A hundred years ago I promised tips on creating a fantastic Pokémon Party. So here it is better late than never.

My daughter was turning 10 at the time and an avid Pokémon fan, we were Pokémon hunting regularly on the Pokémon Go App. So it was a given, when asked, that her birthday theme was going to be Pokémon.

I created an on the go party, with plenty of games to keep them occupied.

Games List:

• Pikachu Stomp
• Pokémon Go, Hunt
• Pokéball & Spoon Race
• Pin the Tail on Pikachu
• Pass the Pokéball

Pikachu Stomp

Blow up yellow balloons and with texta, draw Pikachu’s eyes & mouth. Have at least as many as there are kids. Before you tie them off, add a Pokémon tattoo to the balloon. I saved a special Pokémon tattoo and said, whoever finds the rare Pokémon gets a prize. Meanwhile every kid gets a tattoo and you or they, get to then put their tattoos on.

Pokémon Go, Hunt

So this took some time & effort. I made up coloured card and drew it into 12 sections. I printed out 12 Pokémon characters and put one in each section with a space besides each picture. See photo.

I then had each of the 12 characters put onto a bamboo skewer and numbered. I went down to the local park ahead of game time, to hide each skewered Pokémon in the shrubbery & around the trees. If you don’t have a park handy you could just use your yard.

I paired the kids up & gave them each a card. We then headed to the park where they were unleashed to ‘hunt’ for the Pokémon on the skewers which corresponded to the Pokémons pictured on their card. When they found the hidden Pokémons, they wrote the number next to the picture on their card. The first team to come to me with the correct numbered Pokémon, were the winners.

Pokéball & Spoon Race

While we were still at the park, we had our ball & spoon race. I purchased red plastic spoons and plain white ping pong balls. I coloured in the ping pong balls to look like Pokéballs. Each child gets a ball & spoon for the race and they get to take them home too. Demonstrate where you want them to race to, ( I had them weaving around tress) and if the ball falls off, they have to return to the start. First one to reach the end is the winner.

Pin the Tail on Pikachu

So this is obviously based on Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I purchased 2 pieces of large yellow cardboard and on one of them, copied a picture of Pikachu with his butt facing out. I coloured him in with textas, leaving his tail plain. I traced his tail on baking paper then cut it out and used it for a template to cut out the tail for pinning. I coloured in the tail which is basically 2 brown stripes. I used bluetack as the ‘pin’. whoever was the closest was the winner.

Pass the Pokéball

This is just Pass the Parcel but it’s wrapped up in a ball shape. Every so many layers, there would be stickers or lollies and I found Pokémon Keyrings which I used for the main prize.

The Cake

Oh man, so I can draw nearly anything but when it comes to cakes, I suck. So I tried to make the Pikachu Cake as basic as possible. I baked 2 vanilla packet cakes (cause I’m no cook), in round pans. One Cake is the head & the other was cut to form the ears.

He’s covered in yellow icing sugar and I used edible writing gel for his ear tips & face. Just make sure you taste test what you use for drawing on his face because the gel I used tasted disgusting but didn’t know that til after. I used white chocolate buttons on his eyes.

Decorations

The tablecloth is two plastic tablecloths, red & white, folded in half long ways and taped together with black electrical tape. I then taped an upside down white plastic plate with black texta outline.

For the food labels, you can get printables on the internet, then just make up Pokémon names for them. I taped black electrical tape around the edges of clear plastic bowls and stuck on black and white foam circles, to give a Pokéball look.

I went to Wholesale Party Supplies online and got the Pokémon Balloons, Candles and Party bag labels. Just use Pokémon colours for plain balloons & streamers.

On the whole, the kids were happy & excited, so that’s a successful party in my book.

10th birthday done & dusted 🙂

There’s being a mum of a human child and then there’s being a mum of a cat.

We decided to bring a cat into our lives for a few different reasons. I thought it would be great for my daughter to have a furry friend to confide in, to take on a new responsibility and love with unconditional love returned.  It would also give my daughter some comfort that when she was away from me, I wouldn’t be alone because I’m with “Mindy”.

So we welcomed a tiny black kitten, cute as can be and guaranteed female by the Seller.  Mindy snuggled in my daughters’ hands all the way home and I couldn’t be more elated at this new chapter in our lives.  Mindy can be described as a cute fluffy bundle of teeth and claws. I relished in her sleepy moments when she curled up on me to sleep and tip toed around the house during her waking hours to avoid the ambushes lurking around every corner.

Mindy was a reliable cat, she came when called and seemed content to lay around outside the back door all day and come in at night. However one day I started to find holes dug under the fence and shockingly realised my cat was a dog! So after securing the fence line I booked her in to be sterilised to avoid any surprise ‘Mini Mindys’. It was then I discovered that Miss Mindy was a Mr Mindy all this time.

I was devestated as male cats in my mind were stinking wanderers and Life with a spraying meowing menace was not in the plans. I was torn because we loved him but I also knew I couldn’t live with a cat-wee smelling house. The Vet offered no guarantee that sterilisation would bring him into line, but there was hope.

Wow what a change, within 2 weeks he became a smooching lap cat. He also became a wingeing toddler. To this day he is at the door when I come home meowing his head off, following me around until I sit down with him. He answers me when I say “good morning” or “time for bed” or anything actually.

He is still called Mindy as we couldn’t decide on a boys name and it suited him however he is still referred to as she and her out of habit. We might be continually confused, but Mindy is just doing his thing, he knows his family and who’s his mum and is more than happy to let me know about it…