When it came to planning the Pusheen party food for Naomi’s 8th birthday, I knew the food needed to pull double duty. It had to look ridiculously cute to match our Pusheen and boba aesthetic, but it also had to be practical enough to feed a crowd, and I mean a crowd, we’re talking 26+ kids (and manageable enough for one tired mum to pull off without collapsing in the kitchen!).
Because we went with a “Boba & Besties” theme alongside Pusheen, it gave me so much creative freedom with the snacks and drinks. From hacking budget-friendly supermarket mud cakes into a showstopping matcha-drip cake to rolling homemade sushi and setting up a dedicated boba bar, here is every single bite and sip we served on the day!
Catering for Allergies & Food Labels
One thing that was super important to me from the start was making sure every single little guest felt safely included at the Pusheen party food table. We had kids coming who were gluten-free, dairy-free, and one child with a severe nut allergy.
Nothing breaks a child’s heart quite like going to a birthday party and discovering they can’t eat practically anything on offer! So when planning out the menu, my goal was to make as many items naturally inclusive as possible, and ensure that everyone, no matter their dietary requirement, had at least several delicious, fun treats they could safely dive into.
To make things completely stress-free for both the kids and their parents on the day, I set up custom food cards in front of every single platter clearly marked with:
- GF (Gluten-Free)
- DF (Dairy-Free)
- NF (Nut-Free)
It took away all the guesswork, stopped kids having to constantly track me down to ask what was safe, and gave parents absolute peace of mind while their children grazed happily. I’ll make these available on the Free Resource Library if you would also like to use them.
Woolies Mudcake Pusheen Boba Transformation
Every time birthday season rolls around, my favourite party trick is taking humble supermarket mud cakes and elevating them into a bakery-worthy centerpiece. This year’s Pusheen cake was easily one of my proudest kitchen rescues!
Stacking, Carving & The Semi-Naked Matcha Vibe
I picked up three classic chocolate mud cakes from Woolworths (& Aldi). To turn them into an actual boba drink cup, I stacked all three cakes on top of each other with a thin layer of chocolate buttercream between them to hold everything stable.
Once stacked tall, I took a large serrated knife and carved the sides on a gentle inward angle from top to bottom. Carving that slight taper gave the cake the signature slanted silhouette of a real boba cup, wider at the rim and narrower at the base!
To get that modern, semi-naked look in keeping with our matcha green and pastel yellow palette, I whipped up a batch of vanilla buttercream tinted with the tiniest hint of sage-green gel colouring. After coating the shaped cake, I smoothed the green buttercream all over and then went back in with a knife around the sides to scrape most of it back off. This gave it that gorgeous, rustic “baked matcha” look with the rich chocolate cake subtly peeking through!
That Chocolate Ganache Drip
For the top, I wanted a dramatic chocolate drip to mimic dark boba syrup cascading down a tea cup. I melted dark chocolate chips with warm cream to make a ganache!
My initial mix was too thick and refused to pour smoothly. So I set the bowl over a pot of hot water and gently stirred in an extra splash of warm cream to loosen the consistency. After that the ganache dripped down the sides like absolute perfection.
The Finishing Touches: Order of Decorating & Fridge Hack
Getting the final toppings on was so much fun, but with a tall cake, timing and order were everything:
- The Sprinkles: First up, I scattered colourful sprinkles all over the wet chocolate ganache top before it set.
- The Nesting Dolls: Next, I positioned a Pusheen mini nesting doll right in the center of the top deck, placing Stormy and Pip at the base on each side of the cake.
- The Boba Maltesers: Then came the “boba pearls”. I clustered both dark and milk chocolate Maltesers generously around Pusheen on top and piled them around the base of the cake.
- The Fridge Space Hack: Once the body was fully decorated, it went straight into the fridge to set! Because vertical fridge space was at an absolute premium, I held off on the tallest pieces until party time.
- The Final Details (Post-Fridge): Right before serving, I brought the cake out and inserted the wide boba straw along with the custom “Naomi is 8” two-tier pennant banner on wooden skewers.
It looked completely custom, tasted deliciously rich and fudgy, and cost a fraction of what an artisan custom cake would have set us back!
Pusheen Party Food
Pusheen Cupcakes
Because our towering boba mud cake was packed with gluten and dairy, I made a special batch of companion cupcakes right alongside it to ensure our allergy-conscious guests didn’t miss out on birthday cake! These were completely gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.
To keep things stress-free on my end, I used a store-bought allergen-friendly packet mix, swirled pretty pastel icing over the top, scattered matching sprinkles, and finished each one with a cute printable Pusheen cupcake topper. They looked so sweet and meant every child could take part in singing and eating birthday cake together!
Pusheen Cookies
These were classic sugar cookies cut into adorable Pusheen shapes! Naomi brought an official Pusheen cookbook home from her school library the second we locked in the theme. While some of the baking projects inside looked seriously intimidating, this cookie recipe felt totally manageable.
Getting the actual cat shapes cut out took a bit of DIY resourcefulness, though! I managed to track down a cat cookie cutter on Temu that happened to look identical to a lying-down Pusheen. For the standing-up cookies, I had a lucky break at Candy Time in North Lakes. I found Pusheen lollies sold in a collectible metal tin that was the absolute perfect size and profile to press straight into the rolled dough!
Full baking credit actually goes to my mum, who generously stepped in with our clever cutters and baked the entire batch for us.
Pusheen Donuts (Or Adorable Party Mice!)
The donuts were another fun idea inspired by the Pusheen cookbook, though I decided to take on this project myself!Instead of making the dough from scratch though, I took a massive shortcut and bought pre-made cinnamon ring donuts from the bakery section:
- The Ears & Paws: I trimmed tiny triangle “ears” from some mini donuts and stuck them onto the tops of each donut using a dab of melted chocolate as glue. For the little paws, I attached white chocolate chips with the flat bases facing up.
- The Grey Glaze: I melted white chocolate with a teaspoon of coconut oil to keep it silky and fluid, then mixed in the black food colouring until it reached Pusheen’s soft pastel grey.
- The Faces: Once dipped and set on parchment paper, I melted dark chocolate into a mini piping bag and piped Pusheen’s iconic closed eyes, whiskers, and smiling mouth.
They were soft, cinnamon-sweet, and definitely delicious… even if, in true DIY party fashion, they ended up looking a little more like cute little grey mice than Pusheen! I think the secret was entirely in the ear shape: mine were slightly too pointy instead of Pusheen’s signature rounded, chubby nubs. Note to self (and a pro-tip for anyone trying this at home): trim your ear pieces extra round and blunt so you don’t accidentally serve an adorable plate of party mice!
Pusheen’s Pastries
A classic party-planning pivot! When I ordered all my party groceries online, I ordered mini donuts intending to use them for our iced Pusheen donuts. When they arrived, I quickly realised they were way too small, more like donut holes! After heading into the store to grab full-sized ring donuts, I ended up using scraps of the minis for cat ears. With plenty of donut holes and leftover chocolate ganache from the cake still on hand, I dipped the mini donuts in the ganache, rolled them in chocolate sprinkles, and christened them “Pusheen’s Pastries.”
Fruit Pusheen Platter
To balance out the sweets, I built a giant Pusheen face out of fruit on a large platter. Halved green grapes formed the main cat body, with fresh blueberries mapped out for Pusheen’s stripes, eyes, and mouth. To bring her cute whiskers to life, I snapped a couple of European pretzel sticks in half and tucked them neatly into her cheeks!
I carved a slice of apple into a little boba cup, dotting extra blueberries beneath it for the pearls. I had fully intended to carve a cute little fruit straw poking out of the boba cup too, but in true chaotic party-prep fashion, time completely got away from me in the kitchen! To finish it off I added a mix of strawberries, sweet mandarins, and extra blueberries scattered around the border.
Fish in a Bowl
These turned out so darling. I layered blue jelly into individual clear plastic cups from Kmart with Swedish Fish swimming inside, paired with cute little wooden spoons. Some versions of this recipe add Nerds candy at the bottom to resemble aquarium gravel, but I skipped them to make sure this treat stayed completely gluten-free.
Meow Mix Station
I styled my three-bowl wooden serving tray as a playful “cat food” tasting bar. One bowl held jumbo Swedish Fish mixed with leftover smaller fish from the jelly bowls; the second was filled with shiny golden chocolate fish from Tom’s Confectionery Warehouse; and the third held classic Goldfish crackers.
Hairballs
Another cheeky treat made by my mum! These were little homemade chocolate and biscuit truffles. They’re traditionally rolled in desiccated coconut to look furry, but because I really don’t like coconut textures, we skipped the coating altogether.
Yarn Balls
What cat party is complete without a bit of yarn to bat around? I grabbed packs of colourful candy shoelace lollies from Candy Time and spent some time twirling, knotting, and loosely rolling them up into miniature balls of yarn. They looked ridiculously cute piled high on a serving plate and the kids loved unravelling them strand by strand!
Cat’s Whiskers
For a super quick and effortless addition that fit the feline theme, I served up tall cups of chocolate Pocky biscuit sticks as “Cat’s Whiskers.” With their slender shape and sweet chocolate coating, they looked just like little whiskers ready to go and made the easiest grab-and-go snack for little hands passing the food table.
Candy Kitty Collars
Edible fashion! I picked up tubs of nostalgic candy bead bracelets from Tom’s Confectionery Warehouse, which doubled as the sweetest wearable cat collars for the kids.
Honestly, can we just talk about Tom’s Confectionery Warehouse for a second? It is hands-down the absolute best! I had spent ages driving around and searching high and low for specific American candies and themed treats for this party and came up empty-handed everywhere else. Then I walked into Tom’s, and jaw dropped. It had literally everything you could ever want or imagine for any party theme under the sun, and so much of it available in bulk! If you’re planning a party and chasing specific novelty sweets, do yourself a huge favor: save yourself the driving, stress, and running around, and just head straight there first.
Homemade Rolled Sushi
With plenty of sweet treats on rotation, we definitely needed some savory balance on the party table. Naomi loves sushi, Pusheen loves sushi so making fresh sushi rolls was a no-brainer.
I cooked and cooled seasoned sushi rice ahead of time, laid down crisp sheets of nori, and filled them with kid-approved favorites like cucumber strips and avocado. This was my first time making sushi from scratch and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be at all.
Even if you don’t happen to have a bamboo rolling mat handy in your drawer, don’t let that stop you! You can get an equally neat, tight cylinder by rolling the nori over a sheet of baking parchment or a clean kitchen towel lined with cling wrap. Just remember to wipe your chef’s knife with a damp cloth between every cut to get those razor-sharp, cafe-style slices!
Cat Paw Pizzas
For an easy warm option, I halved gluten-free English muffins, spread them with pizza sauce, and covered them with shredded cheese. To create the cat paw pads, I baked them with one large slice of pepperoni in the centre and three smaller slices of kabana sausage lined up across the top.
Pusheen Cat-wiches
Another winner from the Pusheen cookbook that my mum kindly tackled! These were simple ham and cheese sandwiches cut into rounds, topped with a Pusheen-shaped toasted bread cutout secured right on top with a toothpick.
Scratching Posts
You can’t have a cat party without scratching posts! These were simply pretzel sticks, which I managed to track down in the international food aisle at Woolies because apparently they are European.
Pusheen Party Drinks
The Ultimate DIY Boba Bar
Without a doubt, the centerpiece of the drink station was our “Boba Bar”!
Having a hands-on drink station meant the drinks doubled as a fun, interactive party activity. The kids were so proud mixing their own customized cups:
- The Base Teas: We prepped two kid-friendly, refreshing tea bases ahead of time: a sweet Peach Iced Tea made easily with the zero-sugar Lipton SodaStream syrup mix-in, and a fruity Raspberry Tea brewed using Twinings Raspberry and Lime Cold Infusion teabags. Both were light, delicious, and super easy to whip up in big batches without caffeine or heavy sugar rushes!
- The Toppings (And a Real-Life Sourcing Lesson!): I had originally planned on strawberry popping pearls and rainbow jelly. Naively, I assumed I’d easily wander into our local Asian supermarkets the week before the party and grab them off the shelf. Well, I was sorely mistaken! The rainbow jelly was completely unavailable everywhere, and green grape was literally the only popping boba flavour I could find after visiting 4 different Asian groceries. In the end, I grabbed the green grape popping boba, cooked up classic brown sugar tapioca pearls, and swapped the jelly for pastel-coloured tapioca pearls. It worked out beautifully, but take it from me: if you’re planning a DIY boba station, save yourself the last-minute supermarket stress and order your favourite popping boba and jelly toppings online well in advance!
- The Cups: I bought our clear plastic cups with dome lids and oversized wide pastel straws on Temu, and they turned out to be the absolute perfect kid-friendly portion size! We had plenty leftover in the pack, but I made sure everyone wrote their name clearly on their cup right from the start so each guest stuck to just one (I wasn’t entirely sure how well they’d hold up otherwise!). More on that cup decorating fun over in the activities post!
The make-your-own Boba Bar was hands down one of the absolute highlights of the day. At 8 years old, the kids were so excited to feel like grown-ups sipping fancy boba tea, but the real magic was having a fun, safe space to experiment. Usually, taking a kid to an actual boba shop costs a small fortune, and if they end up picking a flavour combo they don’t like, it’s a total waste. Here, they had complete freedom to play, layer different pearls, debate which toppings went best together, and excitedly taste-test their own custom concoctions through their jumbo straws without any pressure.
Custom Pusheen Mini Water Bottles
While the boba bar was the star attraction, I always like having a simple, fail-safe hydration option on hand, especially when kids are running around outside and working up a sweat!
I grabbed a couple of multi-packs of mini water bottles from Woolies. Mini bottles are hands down my favourite party hack; full-sized 600ml bottles always end up half-drunk and scattered across the lawn, but kids usually finish these smaller sizes.
To keep them looking on-theme, I removed the original shop labels and recovered each bottle with my own custom printable wraps. I printed a mix of three cute designs to scatter across the drink tubs:
- “Happy Birthday”
- “Naomi is turning 8”
- “Welcome to the Pusheen Party”
It took only a few minutes to relabel and having them made even plain water feel like a coordinated, special party treat! I’ll add the Happy Birthday and the Welcome to the Pusheen Party variations to the Free Resources Library if you want to go grab them for yourself.
Between the towering boba mud cake, our cheeky Pusheen party food and bottomless cups of custom boba tea, all 26+ kids left with very full tummies and huge smiles!
Be sure to check out the other posts in my Pusheen Party series for all the remaining details:
- Ultimate Pusheen & Boba Party Guide: DIY Invites, Favours & Photobooth Setup
- Pusheen Birthday Party Activities Kids Will Love
Have you ever tried an easy supermarket mud cake hack for your kids’ birthdays? Let me know your favourite decorating tips in the comments below!
