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Kids come up with the most unique birthday party ideas! My daughter wanted a sushi party and we had so much fun incorporating this unique theme into every aspect of the celebration, from the decorations to the activities.
Decorations
- Faux sushi shop roof – I recycled a piece of a large cardboard box and wrapped it with black bulletin paper roll (leftover from our Halloween door). I added roof details with a white Posca paint marker.
- Japanese restaurant signs – designed in Canva, used Google Translate, and printed it at our local print shop
- Japanese red paper lanterns – link
- Faux cherry blossom – link
Activities
- I Spy Japan worksheets – link
- Candy sushi supplies:
- Fruit roll-ups
- Swedish Fish
- Sour Belts
- Twizzlers
- Gummi Worms
- Real sushi supplies:
- Sushi Jenga supplies:
- Blank wood blocks (link)
- Acrylic paint in a variety of colors (see list below)
- White Posca paint marker
- Black Sharpie pen
Other:
- Pocky and other Japanese gummies for additional party snacking
- Sushi stuffy as party favors (we got ours from Five Below but looks like they’re sold out or discontinued)
DIY Sushi Jenga Step-by-Step Tutorial:
- Paint the entire blank wood blocks with white acrylic paint
- Once dried, divide the blocks evenly into eight groups. Feel free to make less groups if you’d like. My eight groups were:
- Pink – light fish
- Dark pink – shrimp
- Red – tuna
- Orange – salmon
- Yellow – egg/tamago
- Light blue – light fish
- Black 1 – roe sushi
- Black 2 – avocado roll
- Paint the top 1/3 with the colored acrylic paint for all those listed above except Black 1 and 2. Let dry
- For Black 1 group of blocks, paint all four sides and let dry. Once dried, use orange paint and a q-tip to make orange painted dots on only the top side.
- For Black 2 group of blocks, paint the long sides plus top and bottom sides and let dry. Once dried, add green paint on the ends for the avocado.
- Once dried, add decorative design on top with the white Posca paint marker
- Once dried, add kawaii faces on the ends of your colored groups (except Black 1 and 2) using black Sharpie pen. This is an optional step. Some of the surfaces on my wooden block set was bumpy/uneven so at times, it was difficult to draw on faces.
This DIY project was a hit with the kids and I love that it’s something we can keep and play with. For less than $10 (or even more less if you already have paint!), you can have your own personalized Jenga set for less than the actual game itself! Crafting for the win! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
