My daughter is obsessed with Pokemon, so I’ve thrown Pokemon-themed parties for several years running. Here are some ideas for throwing a Pokemon Birthday Party. 

Party Games 

Note: I’ve blurred the faces of guests to protect their privacy. Creepy but considerate :) 

1) Keep It Up: We used Permapaque markers (made by Sakura) to draw Pokemon on balloons. (These markers were perfect because they have a rounded nib so no balloons popped. Also, they come in lots of non-smearing colors!) You can do this ahead of time, or have guests create one as they arrive. I used washi tape to make two circles on the floor. Whoever could keep their Pokemon balloon up in the air the longest (without stepping outside of the circle) received a prize. Since this was a little easy for older kids, I turned on the fan to make it trickier.

2) Strung Along: Purchase a small Pokemon figurine for each guest. Tie a long piece of yarn to each figurine, and hide it. String the yarn around the room. (Tape the loose end of the yarn to the wall so they won’t get lost before you play). Each guest picks a piece of  yarn and has to follow it to find their figurine. This gets crazy as everyone begins criss-crossing and going over and under, following their string.

3) Puzzling: Print 2 copies of a large Pokemon picture on cardstock. Cut out the picture, leaving a frame border intact. Slice the picture into squares. Have two guests race to see who can assemble the picture fastest, inside the frame border. I made several sets, using different pictures, to maintain the difficulty for the participants.

4) Pokeball Piñata: We made our own piñata, shaped like a Pokeball. I covered two large serving bowls with paper mache and allowed them to dry. I painted one white and the other red. I poked a hole in the top of the red one, and fed through a rope and knotted it. The white half I filled with candy. I used black duct tape to assemble the two halves, then cut a black circle from paper and added it the center. Add a smaller white circle to the center of the black circle, and you have a Pokeball piñata!

5) Pokemon Billiards: For this game, we used one of the washi tape circles. I bought a package of 8 ping pong balls at the dollar store, and colored one of them to look like a Pokeball, using Sakura’s IDentipen permanent markers. We placed all the balls in a circle, then the guests rolled a golf ball to try to knock only the Pokeball out of the circle.

 

 

6) Who Are You?: Have each guest fill out a name tag with the name of their favorite Pokemon. Each guest wears their new name tag, and has a small sheet of stickers taped to their shirt as well.  Guests must call each other only by their Pokemon names. If a guest slips up and calls someone by their real name, they must give one of their stickers to that person. Whoever is wearing the most stickers at the end of the party receives a prize.

7) Pokemon Race: I printed a picture of a Yamask and a Drifloon (two floating Pokemon) and taped them to plastic cups. Contestants placed their cups at the starting line, then add to blow them across the room, without using their hands. Whoever reached the other side first won a prize.

8) Pin the Tail on the Pokemon: Draw a Pokemon with a tail on a poster board (try Pikachu, Quilava, Mewtwo, or Eevee). Blindfold the participants and see who can place the tail in the correct spot.

9) Ketchup Jenga: In case you didn’t know, Ash’s Pikachu is in love with ketchup. For this game, I printed a random column of Pokemon names and cut them into strips. The strips were arranged in a circle with the names pointing outward. An upside down bottle of ketchup was placed in the center. We went around the circle and each guest had to carefully pull out a strip of paper. If they knocked over the bottle, they were out. Then we set the bottle back and kept going. Some kids were tempted to pull out the names of their favorite Pokemon, even if the papers weren’t the easiest to get out! Whoever was left once all the strips had been removed, received a prize.

Other Ideas

1) For some of the prizes, I wrapped up individual Pokemon cards. I had my daughter tell me which were “good” so that the kids would be excited to get them.

2) I didn’t want to order anything online, and Pokemon party supplies aren’t available to me locally. So I bought clear plastic plates, 8 for $1. I printed out this picture and used Glue Dots on the front of it to adhere it to the underside of the plate.

For this party, she said she wanted pink “Pokepuffs.” Luckily for me, Pokepuffs happen to look exactly like store-bought cupcakes ;)

3) The previous year, I made a simple Pikachu cake.

You can make it using 2 round layer cakes.

4) A pepperoni Pokeball pizza is easy to make. Use a standard round pizza pan, and leave the bottom half cheese, while covering the top half with pepperoni. Make the black strip and circle using olives, with more mozzarella cheese for the center white circle.

5) Make Pokeball invitations using this free template.

If you’re looking for more Pokemon projects, type “Pokemon” in the search bar.