Family Stuff to Share - a mini golf, Pokemon extravaganza birthday!

I am not generally one to post crafts and how-tos and stuff like that. But this time I think my husband and I deserve a pat on the back and maybe a gold star for our backyard mini-golf course Pokemon extravaganza.

My husband built the mini-golf course in our yard - don't ask how he did it, or what materials he used, or where he came up with his ideas because I don't know. He is a magician in his magic workshop (formally known as a garage). He just goes in there and stuff comes out. His son said "I want a mini-golf course for my party" and voila we had one.

There were mazes, and water traps, the hole under the loop-de-loop was filled with popcorn (which the birds loved when the party was over). Then on the tropical palm tree hole there were sprinklers (which the kids loved in July). And because the party was Pokemon themed, we had Poke-golf-balls!

I wish I could say that the paint stayed on through the whole match - but it chipped on a lot of them. I even sprayed them with a sealer but they still chipped. For the time they lasted they were a big hit. 

Each kiddo also got a Pokemon wrist band when they started and a poke-badge when they were done. I forgot to take pictures of the badges but basically I took this idea from the necklaces I made for last year's party, searched the internet for Pokemon Badge images and printed them out to size and used gimp for a necklace. You can get all the pieces at your local craft store - I shop at Michaels. 

 

Then we made a Pokeball pinata out of old cardboard and some crepe paper. It was not the best pinata I have made - the Minecraft one came out better last year. I didn't add enough duct tape to the edges and it came apart easier than it should have. But it did look great while it lasted and it was filled with bouncy balls, tiny erasers, confetti, lollipops, gum, Pokemon rings and all good things so the kids were ultimately happy!

But the best part of the party - aside from the fact that we had a mini-golf course in our yard - was the cake! I got the idea from Pinterest (I know - huge shock!). It was so easy - I found a picture online of Espeon (his favorite Pokemon) and just did the frozen buttercream technique I got from Wilton. The cake itself was rainbow (another Pinterest technique) so I made some chocolate cupcakes because that really is his favorite flavor of cake and topped them with Pokemon cupcake rings. The Pokeball on top was half of the small soccer ball pan from Wilton, the main cake was a 16" square pan. It took 4 boxes of vanilla cake mix, 2 boxes of chocolate cake mix and 6 recipes of buttercream frosting! My husband, in his magic workshop, made the cake base (for a few minutes I wasn't actually sure it would fit through our back door - but I just made it with my hands under the board). There were 62 people at the party (39 adults and 23 kids) and everyone got cake! 

There are other cool parts of the party. Over the years we have collected a cotton candy maker, a slushie maker and a really cool popcorn popper so the kids get to have treats like at a carnival. Then there were the water gun fights after the golf game was over and the water balloon fight. There is also a ton of food (including my husband's famous chicken w/a brown sugar & Cavender's rub on the grill) and this year we had lemonade sangria (I make a new sangria recipe for every party). 

The BEST part of the party was that so many of our friends and family were there. Party day is always a crazy day - it is part family reunion, part high school reunion and part 8-year-old party. It is never unforgettable.