The Harvey Family: Blake's 8th Birthday Party

For Blake's 8th birthday he decided to have a Pokemon themed birthday.

Decorations

First, we had some Pokemon decorations including a banner and tablecloth. I made a giant Pokeball by taping tons of small napkins together as a photo backdrop. And then I made Pokeball goodie bags with red bags to start with, and I used white sticker paper and black masking tape for the rest.

Paper Crafts

As guests were arriving, we had everyone in the craft room putting together endless cycle cards made by www.hattifant.com They are a paper craft that once you assemble it, you can flip through the Pokemon evolutions continuously.

We also had some blank pokeballs and Pokemon cards for the kids to make their own.

Terminate Pokemon Villains

Once everyone arrived we split into two groups for some nerf gun target practice. There are two groups of villains in the Pokemon animated tv show, Team Skull and Team Rocket, so we used them as targets.

As a prize for hitting all the targets, each kid got a homemade pokeball. I made them with smooth foam balls and since these were pokeballs, I used red and white balloons stretched over it and held in place with black electrical tape. Then an extra piece of black and white tape for the circle in front.

Goodie Bag Claim

Once everyone had finished, we went back to the craft room and everyone chose a goodie bag to write their name on. They each had a Pokemon bookmark inside to start with, but each activity throughout the party had new goodies to add to their bags.

Pokemon Scavenger Hunt

The next activity was a Pokemon scavenger hunt. For this, each kid got a Pokedex with black and white pictures of 20 different Pokemon that they had to "catch". I (along with Brett's help) hid enough Pokemon (in color) for everyone to find upstairs in the dark. With the help of an altered flashlight, each kid could walk around and find Pokemon, pick up, and stick onto their Pokedex, on top of the black and white version. This took such a long time to set up, but it ended up being my favorite activity. How did I not get any pictures of the finished products?

Balloon Pop

For our next activity we had a ton of balloons that each kid got to pop with these Meowth figures made out of foam board and a toothpick. There were 4 different colors of balloons, and each had a different type of prize inside. Everyone got to pop one of each color and collect the goodies that came out. We had temporary Pokemon tattoos, silicone Pokemon bracelets, and miniature Pokemon figurines.

Fishing for Pokemon

Our last activity was the one my boys were most excited about... fishing for Pokemon cards. I made a "fishing pole" with a clothesline, wrapping paper tube, and a magnet. Then I attached a binder clip to individual booster packs and set them up in a cardboard stand that I created. The kids got lined up (in the order of secret numbers that were on the bottom of each of their goodie bags) and everyone got a chance to "fish" for their booster pack off the front stairs.