Tade's Mario Party

For several months I asked Tade what kind of birthday party he wanted.  Other than a Bakugan party he never had any strong feelings toward one theme or another.  I did not want to throw a Bakugan party so I finally cam up with the idea of a Super Mario Bros. party.  We had just recently got the game for the Wii and Tade loved it.  When I mentioned doing a Mario party his face lite up.  We had a winner.  There is not much out there in the stores or on the internet for throwing a Mario party.  I was lucky enough to come across someone else's blog who threw the party and I just copied their ideas.  So this party is in no way my own creativity.  For those of you who don't know Mario this might not be so fun, but for those of you who do I think all this turned out pretty dang cute.  This will be kind of a tutorial post for those who might want to steal some ideas for a Super Mario Bros. party of their own.  I know I was sure glad that one family posted their party because I know I wouldn't have been able to come up with these easy and affordable ideas on my own.

The invitations

I printed out pictures of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach and glued them on the bags to make the goody bags.  The Mario and Luigi hats came from an EASY pattern I found online.  Then I got the princess crowns from the party store.  The cake is supposed to be a 1-UP mushroom.  I must admit I did not put as much effort into this cake as I usually do.  The pinata is Chain Chomp (another idea I found online).  I went to the party store and found a damaged round pinata then talked the price down.  The pinata used to be a disco ball that I was going to transform into chain chomp, but then my dad took over and created it instead.  Thanks dad, it turned out better than what I would have done an saved me a ton of time.

This was one of  the party favors.  I just printed and glued the mushroom onto a notepad.  There were also crayons, bubbles (because you can put yourself in a bubble in the game), and other party favors I tried to relate to the Wii Mario game.

For decorations I used mostly stars.  I mentioned there were no Mario party things out there so I had to find generic items related to the game.  Stars were the easiest thing to find.  There was one party site that had a couple Mario items like plates, napkins and the could balloons so I did have a couple real Mario things.

Most of the party crew.  I just love how the hats and crowns turned out.  The kids actually kept them on the whole party.

The first game we played was find Princess Peach.  There were hidden clues leading to a picture of the Princess.  The kids ran around inside and outside looking for the clues.

In the end they found the Princess.

The next game was Goomba Stomp.

We filled, well Jake filled, brown balloons with gold coins.  Then the kids had to stomp on them to get the coins.  Every game we played have gold coins involved because you get gold coins for everything in the Mario Bros. Wii game.  These balloons were the ones from behind the balloon counter at the party store.  They were a lot stronger than your average balloon.  The kids kept bouncing off the balloons instead of breaking them.  They were a smart bunch and found other ways the pop the balloons to get to the coins.

Yoshi Egg Hunt

In the Wii Mario game Yoshi comes out of a spotted egg.  I was lucky enough to find spotted easter eggs online.  I filled the eggs with coins and hid them around the backyard.  The kids then went on an egg hunt.  There were able to keep the eggs and coins for their goodie bag.

Mario Madness

For Mario Madness we set up our little moon bounce and put about 200 balls in it.  The kids then had to collect 10 balls each and trade them in for coins.  We also let them keep a couple of the balls for their goodie bags.

Chain Chomp Pinata

The pinata turned out so good.  The kids got several turns each to hit it before it fell to the ground.  That's what I've found with pinatas.  They never break before they detach from their hanging thing.

Collecting the loot.  It was filled with candy and of course gold coins.

Jake had fun with the broken pinata afterwards.  He reminded me of Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Then came the mushroom cake and ice cream.  I made the cake out of the giant cupcake pan I borrowed from a friend.  I chose to do the green 1-UP mushroom as opposed to the red (get bigger) mushroom because true red frosting is beyond a pain to make.  Plus it gets on everything.

The kids seemed to be having fun and enjoying things.

Most of Tade's toys were Bakugans which he of course didn't mind at all.

Breaking out the toys with his bud Kaan.

Tade had a good group of both school and church friends at his party.  They were a little crazy, but that just shows how much fun they were having together.

At the end of the party each kid got a power star for coming plus their goody bag things.  Tade was so happy with the Mario theme and that his friends got to come share it with him.

Field Day

Tade had his first field day on friday.  I don't know who was more excited me or him.  I have such wonderful memories of my field days.  I wanted Tade to have those same memories.  Things have changed quite a bit though.  There were a million more centers and it wasn't nearly as competitive as it used to be.  No ribbons were given out for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.  That didn't matter to Tade.  He had a great time.  I volunteered to help in the morning so I could see Tade and just to be involved.  I was in charge of the tattoo station.  They figured since I was pregnant they needed to put me at a simple station under a tree.  I told them if it helped put me into labor I would go anywhere.  As the kids passed through my station it was nice seeing all of them smiling and enjoying the day.  The weather, while hot, was very manageable.  The bugs on the other hand could have waited one more week to make their appearance.

Juggling with scarves.

This is Sophie.  She's pretty much all we've heard about all year from Tade.  At least he's consistent with the blonds.

This was my tattoo station.  Each kid got an Eagle tattoo to put on.

Then I was able to turn on the sprinkler for a couple minutes to cool them off.  This was not an official station, but I think it was every classes favorite thing of the day.

Fire Station

A couple days before Tade's birthday Seth had a preschool field trip to the fire station.  Then the weekend happened, Tade's birthday, and then his party so blogging got put on hold.  Now I think I'm getting back on track.  Well at least until the baby comes next week and I get way behind again.

So Seth is in preschool with other kids from church.  The moms each rotate teaching.  On occasion we do field trips.  This last one was a favorite because what little boy doesn't love fire trucks and ambulances.  When we first got to the station everyone was out on a call so we had to wait outside for a while.  Then one of the ambulances came back long enough to let us in and sit in their living room area.  Then they got called out again.  So we waited.  Then a fire truck came back, but within a minute or two they too got called back out.  So once again we wait all alone in the fire station.  I told the other moms that if they didn't return soon I'd have to go into labor so we could call them back to the fire station for an emergency.  Finally the fire truck came back and we were able to get the tour with only half of our group though.  After waiting for so long several of the kids had to leave.  So in the end there were four of us left.

Seth and Dillon exploring the fire truck.  Dillon insisted on wearing his fire hat like a baseball cap.

It took Seth until the end of the tour and getting a fire hat for him to get up the courage to sit in the fire truck.  Of course at this point he didn't want to leave.

Thank you Fire Station 31 for making some little boys very happy.

My Happy 6 Year Old

Tade turned 6 yesterday.  When he turned 5 last year I don't think I was too affected, but 6 makes me feel older.  I think Tade was more excited this year also.  This is his first year having a birthday while being in school.  It is more fun sharing a birthday with all your buddies at school.

I took in cupcakes to celebrate with Tade's class.  Unfortunately they have this no homemade baked good rule so we had to bring in store bought cupcakes.  I don't know about you, but affordable store bought cupcakes are not that great.

This was the exact moment Tade turned 6 years old.  He'd been waiting all day for 6:49 EST.

We did cupcakes for school and he will have a normal cake on Saturday for his birthday party so I decided not to make a cake for the family birthday.  Instead we get a cold stone ice cream cake.  That is a store bought cake I can handle.

Great Grandma Robinson picks the best books for my boys.

I do think that Brielle's gift was one of the hits of the night.  It was all about Super Mario Bros.  She definitely knows how to make her cousin happy.  Tade got a Mario shirt, Wii remote candy dispenser, and Mario cartoons.  We're just sad Tade and Brie live 2000 miles apart because they would be so cute to watch playing Mario together and talking about it.

One of the other hit gifts was also Mario Bros. related.  They were Mario and Luigi jammies.  The picture isn't great, but I wanted Grandma Wangberg to see the excitement on Tade's face when he opened them.

Seth was making great use of Tade's gifts.

The final gift of the night is all that Tade has been asking for for over a month.  It's the How To Train Your Dragon Wii game.

I love watching kids at this age.  The excitement they show over each gift is wonderful.  It's something that fades as we get older.  Tade went to bed the happiest boy in the world.  I can't believe my little boy is growing up.

Marrakesh

For my sister's birthday we went with her and her husband and friends do an absolutely fun restaurant.  It is a Moroccan restaurant in DC and such a fun experience.  We sat on couches around a low table.  All but one dish was eaten with our hands.  Half way through the meal there was a bellie dancer.  The food was delicious, the company was great and it made for a delightful evening.

The awesome door outside Marrakesh.  They only let you in when you use the knocker.  I felt like we should have had a secret password to get in.