Zombie Apocalypse 8th Birthday party

For Myles 8th birthday he chose a zombie apocalypse theme. He has a slight obsession with pretending he is defending us against the zombie apocalypse (no we don't watch the Walking Dead).  It's kind of cute with him and his friends running around the neighborhood with their Nerf guns making sure we are all safe and secure.  So I tried to translate that into a kind of desolate zombie apocalypse dessert table and treats.  

Myles specifically asked that the party not be too gross just creepy.  He didn't want to scare any of our guests, so I focused on the zombie hands coming to get you with lots of wood and rustic elements.  

Did I mention that Myles didn't settle on a theme until two weeks before the party.  He has a hard time choosing and I had pretty much decided that we just wouldn't do a themed party for him this year and that's okay.  I constantly worry that my kids are going to expect these type of parties all the time.  Which I love doing for them but it's not always realistic.  Finally two weeks out when Myles settled on zombies I was close to throwing in the towel.  However I've wanted him to do a Halloween party for years.  His birthday is in October and what better way to celebrate.  So I figured this was my one and only chance to have a fun, creepy birthday party.  

Because of my short time span I found all of the decorations at Walmart, the Dollar Store and Michael's.  Everything else I made or had on hand.  Also because of the short time span I made all the desserts myself and tried to keep them only a little bit creepy.  

Of course we had dirt cups which were a brownie crumble and chocolate pudding parfait, with Oreo crumbs on top.  I created little green zombie hands with melted chocolate.  They did look a little like plants but the kids got the idea. 

No zombie table is complete without brain cupcakes.  These were vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry cream center.  The most delicious brains I've ever eaten. 

I tried to make these meringue bones two years ago and they all broke but this time they thankfully stayed together.  They would have probably worked as broken bones too. 

Sadly I didn't get a picture of the eyeball ice cubes I made to go in the zombie juice.  They were just ice cubes with gummy eyeballs frozen in them.  The kids loved the drinks, especially when the ice cube melted and the eyeball was floating in the bottom. 

The Creepy Coffin Brownies were just brownies cut into coffin shapes with RIP and zombie hands piped in melted chocolate. All of the leftover brownie bits made their way to our Deadly Dirt cups.

I've seen a lot of cupcake brains in a jar and I think it's a wonderful idea, but with cake, and cupcakes I wanted to have a little more variety.  That's how I came up with "Brainy Strawberry Cheesecake" in a jar.  It's just strawberry cheesecake parfait piped into the jar to look like brains.  I did tint the cheesecake filling a tiny bit pink to look more flesh like.  These brains were also delicious. 

I designed paper survival kit treat bags for the guest to load up with goodies.  We loaded them with treats that would help them survive the apocalypse such as candy shaped like body parts for "zombie bait", a set of glow in the dark fangs for their "disguise", a small bottle of bubbles for a "zombie distraction", a glow stick to help "signal for help".  

My favorite part was the wood grain chocolate cake I created on the spur of the moment the night before the party. I had plans to make a brain cake but then I started doodling with the melted chocolate I had left from the dirt cup headstone cookies and the chocolate bark was formed. Yes those are zombie hands that kind of look like plants.  My husband couldn't tell the difference, but the boys didn't seem to care. 

I had quite a few activities planned for the party but the boys ended up raiding our stash of nerf guns and running around the neighborhood fighting the zombie invasion most of the time.  I painted most of their faces with camo and they had a blast.  I was able to pull them away to play a game of "zombie brain toss" similar to hot potato, with a bag of green jelly beans.  I highly recommend reinforcing your bag so it doesn't break and spill zombie brains all over the ground. 

Happy Birthday Myles, my little zombie hunter.  

Zombie party printables

(The full Zombie theme is in the shop now:)

Credits:
Printable designs and paper decorations: Sunny by Design
Baked goods and styling: Sunny Duran

Inspiration:
Martha Stewart, Meringue bones, brain cupcakes
Running with Boys: Pudding cups with zombie hands
Living Lucurto: Brains in a jar