Plants vs Zombies Birthday Party

I love making my kids' birthday cakes. Princess, castle, edible butterflies, jungle animals, cars have all been past birthday cakes.This year my "baby" turned 7! Seems like just yesterday he was a toddler trying to keep up with his big sister.Today, he is truly his own person with a huge personality. He's very sweet with a sensitive side that he sometimes tries to hide and has a streak of devilishness. Lucky for him,  his amazing smile, charming personality and twinkle in his eye lets him get away with a lot (except from his sister who doesn't let him get away with anything!)

This year he chose a "Plants vs Zombie"(PvZ) party theme. I thought finding PvZ party items would be easy given the computer game is sooooo popular - boy was I wrong! Nothing, nada, rien. No party games, no party plates, no banners, no loot bags with PvZ on them. They do have their own shop. I ordered some Plants vs Zombies trading cards for the loot bags, a plastic disco figurine and t-shirt for my son's presents.

Games

I printed off some PvZ colouring sheets (see end for link) that the kids enjoyed as a way to keep them occupied as everyone arrived. For a party games I made my own "Pin the Eye on the Zombie" game. To make it I used a Zombie head from the internet and then used photoshop to cut out the eye on the Zombie. Finally I printed the "eye" so the kids could pin them on the Zombie. It was a hit - the kids loved it.

We also played musical Zombie chairs. This is the same as the classic musical game but the kids had to walk around like Zombies.

The final game was "What time is it, Mr. Zombie?" - just like "What time is it, Mr Fox?" The kids each had a turn being the lead Zombie. Mr. Zombie starts out at one end of the room with his back to the kids. One of the kids at the other end then yells out “What time is it, Mr. Zombie?” Mr. Zombie then calls out a time that is on the even hour (1 o'clock - 12 o'clock). The kids take that many steps. When the group gets to where the Zombie is, but not past him, and asks the time, the Zombie can yell "Midnight!" He then turns and chases the kids back. Then a new Zombie is picked.

Drinks

We had subway to eat but I had big pitchers of kool-aid in green and blue that we labelled "plant" and "zombie" juice.

Also, in the loot bags I included, in addition to the trading cards, a packet of sunflower seeds for them to plant, a little solar powered sunflower toy that moves its leaves, and some mini m&ms. All of the items were put in a medium sized terracotta pot so that the kids could plant the sunflowers at home - I forgot to take a picture of them!

Decorations

For decorations I searched for some high res Zombie images to print as 3 ft images. I used Picasa so I could print them as "posters" on my computer and save the cost of printing at a professional printing store. The poster function lets you print one image over many sheets of paper depending on how big you want it. Once printed you just piece them together like a puzzle.

I printed out some "plants" that we also posted on foam board. My daughter labelled them so anyone without PvZ knowledge would know who they were.

The Cake 

The cake took me a month. Well, not the cake but the figurines which are crafted out of fondant. I started them early so they could dry out and be easily placed on the cake. I'm not a professional cake decorator, I am not an artist and I'm not fast. I checked out many PvZ cakes on the internet - there are amazingly talented cake makers out there! See end of post for links.

My son, however, had the final say on whether each figurine was "cake worthy". Many did not make the grade! Trust me, it was stressful! The house does not have a back wall. I had planned making it but I ran out of time and space on the cake board! In the end no one seemed to notice or care.

The cake was vanilla with chocolate chips and little colored candies inside. The icing was just my go to vanilla buttercreamwhich I dyed in two colors of green. The cake was a serious hit. Kids and adults thought it was pretty amazing. Most importantly my son thought it was great!

Now I have a little break before my daughter starts planning her birthday party in the summer!

The Photos

Please forgive me for posting so many pictures - but a month of work deserves a bit of self indulgence :)

Cone head Zombie meets his end.

The harder to kill Bucket Head Zombie.

Lawn mowers are the last line of defense before the Zombies eat your brainz.

Chomper, sunflower, cactus, potato mine, jalapeno, pea shooter, snow pea, cabbage-pult,
wall-nut, Tall nut,  and Torchwood are ready to stand their ground!

Maybe they should run!

Add caption

Love this little guy!

The house

Other helpful  Plants vs Zombie birthday links:

PvZ Store

PvZ Cupcakes

Lots of cakes

Cake tutorial

pinterest board

Colouring sheets

Solar sunflowers (please note: I found these for $1.25 at the Dollar Store)

Blurry photo of Pin the Eye on the Zombie!