Ninja Party -- Super Inexpensive!

Mr. S had his 5th birthday earlier this month, and after lots of thought decided he wanted a NINJA party. I must confess -- we threw this party together very quickly. On a Monday morning (BEFORE we had the theme) we ran to the store and got generic invitations for him to pass out to classmates at school that day. By that afternoon he had decided on the theme. The party was Thursday.

I called my brother, who is skilled in doodling, and asked him to draw me a quick ninja. I used his ninja to cut out posterboard ninja decorations for the front door

and the walls.

And, of course, at our house no birthday party is complete without T-shirts for all the guests! (Past parties with T-shirts: Super Mario Bros and Despicable Me!)
I found 16 long sleeve T-shirts, all XS, in four different colors at the dollar store. I worked my magic with my brother's ninja drawing, my printer, and some iron-on printer paper. It was a complex shape so it took a long time to cut out the ninjas, but it was most definitely worth it!

A quick rundown on games:

We started with Ninja Training. My husband was an excellent trainer, teaching them how to be quick on their feet by having them jump over a spinning sword, and teaching them how to listen well and be disciplined by playing Ninja Says. He and Mr. S even created a big obstacle course in the basement for everyone to run through -- it involved climbing over, crawling under, somersaults, and even throwing paper Chinese stars!

We played Pin the Sei Blade on the Ninja.

The cake? I thought we could make cupcakes, but Mr. S thought that didn't count for a birthday. So, the morning of the party we lucked out and found a black and red swirly-looking cake already made at Walmart. Hubs brought home some ninja legos to go on top. Perfection!

At a local toy store we found these FUN tiny dragons for 50 cents a pop. The original plan was to put them on the cupcakes, but...

...they were just right on each piece of cake!

At the END of the party, just before parents were coming to pick everyone up, we busted out the $1 foam swords (from Target!) and a huge pile of balloons, and everyone played "keep up" -- trying to keep the balloons from hitting the ground. This was everyone's favorite game -- and we saved it for the end to avoid any sword fighting among the ninjas. It worked out just perfectly!

So, to sum up: Everyone had a fantastic time. Each guest went home with a T-shirt, sword, and tiny dragon for a total of $2.50 per kid. Mr. S was beaming for days. Sounds like the perfect party to me!