If you have any contact with the modern world, then you haven’t escaped the mobile strategy game craze – whether you’re spending countless hours upgrading this and that building/weapon/character, or being bombarded with second hand information from those friends who are getting their game on and would very much like to drag in another hapless victim (you).  Even the Terminator is getting in on the action (Mobile Strike, my eye is on you).  Despite all that competition, Clash of Clans is keeping a steady grip on the top (and on your phone, time, children, soul – the usual). That may or may not have something to do with their funny commercials (seriously, watch this – or this – who doesn’t love a game with a sense of humor?). Well, that, and the fact that it’s seriously addicting – just ask your kids (though I wouldn’t expect an answer –especially if they are in the middle of a clan war – please leave a message with the wizard in the tower and they’ll get back to you).

That said, the only thing to reach them through the haze (besides a three-star attack that leaves them Flatsville) just might be the Clash of Clans birthday bash you’ve set your sights on. Down below there’s heaps of loot – from cupcakes, to invites to party games and snacks (the last one’s useful for your sanity ;))

Clash of Clans Birthday Party Invitations

Step one in-game consists of making your clan (well, there’s a bit more to it, but we’ll leave the messy details for later). So you can either spend some thinking time and come up with a badge, name and description – or live by the goblin motto and pilfer it from your child (he’ll be happy to see his own clan on the invites.)

When it comes to invites, there is a simple cheat code: Etsy (they have all you can wish for, and probably more – what with it being customizable and all). If you want to put some effort into it, you can start off with this printable template, or this one.  If you want to get A for effort, and make all the upgrades the slow way, you can start by shaping your invite like a clan badge (here is where those pilfering skills come in handy).  To spruce it up, here’s a Clash of Clans font. Now you just have to strain the think pan for some quotes – fortunately, the game is full of easily paraphrasable content, like so: “Build up your defenses and join our clan” or “join us in the upcoming clan war”, or “happy birthday (child name), level (number of years) achieved” or “epic birthday celebration clan – invite only” (you get my drift).

Clash of Clans Birthday Party Decorations

Before your clansmen arrive you need to set your Clan Castle to rights. Here’s a Goblin garland to get you started (as a bonus, you can make it into a game – make your own goblin party).  The game also has some of its own decorations that you can replicate – and just like their game brethren, your party props can be used to funnel the tiny army of invading barbarians (er, guests).  For that, you can make use of country flags, pirate flags and torches – which you can either buy or make with this easy  DIY torch tutorial.

The next step in securing your base is getting your air defenses ready. You can start with these Skeleton Trap balloons (normally, these are ground forces, as in, they spring from ground in coffins, but that’s just technicalities).  Then come the seeking air mines. You can make a mine by using a back paper lantern on which you glue black cones (also made out of paper- go figure). With the aid of some string you can attach black balloons on which you use a white marker to paint skulls.  Scatter some purple dragon plushies for extra terror points. And don’t forget to place streamers in your Clans’ color.

If you’re feeling crafty, you can have a go at this Pekka cardboard decoration – it looks great, can move its arms around (and probably take over your house, while it’s at it).

Another Clash of Clans birthday decoration idea is to make your own Wizard Tower. You can recreate it by using three boxes – start by stacking them based on decreasing size. Then you need to cover them with pink/light purple paper. The last step is to cut jagged outlines out of blue cardstock/ cardboard and glue them on – like so.  In the same crafty spirit, you can make this simple Barbarian box. And if you want to strike fear right from the door, set some Wall Breakers or Skeleton Traps (use an anatomy skeleton with a helmet and a pirate bomb, or place the skeleton in a partly open coffin).

Clash of Clans Birthday Party Table Setup

With your castle ready it’s time to set up your Army Camp. For an easy start, use the general Clash of Clans color scheme (white, gold, red) – or use the colors of your own clan – you can even print and glue the badge on the table cloth.  Next up, you spruce things up with some printables like this popcorn box or table decor .  To show your brave troops the results of their efforts, why not set up a trophy hall in the background. You can find plenty of gold plastic trophies on Amazon – you just need to print and glue a golden skull, like this (and if you want to mess with your kids, add glitter – Glam Skull FTW).

While we’re on the ‘oooh, shiny!’ page, you can make their dreams come true with sack of gems. Use a burlap sack, tie some rope loosely around it and fill it with green acrylic crystals or fake gems.  Alternatively, why not sweeten the deal and make a game box using this treasure box tutorial. You can either fill it with the aforementioned gems, or, for some added fun, put in green jell-o shots or chocolate gold coins (just make sure your own tiny goblins don’t steal them before the party begins).

For another Clash of Clans party decoration idea, you can go with an Elixir Storage punch bowl (they look so similar, there is hardly any work left for you to do). You’ll need to use a punch bowl, fill it with bright pink punch (thank you, food colorant) and add some studded bracelets round the base. In fact, if you have a square bowl, you can make it into a Dark Elixir Storage bowl – it’s that easy.

Onwards to tableware, you can get some pretty awesome shield dinner plates on Amazon, or you can make your own clan badge plates (use transparent plastic plates and glue your badge on the bottom, on the outside). For added atmosphere, if you have clash of clans figures, you can make them mount an assault on a mountain of cookies, pile of fries etc.

Don’t forget the dragon napkin holders or hog snout cups – like these , they are guaranteed to be a party riot).

Clash of Clans Costumes and Birthday Outfit Ideas

All that is left now is to prepare your hero – just like in the game, you need to build a shrine (of patience) and sacrifice some gold (or time).  One of the best easy costumes for the party is this Goblin costume, it requires, in essence, green face paint, a witch nose, a latex cap, Shrek ears and a tooth necklace (and a child that can sit still and not touch his/her face – the last two are small miracles).

You can also print out and make these character masks – Wall Breaker , Archer, Hog Rider, Goblin, Barbarian.  And if you feel more paper craft inclined, you can also accessorize them with a Barbarian sword, paper halberd  or shield.  In fact, the items are easy enough to make, that you could distribute them among your guests.  The same goes for this skull balloon bracelet which comes in two models – the easy one and the incredibly easy one – take your pick.

Back on the character costume bandwagon, you can make a simple Archer Queen costume with the aid of a green dress, a green cape, a light pink scarf tied around the middle, a purple wig and a gold crown.  For a Wall Breaker costume, you can use a skeleton print shirt and the mask above (or some face paint and a brown helmet).

Wizards are also not that hard to replicate – you will need a plain brown undershirt, a blue tunic with a hood, a wide plain belt with a gold belt replica, dark blue pants and brown shoes. Paint a round red object with orange flames and you have an instant fireball.

Another Clash of Clans costume idea is to go dressed as a dragon – you can find dragon costumes everywhere available for purchase, or you can try your hand at making one yourself following this tutorial (just use a purple hoodie instead).

For the extremely talented (mad skillz, Super Saiyan times infinity), you can try your hand at this Golem costume – it’s fantastic (and will only take a small eternity to make)

Clash of Clans Party Food and Drinks

Unfortunately, unlike in the games, your own barbarian, archer, goblin etc. hoard actually gets hungry – and then starts making demands (loudly).  Since you’re not exactly swimming in wild boars (or necessarily have the inclination to cook one), your guests will have to settle for another type of authenticity (you only hope that will not translate to their eating manners).  That being said, you can still serve hogs in a blanket. And based on all those lovely spells you’re pretty much set with drinks as well – Lightning Spell – blue soda, Healing Spell – yellow, Rage Spell – purple, Jump Spell – bright Green,  Freeze Spell – bright blue. Alternatively, you can make colored custard and serve it in “potion bottles” following the color code above.

For something more substantial, you can serve meatball cannonballs and dragon wings (spicy chicken wings). If you want to have a bit of fun you can make a graveyard taco dip (sort of like a Skeleton Trap protected base – like in that epic Halloween showdown  – anyone?). Then there is this very cute idea for Dragon sub sandwiches (you can use tortilla chips for the scales) or this Wall Breakers veggie dip.

Since your guests will probably combust if they don’t inhale some sweets, you can happily contribute to their dentists’ nervous breakdown with these Goblin doughnuts (made with green icing instead). Then there are the Golem Rocks (chocolate truffles) and the Wall Breaker bones – pretzel sticks with marshmallows dipped in white chocolate.  Ow, and let’s not forget the candied cherries fireballs.

Lastly, to come down from that epic sugar high, why not have some Witch fingers? (before assaulting the cake).

Clash of Clans Birthday cake and Cupcakes

The birthday cake is like the Town Hall, no party (or game) can start without it.  There is always the easy option of having the cake custom made – there are cake decorating shops or pastry shops that can print using edible ink (this way you also don’t have to spend an arm and a leg).  Then, there are some simple cupcake printables – holders and toppers.  You can also make your own skeleton cupcakes using marshmallows, edible ink, pretzels and white candy melts.  Another version of it are the Wall Breaker Cupcakes – you decorate them using green icing, a round candy for the bomb (black or bright pink) and a bit of fondant for the skull (you press the eyes in, color them with an edible ink market and put a small strip of brown fondant at the top to serve as a helmet).

Another Clash of Clans birthday cupcake idea is to make some Dragon cupcakes – they look great and are relatively easy to make.

If you’re looking for a cake instead, you can make a simple Clash of Clans aerial view cake with the aid of piping, like in the tutorial. If you don’t mind trying your hand at something a bit more complicated, you can make a Gold Storage with Golem cake. In fact, if you skip the golem part, the rest of the cake is not really that complicated to make, and the tutorial takes you through all the steps.  The same goes for making a Clash of Clans shield cake – following the Zelda shield tutorial. You will have to use red and light brown fondant instead of the blue one, and yellow instead of gold. For added effect, you can make an arrow out of fondant.

Moving up in difficulty, there is a Town Hall castle cake you can try your hand at. To make it resemble the Clash of Clans Town Hall you will need to add yellow and red accents, for instance, instead of the black fondant for the inside of the windows, you can use yellow, and the stones around the castle gate can be red (like the top of the turrets).

The pinnacle of achievement is this great Barbarian head cake – it requires skill and time but the results are stunning (if you meet those two requirements, why not watch the tutorial, it’s comprehensive).

Clash of Clans Party Games and activities

Your troops need to be entertained, otherwise they will start causing havoc in your home base.  Luckily, Clash of Clans happily lends itself to game adaptation – for all age groups. For the younger ones, you can start with these great coloring pages.  You can also have them make their own goblin (like in the goblin garland tutorial from the decorations section) or have them color their own clan badge.  For a more active game, they can pin the tail on the right creature – green tails go on Goblins, purple tails on Dragons, light blue/white tails on Minions, pig tails on Hogs etc.

For the older guests, you can arrange a Goblin loot race where you divide them in two teams and whichever one is the first to bring back 10 gold bags wins. The gold bags can be used for any hard to hold item – eggs on a spoon, water bowl held on the head and so on.  Damaged items don’t count (broken eggs, empty bowls).

Another Clash of Clans party game idea is to play a Clan War with water or paintball guns.  You divide them into two teams, each with a base.  Whoever captures the other’s base wins. Players are free to both defend and attack. If someone gets hit 3 times, then they’re out, unless they happen to be a healer, in which case it only takes one hit to eliminate them. A Healer can bring back a person, but only once every 3 minutes. There is a maximum number of Healers per team, and if you want, you can limit their range of effect.  For added fun, you can provide teams with items to fortify their base – wooden planks, tires (to be used as obstacles) etc.

You can also play React and Act, Clash of Clans style.  You need to brainstorm together different ideas to react to (related to Clash of Clans attacks, spells, situations etc.). These ideas get written on paper and put into a hat. One person at a time gets the chance to react – based on what they draw from the hat (they can faint, scream, facepalm etc.). The rest need to figure out what the other person was reacting to.

Probably one of the most fun games you could play is a GoWiPe – Golems, Wizards, Pekka.  It’s like a chasing game version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Golems stand on their toes and go rawrr, Wizards make wand motions with their arms and Pekkas make broad sword swinging motions.  Once everybody knows the signs, you can divide children into two teams. Each team debates what they are (Golem, Wizard or Pekka). When they are done, each team can choose a home base – they need to be at opposite sides of the field. Then the teams approach, leaving a bit of space between. At the count of three each team reenacts what they are. As soon as they do this, the winner tries to capture as many people from the losing side as they can. Once captured a person joins the team of the winner. The loser can retreat to safety in their home base. And then the process gets repeated until one team is out of members.  This determines who beats who: Pekkas beat Golems, Golems beat Wizards, Wizards beat Pekkas.

Clash of Clans Birthday Party Favors

Once your mighty warriors have exhausted themselves – and conquered everything in sight, it’s time to send them home with a bag of loot. You can start with the favor boxes themselves – here is a lovely printable, and another one. Then it’s time to fill the baggie with Clash of Clans stickers, keychains and bottle cap necklaces (Etsy or Amazon).  And let’s not forget the sugary treats like chocolate gold coins, for the goblin that lives in all of us, green gems (candy), Elixir drops (pink gumballs) and Wall Breaker bombs (black gumballs).  Then there are the Wall Breaker bones (from the party food section above) and Pekka crystal spikes made out of purple or pink rock candy sticks. Last but not least you can add some Minion claws (with blue glow in the dark sticks – so the lil’ ones can make their way home).

Clash of Clans Birthday Party Gift Ideas

We shouldn’t forget about our own hero in the process.  This is your second chance to spoil your child rotten (besides the giant themed party). You can start with Clash of Clans Mugs and drink glasses with funny quotes (to be found on our good old friend Etsy).  There are also quite a few snarky t-shirts out there – or you can have your kid decide on the design/joke himself and do a custom textile print job (the taste in gamer jokes is like the taste in art – very personal, and hard to imitate if you don’t have a clue what you’re doing).  Then there are the figurine sets and the action figure sets (and the plushies, though older kids will never own up to one, even if it’s tied to their forehead).  And we mustn’t forget about the mini weapons collection sets – after all, what good does it do to have an Archer without a bow? There are also Clash of Clans mousepads, tote bags and backpacks – and if your child is technology driven, then there are a whole host of phone cases, laptop skins and even PS4 console covers and Clash of Clans controllers.

For the true gamer, however, you can fetch a good strategy guide or, if you want to make them happy, give them a gift card (for those lovely boxes of gems) and they will forever love you.  You can even get maxed account with various Town Hall levels. And to make sure your kid doesn’t miss a game session (or school, since that seems to be important too), you can get a Clash of Clans alarm clock, with seven changing colors.