Super Mario Party Wrapup

Just a few final things to share about Mr. S.'s Mario Brothers birthday party!

Less than an hour before party time, I decided my kids neeeeded to have some Mario brothers attire for the party! I asked each of the boys what character they wanted on their shirts. Of course Mr. S. wanted Toad, his favorite, and of course Buzz wanted a Bullet Bill. Perfection! And for JellyBean I chose Flower Power over one of the princesses. (We're just not princess-y people, you know?)
Anyway, I dug through my stash of dollar store T-shirts and found the right sizes in fun, bright colors. I printed the images on some printable iron-on transfer paper, cut them out, and ironed them on. Easy! (I use a brand you can find at JoAnn, specified as "transfer to dark." You can fit a lot of little images on just one sheet, so they go a long way.) We've already made another round of Mario Brothers theme shirts -- and I foresee more in the near future!

After the party I whipped together a little drawstring bag with a mushroom applique for Mr. S.'s Mario Brothers figures...

...and one more for the crochet mushrooms from Grandma!
(You must click over and check them out -- they are TOO fun!)


And, last but not least, this little "project" just tickles me!
I made a quick trip to the Hostess thrift store and bought Snoballs (green for Halloween, just my luck!) and some tiny cupcakes.

Add a little black gel frosting for eyes and some white frosting for spots, and you have an Extra Life Mushroom cupcake!! I cannot vouch for the, er, FLAVOR... but I think they are stinking cute!

I've had more fun than should be legal with these little party projects -- and everyone had a great time at the party! It was fun for everyone, but the creative parts were EXCEPTIONALLY fun for me. Win-win all around, I say!

More Mario Stuff

Here are a few more things I put together for Mr. S.'s Super Mario Brothers theme birthday party:

I took some super basic dollar store party hats and stuck on some Mario stickers. Easy!
I printed some Mario images on printable sticker sheets and cut them out individually. Quick, cheap, easy, fun!

For the party favor treat bags, I did the same with some mini dollar store gift bags -- three for a buck!

Inside the bags were some Mario Brothers Halloween candies (available at the dollar store and I've seen them at my local grocer), Mario fruit snacks, some cube candies I found at the dollar store (I figured cubes would be fitting for Mario!), some dollar store bubble gum rolls (slapped some stickers on those, too), chocolate coins, and some glow sticks.
Simple, cheap, and very Mario!

Now, the cake! It's Mario's 25th birthday this year, so there are Super Mario Brothers figures available in stores. I bought a little pile of figures and then turned the cake over to my sister.
She created a Mario level, complete with Fruit Roll-Up pipes, banana Now&Later question mark blocks, and giant Smarties coins. And check the chocolate bar bricks!

I have just a couple more Mario theme things to share tomorrow -- including one of my favorite creations!

A Super Mario Birthday Party

Mr. S. recently turned four, and we celebrated over the weekend with a Super Mario Brothers themed party!

Over the course of a few days I created a large scale mural for the wall, all freehand cut from dollar store posterboards. (Two sheets for a dollar!) I arranged everything to look like a level in the game, complete with the castle and flagpole at the end. The flagpole later became a pin-the-tail type of game -- Pin the flag on the flagpole!

We had to move one of our couches to accomodate the mural. To give you an idea of the scale, here's a shot of JellyBean checking out the Goomba. The mural was quite a lot of work -- but I admit I was having so much fun that it didn't feel like a lot of work to me!


Another party game I created was a "memory" or "concentration" game. The posterboard squares are about 7 1/2" square.


On the flip sides of the squares, I created more posterboard characters. Once again, a lot of work, but it didn't feel that way to me!

I have a few more fun things from the party to share -- stay tuned! :o)