Friday, October 21, 2011

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!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

i don't think i need to tell you how much i like ninjas and ninja paraphernalia. nice party!

Angela Nash said...

Love it Love it Love it! I did something similar with Knights and training them. But Ninjas are way more cool :)

MommaM said...

Yes! Ninjas! Such a cool party idea. Love it. :)

Heidi Grohs said...

My boys would approve ;)! FUN idea with the t-shirts! Never have thought of that!!!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Amazing!! Great idea kiddo and I'm shocked you got so much done with such little time!! Fantastic ideas! Also my favourite memories of childhood parties ALL involve those games we played at the end while waiting for parents! My mum once had us all do one where you pass a spoon on a some rope under your t-shirt, around your waist or whatever. We literally got so tangled up we had to be cut apart!!!

Su said...

Wow! If you had 16 t-shirts.... that's a lot kids in your home!!! :D Sounds like a fun party

Jen said...

Care, well done! I can't believe how creative you are with such short notice. Seriously? $2.50 per kid for all those take home items? Bravo :)

willow and moo said...

Wow! What a fabulous job! I know my 5yo would be thrilled with a party like that. I love that you've thrown a great party on a budget, but it doesn't feel 'budget' at all!

Mama Teaching 3 said...

I love the T-Shirt idea. Your one super mom! What a great day you gave him.

AddieNCE said...

I love your ideas so much! And it's so great to see that you are back for blogging since I missed you inspiring posts during the summer :)

martilindsey said...

What a great idea! I'm finding the we're having to get more creative in a weak economy. When my son was very little, there were dozens of choices at party city, etc. for themes. Now that the economy is weak, the selection has dwindled to the newest movie released.

Thanks for showing how to adapt a theme into a fun party!! Happy birthday to your son!!!!

Holly U said...

Love it! You did sn awesome job and it's so nice to see more examples of choosing creativity over the glut of licensed characters that are everywhere.

Ms Muffin said...

I just wanted to tell you that I posted a picture of my very first quilt on my blog
http://muffinsnmore.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-very-first-quilt-wow.html

And I wanted to thank you!
Without you and your blog this quilt would have never happened! Quilting never really seemed like something that I could be interested in until I came across your amazing quilts!!!
And I love this one I made! It is not really really done yet ... but now I know I can do it. Just have to order some new thread and I will finish it up completely!

Thanks so much!
Big hug,

Ursula

Wag Doll said...

What a great idea for a party - looks like the ids had a wonderful time!

Shari said...

Awesome job mom! You're definitely a party planning master to have put this together in such a short amount of time.

Joel Gardner said...

This is seriously so cool, Care. Great work. Love everything you do!

Cheryl said...

So lovely, thanks for posting! I've pinned you!

Senae said...

My daughter will be turning 7 in 2 months and is already making party plans. She's saying she wants a ninja party. I saw your ideas on pinterest and showed her, and she said that would be the "best birthday of [her] whole life". Thanks so much for sharing!! It will be fun. :)

Blogger said...

There's a chance you are qualified to get a $300 Walmart Gift Card.

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