Mario Party!

Saturday was L's Super Mario Bros. birthday party. It was a blast. Here were some highlights in pictures:

Super Mario Party: Luma cake, and toadstool cupcakes.

Super Mario Party: Luma and Yoshi egg cookies.

Super Mario Party: Cookies, cupcakes, & candy.

Super Mario Party: Living room decorations.

Here's a pic of the big kids, having fun with the mustaches on a stick, from Living Locurto.

Opening Presents!

My niece, bravely holding the brick pinata while the kids punch it. 

Super Mario Party: Loot for the guests.

Be sure to check out my previous posts about the party to find links to cool templates and other related ideas.

Because I'm Insane (Mario Party)

Two days left until L's birthday party, and there's lots of cooking and cleaning to be done. The flower beds also need weeding, we have overdue library books...the usual.
Instead of doing all of that stuff, I keep thinking of fun little touches for the party decorations.

I unearthed some of my old scrapbooking punches today, and made some "Luma" and "Yoshi egg" shaped confetti to scatter around the tables. I'm pretty sure these are the kind of details no one notices, except L, but that's ok. :)

Mario Party Decor: Piranha Plants

A quick update with the latest bit of Mario party decor, piranha plants.

The little terra cotta pots, styrofoam balls, and shredded paper came from Dollar Tree. I used small craft sticks for the stems, and acrylic paint for everything.

They'll be used to decorate the tables at the party.

Super Mario Party Roundup

This week I'm putting the finishing touches on everything for L's Super Mario birthday party next weekend. I thought I'd share a roundup of fun ideas I've found, and been inspired by around the web.

Super Mario Printable Bubble Labels at Cap Creations

Super Mario Printable Play Dough at Cap Creations

Printable Mario Bingo Game at Super Mario Bingo

Sticker and T Shirt Transfers at the New Super Mario Bros. Nintendo Site

A fantastic Mario Party, with lots of cool ideas at So Wonderful, So Marvelous

Another great party with several neat ideas, and a template for a Mario and Luigi hat at Giver's Log

Awesome DIY party via orbitalpixiedust at Craftster

Several nice coloring pages at Jimbo's Coloring Pages

Yoshi Egg Hunt

L's party is quickly approaching. I've put together several simple little activities for the kids to do. One of them will be a Yoshi egg hunt in the yard. (So what if it looks suspiciously like an Easter egg hunt?) 

I picked up a couple of packages of plain white plastic eggs from Hobby Lobby, and drew green spots on them with a permanent marker. I filled them with chocolate coins, and toy plastic coins.

Yoshi egg, for our Super Mario party.

(Technically I took a few creative liberties with the game. Although both Yoshi eggs and coins are present in the Mario games, you don't get coins for finding the eggs. L, who's a stickler for technicalities was quick to point this out to me, but I don't think most other kids will notice.)

More Mario Party Stuff

I'm still working on Mario stuff for L's party. Here's the latest installation:

I was about to throw out a big popcorn can from Christmas, when I realized it looked a little like a warp pipe from the Mario games. Aha, a game!

After cleaning it up, I gave it a couple of coats of acrylic paint, and a coat of sealer. I spray painted some dollar store whiffle balls black, as  "Ba Bombs." We'll have a ball tossing game as one of the party activities. After the party, L can use it to hold toys or as a trash can in his Mario themed room.

I also made a couple of "Yoshi eggs" to put out in the yard. I got the paper mache eggs on sale at Hobby Lobby, and painted 'em, and sealed 'em. Easy, and cute.

Mario Party Decorations

After some intense Googling, I found some really neat DIY Mario parties. I loved the decorations at this party at Zakka Life, and was inspired to make some of my own. They're made of posterboard and scrapbook paper. Easy, easy, even for a nondraw-er like me.

I also found a really neat pattern at Chica and Jo's to make Koopas and Goombas. (Lots of other cool Mario stuff there too. Check it out.)

Mario Party Favors: Hats

After looking at the available readymade Mario party favors, I decided to come up with my own. Here's the first part: Mario hats for all the guests, like the one I made L for Halloween last year. I picked the hats up (on sale for about a buck each,) at Hobby Lobby. (I originally had planned to make Luigi and Mario hats, but they didn't have any green ones.)

The felt emblems were hand sewn on one afternoon last week when I was too sick to do anything other than sit in the bed all day.

Easiest Pinata Ever

I've been Googling fun ideas for L's Mario birthday party, and have found some great ones, which I'll be sharing over the coming months.
One of the ideas I saw came a great party post at Giver's Log. The idea was to make a "pinata," minus the paper mache, out of a cardboard box. It's decorated to look like bricks, which the party guests can then punch, a la Mario, instead of whack with a stick.

I made my version out of a huge Cheerios box. With a ruler, about a dollar's worth of acrylic paint, and a yardstick, I was able to make a passable block of bricks.

It will be filled with plastic coins, Mario fruit snacks from Target, and Mario gummis I found at Dollar Tree.

Fun, super easy, and it cost about a buck.

Huge Mario Stocking

So I never actually got around to taking a picture of L's Mario stocking before Christmas. I snapped a pic today, before taking it down. He basically dictated what he wanted on it, and I freehand cut them out of felt.

Next year I'll probably do something similar with whatever they're into, but I'll either sew them, or use fabric glue. The craft glue I used for this spur of the moment project wasn't very durable.

Mario Brothers Ornaments

I'm beating the proverbial dead horse here, right? More Shrinky Dink Ornaments, made in my usual fashion, by tracing the pictures.
This time, my little buddy L joined in and made a few of his own, one to keep, and one to give to a friend.

Mario Brothers Felt Board

It seems that Pokemon is slightly on the decline around here, apparently due to a new found interest in Mario Brothers. L has been spending his days building elaborate Lego sculptures of Mario characters, and drawing scenes from video games.
I remembered having seen some pretty awesome Mario projects on Craftster, and after finding this fantastically done Mario felt board, I was inspired to make one for L. My original intention was to pretty much make an exact duplicate of the one on Craftster, and give it to L for Christmas. 
Once he saw the pictures I printed for inspiration, he went crazy though, wanting one NOW. As such, I ended up using permanent markers instead of embroidery, and whatever colors of felt I had on hand, even if they weren't quite right. I also didn't have one large continuous piece of blue felt for the background, but L didn't seem to mind. He spent several happy hours playing with this set.

Pretty fun, right? I'm partial to Mario too.