This year for Christmas, Santa brought the video game Skylanders. It is actually a really fun game and my son has loved playing it all year long! So when the discussion of his birthday party came up, without hesitation, he decided he wanted a Skylanders party. If any of you have stumbled across this post while looking for Skylanders birthday party ideas, you already know, there just isn’t much out there yet. But I am always up for a challenge and I am thankful my son is very creative and he has these wonderful ideas that make the party planning fun!
I really had a lot of fun creating this party theme and for those of you whose children are wanting a Skylanders party, I hope you find lots of inspiration in what we created for “Skylanders Cole’s Adventure”!
We welcomed all of the “Young Portal Masters” with our door sign.
Chipboard letters covered in moss hung in front of our Dessert Candy Table.
The hit of the party was our Portal of Power Cake! I made it myself! My best friend from college came to town and helped me…we had wine & cut stone one night…thank you Shelley! It was a two layer lemon cake covered in fondant cut to look like stone. In the video game, the portal of power is how your characters come to life in the game. And you become the portal master.
I used real Skylanders characters on top of the cake…two of our favorites, Wrecking Ball & Stump Smash.
These amazing cut wood platters are from my friend’s dad!
AMAZING fondant toppers for the elements are from LIV Creativity! She did our Super Mario fondant cupcake toppers last year!
I wrapped glass drink bottles with birch, tied it with burlap rope, added a glitter “8” and a fun party straw!
 The goal of the video game is to go through different levels to find the eternal sources of the different elements. Once you find and restore all eight, you have restored the “Core of Light” which brings light and life to Skylands.  For the party, we played 8 different games, one for each element in Skylanders. As the kids finished each game, they “restored” that specific eternal source. They each received a “Core of Light” party favor at the end of the party which were 8 gumballs in each of the 8 elements colors in clear gumball tubes.
Planning the dessert table was really fun! If you have played the video game, then you know that there are sheep that run around Skylands. You can use your attacks on the sheep but they never die….it is really quite fun! My favorite character is Stump Smash and when he smashes the sheep, they are flattened….only for a few seconds, then they pop back up and keep running around…so we had to have Smashed Sheep Cupcakes!
These fondant sheep cupcake toppers are the cutest! They are from LesPopSweets. Liz was such a pleasure to work with!
We called these Chompie Truffles! They are the only dessert I splurged on and were Godiva Pistachio Truffles…the adults enjoyed these just as much as the kids.
And you can’t have a video game party with chocolate wii remotes! So easy!!! Just melt the candy and pour into the mold!
We did have other food at the party besides our desserts! The party food was really easy! In the video game, the characters gain energy by eating food that is available in certain places in each level…the foods are pizza, watermelon slices, cupcakes, noodles, etc. So we picked a few of the foods and served them at our party!
Our party favors were “Core of Light” favors. These were really fun to create…just take large gumball tubes, fill them with large gumballs of each element color and apply element icon stickers on the outside of the tube on top of each gumball. I cut leaf shapes out of green cardstock and my son created the stamp for his “thank you” message!
It was a great party! We’ll see what we can create to top this next year!
To watch a fun video of images from our party, visit our portfolio page! UPDATE: When we created our party, there were no party supplies available but now there are so many great items available to make your party a hit! Check out what’s available now!
RECENT UPDATE! To watch a video TUTORIAL of how to make your own Vine Garland Backdrop, you can view it here!
STYLING & DESIGN: AMY FROM AMY’S PARTY IDEAS | PHOTOGRAPHY: AMY FROM AMY’S PARTY IDEAS | ELEMENT ICON CUPCAKE TOPPERS: LIV CREATIVITY | SHEEP CUPCAKE TOPPERS: LESPOPSWEETS | WOOD PLATTERS: MR2WOODWORKING | BIRCH SHAVINGS, BIRCH BOWLS, MOSS: SAVE ON CRAFTS | ROCK CANDY, CHOCOLATE SILVER ROCKS, GUMBALLS: OH NUTS CANDY NUTS CHOCOLATE & GIFTS | GUMBALL TUBES: AMAZON | METALLIC CREPE PAPER (USED ON GOLDEN CANS & LEAF VINE BACKDROP): CARTE FINI | GREEN CREPE PAPER: CARTE FINI | WII REMOTE CHOCOLATE MOLD: CK PRODUCTS | PARTY STRAWS: HEY YO YO
Great job, Amy! So many great details!!
Thank you Lydia! I appreciate it!
Amy, this party is absolutely amazing! All the details are perfection! Great job and what fun theme! I’ll be sharing it on fb!
Thank you Jennifer! And thank you for sharing it!!!
Amy- this party looks like a blast, Skylander’s is a popular game in my home too! Great details and I love the cake!!
Thank you Michelle!
This is such a great party with so many great details!
Thank you Debbie!!!
Amazing!
Wow Amy, this was quite an adventure!
Thank you Sandra!
Another amazing party, my dear!!! Those pretzels look fun and the cake is FAAAABULOUS!
Thank you Keisha! You know I don’t bake like you do but once a year I give it my best shot!
Wow, such a fantastic party, Amy!!!
Absolutely AMAZING!!! Skylanders is huge at our house too. This is so impressive – Wow!
Awesome party! The cake…fab…and the cookies…and the cupcakes….so much to love!
Thank you Alison! I appreciate it coming from a baker like you!!!
Great party themeing! I have never even heard of Skylanders, but I especially like the “vine” garland, think I would use this for a Jungle-theme party! Thanks so sharing!
Chloe! I completely agree with the vine backdrop! It would also be perfect for a Where the Wild Things Are party or any safari party!
All the details are amazing! Shared on my FB page 🙂
Thank you for sharing!!!
Amy, Thank you for the wonderful ideas. My 11 year old put on her own party for three friends and she loved your ideas. They had pizza and pineapple and portal of power cupcakes. (Your cake looks awesome!!!!!) They even played a couple of your party games. The shoot out turned into a squirt gun battle, but that was part of their plan. Thanks for sharing your creativity.
Erika! I am thrilled she had so much fun! It sounds like a real blast!!! Hope I can help on future party needs. Thank you so much for sharing!
My name is Zach I am six years of age I would really like your cake for my seventh birthday. I live in Australia
Hi Zach! Hope you have a fun party! You can make the cake with your mom or dad! Just bake two 8″ round cakes and layer them with icing in between. Then cover them with a layer of icing and put it in your refrigerator for 3 hours. Then roll out some fondant and cut a circle for the top. Then add some food coloring to the rest of the fondant to make it gray and cut rectangles & squares out to look like stone. Have fun!!!
There are many Skylanders fans that will be amazed by this – I am one of them! Impeccable desserts, decoractions, games and give-aways. I am so impressed!
Hi Linnie! Thank you for your kind comments!!! It was fun to plan and actually pretty easy to create! The key is simple desserts and what you can’t do yourself, you can find someone who can (smile!)
WOW!! Amazing. You thought of everything. I love it. My son wants a Skylander’s party…but he is turning 6 and not all kids know about the game. I will just simplify some things to make it for his age kids. Awesome. Trigger Happy will be on our cake! 😉
Thank you Suzanne! I can’t wait to hear about your party and see your cake! Post a link to your photos here after your party so we can see!!!
Hi there! I have a six year old too. I was going to do the party with the game as the central activity (video game) before I saw this post. I love this idea because it uses the game theme but the games are “real” activities. I was just wondering how you adjusted it for a 6 year old. I don’t think all of my son’s friends play the game either.
hey guys – I featured your Skylanders cake/party theme in my latest COIN-OP TV episode – hope you check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1INgNDfM5hA
Thank you Robert! What a fun video! Thanks for including us!
Holy smokes! So amazingly creative! My sons turning 5, and I’ve been trying to think of how to do his Skylanders party, and was totally clueless. I can’t thank you enough for sharing your awesome ideas. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 🙂
Sam
Sam! You are so kind! I am glad you found me and that you can now know what to do for your own son’s party!!! Post some pics after your party! I would love to see how it all turns out.
cool ideas! i am 11 and i am a huge skylander fan! i loved your ideas for the cakes and the party games. your creativity and design is amazing! i really wish i could have been at the birthday party! also, say a late happy birthday for cole for me, k!
i hope you make another party like this soon, please, because i love this website! thank you for sharing everyone your ideas with everyone, because you give them an insparation, and i hope you continue to inspire everyone and me. James signing out.
Thank you James! You are awesome! I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know. And I will tell Cole!
also, how many skylanders does cole have? ive got 23 of them.
Hi.. Can you please tell me how you made the sign for the cake?
Thanks,
kris
LOVE EVERY IDEA!!!!
Hi Kris! Thank you for your kind words!
Amy
Very creative! my son Luke’s Skylanders birthday party is this Saturday, He will be turning 6. I was clueless about a Skylanders party. I purchased all the signs from you including the water bottle labels! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I’ll let you know about the party… I’ll send you pictures.
Thank you Lilana! I can’t wait to see your pics! Have a great party for Luke!
Thank you so much for the inspiration. My boy celebrated his 8th birthday today with his own portal of powers cake and some of the party games with his classmates. Birthdayboy and guests were thrilled to “be” their favorite game. Thank you again, lots of love from Norway 🙂
Ann! Thank you for your kind words! I am so glad the party was a big success!!! And I am thrilled I could be a small inspiration for the day!
Hi, what a great job!!! I am in awe of your imagination. Where did you get the birch for your lemonade bottles? What other games do you think would work for indoors?
Hi Jennifer! Thank you for your sweet words! I got the birch at Save On Crafts. They were inexpensive and I just purchased one bag of birch shavings.
And for other indoor games, I found most of my inspirations from this website formatted for PE teachers for games for their classes. Search “field day” under Lesson/Activity name. Then you can browse the results to find game ideas.
Another site with game ideas is this one I like to look through the game ideas and then re-name them to fit the theme of the party.
I would love to hear what you come up with! Have fun!
Amy, thanks for your quick response. I have been looking around your site and absolutely love it. You are soooo talented. I do have another question for you….When you ordered the gumballs from Oh Nuts did you have to ask for specific colors?
Thanks, Jen
Hi Jennifer! You are too kind! I ordered one bag of assorted multicolor gumballs and then one bag of brown & one bag of light blue. I was a few gumballs short on dark blue & purple for the 10 tubes and had to fill in with the light blue & a few purple gumballs (I actually had some from another event I could use), but other than that, it worked out. It kind of depends on how many tubes you are going to make. If you need more than 10, I would probably go ahead and buy a bag of each color.
Amy. I’m having a hard time locating brown gumballs. I even tried oh nuts and I didn’t see it. Where else can I get them?
Hi Aida! So sorry you are having trouble. You may want to check your local Party City store int eh candy aisle. Or you can get them on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B072TSC4TK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504353737&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=large+brown+gumballs&dpPl=1&dpID=411MzyOd8-L&ref=plSrch
Hope that helps!
I know I said one question….lol. What did you use to make the stone on the portal?
For the portal of power stone, it’s just white fondant that I added some black food coloring to, to create the color. I rolled it out, and used a pizza cutter to cut rectangles out and then I had a small square cookie cutter and used it to press into the fondant to make it look like stone. Then I actually had some black food coloring spray (you can get this at Wal-mart or your grocery store should have it too) and I sprayed the fondant rectangle before I added it to the cake. It really made it look more realistic. Brush the back of the stone fondant rectangle with water and add it to the cake. It makes it glue to the cake and holds really well!
So cute, ordering and planning for my 6 year old! How did you make the prism pretzels, vine garland supplies, and black rocks for candy display? Thanks for the special ideas!
Thank you Amy! I just posted a tutorial for the vine garland! Love for you to check it out!
As for the pretzels, I melted green candy melts and dipped large twisted pretzels in the melted candy. Sit them on parchment paper and sprinkle with green rock candy while it’s still wet. Put them in the refrigerator for approx.. 10 minutes until candy has hardened and then you can store them in an air tight container until your party day.
i’m so thankful for you!! my son loves skylander (and we don’t even have the game yet, but it will be his present). anyway, i’m so thankful i don’t have to come up with all the ideas. i do have a question, though. how did you do the game time? did everyone wait in line for each one? run around and just play as they’d like? how many kids did you have there? how long did they game time take?
Hi Julie! Thank you for your sweet words! We had 10 kids (including the birthday boy) and they all did one game at a time. All of the games were actually the kind of games that everyone gets to participate at the same time except the water gun shoot out…they were happy to stand in line and take turns. They enjoyed watching each other and seeing who was going to knock the cans down. The rest of the games were really group games so they all had a blast! To do all 8 games, it took about 30 minutes…you would be surprised at how quickly they move thorugh them (smile!) Hope that helps and I hope your son has a blast at his party!!!
Thank you Amy for all the great ideas! We had a great Skylander’s birthday party! I wrote a blog post and linked to you. Thanks so much!
Wow! What a life saver you are! I’ll be using all your ideas. ALL my kids are so excited. Thank you!
Thank you Amy for all the great ideas, this is going to make my son’s birthday the best! I was wondering what exactly you did for the Magic show portion. You have a picture of a girl looking into a book, what is that?
Hi Decedra! I am so glad you found me! And I hope your son’s birthday is a legendary bash! So my niece had a magic kit and she performed a few of the tricks from it. The book was one trick from the kit…you flip through it it has blank pages, lined drawing pages, and colored pages (i don’t know the trick myself but have seen it done!) The kids had fun with it!
my son is turning 8 and having a skylanders party. your work is stunning. great job with the party!!
Thank you Wendy!!!
What is the shark made out of for the game with the straw? Look forward to hearing from you! Also, Was it a special kind of balloon the kids could sit on and pop? Or the normal kind?
Anu
Hi Anu! The shark is just tissue paper that you use for gift wrapping…I just cut them out of some tissue paper I had in the house. And the balloons were normal balloons…nothing special about them 🙂 Hope that helps!
I loved all your creative ideas!! Well done!
I was wondering how you did the labels for the water bottles? How did you place Cole’s name on the skylander logo?
I am doing a skylander theme for my son’s birthday in a couple of weeks and I would to be able to surprise him by doing this for him.
Hi Jessica! Thank you for your kind words! I created the water bottle labels for our personal party.
You have amazing ideas! Love it all. Could you please tell me where you got the green table runner, or even what it could be searched as? I really like that look rather than a plain tablecloth.
Thanks!
Hi Jeaneen!
Thank you for your sweet words! The green table runner is actually my left over crepe paper roll. You can click through to find it from my sources above: GREEN CREPE PAPER: CARTE FINI
Hope that helps!
Where did you purchase the glitter number 8? I haven’t been able to find them. Or did you make them? Great ideas!!
Hi Denise!
Thank you for your kind words! I cut those out with my machine from green glitter paper!
Can you tell me what didi you prepare the pretzels, (it looks like a sea sal painted green color?)
Hi Gaby!
Those are actually crushed pieces of green rock candy.
what size was your top cake platter and the bottom cake platter. Also where did you find the #8 candle for the cake?
Amazing looking party Amy. Hoping to do a Skylanders party for my son in March and your ideas are wonderful. Thanks for the inspiration.
Everything looks great! I am in the process of planning my son’s birthday party in 2 1/2 weeks time. Did you use crepe paper to make the cupcake liners? Thanks!
Everything looks great! I am in the process of planning my son’s birthday party in 2 1/2 weeks time. Did you use crepe paper to make the cupcake liners? Thanks!
This is absolutely amazing!!! My son just told me he wanted a SKYLANDER party and I had no idea what to do! This is exactly what I need. I want to buy alll of this!! I love it!
Hi Amy,
Thank you so much for these great ideas. I am about to make an order from you and some of the other places you recommended. My question is how many rolls of crepe paper did you need in each color? And I’m not sure what the lime pulp paper is for. Also, what color did you use for the cans? What type of cans did you use? I was thinking of using Izze drink cans. Thanks in advance!
Hi Teran! I used three rolls of crepe paper in varying shades of green….one was leaf, one was a darker color green, and one was the metallic that went from green to gold to green. I used the gold part of the metallic roll for the cans and I did use the IZZE drink cans! We love IZZE’s! The three rolls of crepe paper gave me enough to create the leaf vine garlands, cover the cans, make cupcake wrappers (in the green part of the metallic one) and I used the darker green roll to create a runner down my table. Hope that helps!
One other question….what did you use to set your truffles and the wii remote on? They look like actual rocks.
The “rocks” are actually chocolate rocks! You can eat them! And they are actually pretty good too 🙂
Hi! Fabulous ideas! So creative!
Hi Monica! Thank you for your sweet words!
Thank you! Your ideas are inventive and fun but easy to execute. I can use them as is or tweak them to meet my needs and resources. Cannot thank you enough. You saved me–and my sons’ birthday parties!
Thank you Teresa!!! I am so glad you found me and can use some ideas for your son’s party! Have fun!
Hi Amy!
Where did you get the pistachio truffles? I can’t seem to find them.
Hi Teran! I got my truffles from my local Godiva Chocolate store…I really just looked for anything green!
Super cute ideas for my son Cole’s upcoming 5th birthday!!! Can you please tell me where you purchased the blue number 8 candle that you have pictured.
Thanks,
Jodi
Hi Jodi! I got my glitter 8 candle from Target in their birthday party section. I have also seen some at Walmart as well but Target is where I get mine. Hope that helps! Amy
I love this theme.. My son wants the same theme.. but I was so taken your photos, I did not realize YOU made all of this stuff by hand… as a working mother of 6, I was under the impression, the the portal was purchased.. But I now see you made it… can you please send me any and all advice you have to help me make my youngest sons Skylander party as good as your sons was????
Leanna! I hope it’s not too late! You are too sweet with your kind words! So here are my tips for the cake.
For the gray fondant, I took some of my white fondant and mixed in some wilton black icing (the kind that comes in a little jar)…a lot goes A LONG way so just add a little at a time and really work it into the fondant…folding, stretching, rolling, kneading…whatever it takes to get it gray. Then I rolled out smaller pieces and I cut them with a butter knife to size then took a small square cookie cutter I had and bent it a little and pressed it into the face of the gray fondant piece. I randomly pressed it to make it look like stone blocks. Once I had it like I liked it, I actually took black food coloring spray (you can find this at your local grocery store with the icing & sprinkles on the baking aisle) and I sprayed the entire piece…the spray kind of collected into the grooves of the pattern and I liked the way it looked.
I also failed to mention, I used powder sugar to dust my work surface to keep the fondant from sticking….the black spray really cleaned up any specs of powder sugar that were left on the face of the fondant.
If all else fails, you can always take a photo of the cake to your local bakery and have them make one for you! I would also take the actual portal…I had mine sitting on the table in front of me while I worked…it was good to have a reference.
For the pretzels, they are so easy!!! Just get large sourdough pretzels (I found mine at Walmart but your grocery store should have them to). Then melt green candy melts (you can get these at Michael’s craft store or Joanne’s or Hobby Lobby)…I used the key lime green candy melts. Melt according to the package and if you need to thin it out a little so they dip a little easier, just add a little bit of shortening (like Crisco).
Dip the pretzels and place on wax paper. Sprinkle with green rock candy pieces and place in the refrigerator to harden for 15 minutes. That’s it! So easy!!!
And for the cupcakes & element’s sugar cookies, I purchased the fondant toppers from LIVCreativity (see the link to her shop under “Sources” and then just top them on homemade cupcakes and round sugar cookies or you can buy some at your local grocery store.
I hope that helps! You can do it!
WOW! Amazing! Now that I have your ideas I’ll see if I can pull it off. Not as crafty as you! But WOW! Thank you for this post!
Thank you Christina! You are too kind! You can do it!
hi, my son wants to have a skylander party for his birthday. I live in Ireland, I cannot get any skylander partyware here. Do you ship to Ireland?
Hi Leanne!
Thank you for your sweet words! You can check Amazon to see what is available now. 🙂
I love love love this! I am throwing a Skylanders party for my almost 7 year old this summer! He is very involved in the planning and has come up with two games on his own – I am so happy I found this post! Thanks for the inspiration!
Let me start by saying, you are so creative! I am in the beginning stages of planning my son’s 6th birthday party this coming September.
Hi Amy!! Love this site.
Hi Simone! Thank you for your sweet words! I can definitely email you the game signs. You can order them here: LuluCole
Wow looks really great!!
Our party is Saturday. 10-yr-old. We are doing a round robin sort of play with the 6 boys on the Wii. Problem is, only 2 players. So coming up with things to keep the other 4 entertained in between. We are making little pizza’s (thank you Papa Murphy’s – Mini Murphs). I made the Wii remotes last night. Used white chocolate chips. Added a little blue gel food coloring to make the remote buttons stand out. Super cute. Can’t wait for my son to see it. I love the idea of the water gun can shootout, but rainy February doesn’t allow for that in Portland, so I think I’m going to do empty club soda bottles (which we have) and his foam ball “gun” to make it inside friendly. Got an idea for the cake that had you melt life saver candies for the top of the Portal of Power into a disk (used a 9″ aluminum pie pan, popped right out when cooled. Going to put that on top the cake with a light under neath to make the cake portal light up (found $2 light up bracelet that has 3 modes on the $1 pegs at the store). Made the invites myself by cutting/pasting images since I only needed 4 invites. Going to decorate with blue/green balloons and blue streamers. Thanks for the ideas above. I’ve got cute blue/white paper straws and haven’t figured out drinks yet. Will have to pick out a bottle drink of some sort to use those. Like that idea. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful Skylanders party ideas. We used them to help plan my son’s 8th birthday party.
http://keithaschaos.blogspot.com/2014/04/skylanders-party-prep.html
You are welcome Keitha! So glad you found me. Hope your party is a blast!
MY SOON TO BE 5 YO WANTS A SKYLANDERS PARTY AND I’VE BEEN STUMPED ON A LOT OF THINGS. ALL I HAVE ARE TABLECLOTHS AND PARTY FAVORS SO FAR. THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR IDEAS! I’M QUITE EXCITED NOW! BTW, PUNCHBOWL NOW HAS ONLINE INVITES WITH A SKYLANDERS THEME, FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SEND THEM OUT ELECTRONICALLY. THERE ARE FREE ONES AS WELL AS OTHERS THAT COST SOME $.
Thank you for these AMAZING ideas! My (soon-to-be) six year old wants a Skylanders birthday party, and I have NO idea what they even are 🙂
This is a great model of ideas… SO CUTE and FUN!
thanks for the inspiration
You are welcome Anna! I hope it’s a blast for your little one!
So cool. My son wanted a Skylanders party and we got all of the activities from here. You’re a lifesaver Amy!!
Hello! This party is fantastic!
where did you buy the element stickers for the gumball favor?
I’m not sure it I missed in the above postings.
Thank you!
Hi Amy, can u tell me if the Prism Break pretzels were bought via a specific vendor or u did them yourself?
Hi Sandy! I made the pretzels myself….I just took large sourdough pretzels and dipped them in melted green candy melts. (A tip, I added a scoop of paramount crystals to help make the candy melts thinner and easier to dip into). Then before the candy hardened, I sprinkled them with green rock candy crystals. You then put them in the refrigerator to harden. They are super easy to make and yummy!
Hello Amy! I am planning a Skylanders Party for my sons 9th birthday. I am wondering if there is somewhere I can purchase the signs/or printables you have made for each game. I’m in LOVE!!! You did such a great job! I love all of your ideas and creativity!
Hey Jill! You are too sweet! Here is a link to what I have: https://amyspartyideas.com/product-category/skylanders/ I haven’t had a chance to update all of the listings yet so just let me know when you order, your personalization details. I will be happy to customize them for you. And let me know if you have any questions or if you need something else you don’t see. Thanks again! Amy