. I wish I had a template, but I honestly free-handed this. From there, I colored white frosting (from a can! Still being real!) with Wilton icing colors. I used a very small amount and achieved the perfect yellow! Using a star tip, I decorated most of the cake in yellow. I had black and red frosting, which I did the eyes, cheeks, nose and mouth with. (The black was a decorating gel. The red was another Wilton icing I bought at the store.) At first I was going to do a large mouth, and it looked ridiculous. I actually scraped icing off and re-drew the mouth on the cake.
This cake was for family. The party cake was cupcakes and I decorated the cupcakes with plastic Pokemon rings. My son loves a good plastic ring, and he was so excited by these.
I made the invitation. A few were printed and given to my son’s friends at his Pokemon league (as well as a couple of family members.) For the most part, I emailed or texted the invitation.
Decorations – I bought two plastic tablecloths, paper plates that we didn’t really use, and balloons on Amazon. I had some party favors (Pokemon bracelets), but other than that, the kids played arcade games!
If you are in Asheville, I highly recommend the event space at Asheville Pizza & Brewing. This is our second year having a party there, and it’s excellent! We reserved the tables far enough in advance, and received a discount on pizza. I took $20 in quarters, and gave the kids quarters to play on the games. (Last year, APB still had tokens, but they switched their machines over to quarters.) I can’t say enough good things about them.
