Tristan's Super Mario 5th Birthday Party!

It's fun to watch Tristan grow up playing the same favorites we used to play when we were kids. Super Mario mania seems to have taken over again, and the bug has hit Tristan! When we asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, it was obvious - Mario.

After researching Mario party items, I came to found out not only were items scarce, but terribly expensive. So my husband, my friend Jewell, and I decided to make most everything on our own. And I have to say it turned out awesome! Tristan and his friends had a blast, and we had a blast creating everything. In the words of Matt; "this is the party I always wanted!"

We made customized Mario & Luigi hats using fleece and lots of thread & patience; We used house hold items such as a large plate and a cottage cheese top to cut out the shapes. They turned out amazing:

As you can see, my stitches weren't that great at first; it took me a few tries to get them perfect:) Jewell was much better than I was at this! It took us over 2 months to complete these. We made about 20 of them.

Oh! Oh! Oh! I completely forgot about the invitation. Tristan loved watching me paste him into the pipe!

We chose to have the party at a rented space in downtown Ventura called MovieTown, because they have a HUGE big screen TV and the kids could play all the video games they wanted. 

We used random, small boxes that I got from work and covered them in red construction paper and drew lines to make bricks for decoration. The cupcakes were simple chocolate and vanilla with vibrant food coloring mixed in the white frosting. We made our cupcake toppers and Jewell printed them on cardstock, cut them out and popped them on lollipop sticks. 

You're welcome to print out the original, the link is here. 

Next, I made Goombas! These were Tristan's favorite. 

These were really easy to make. Go to the dollar store and buy a package of styrofoam bowls and a package of plastic cups. Paint them both brown, and then hot glue the cup (upside down) into the deep part of the bowl. Then, get black and white construction paper and cut out the shapes for the teeth, eyes, and eyebrows. The kids had a blast "stomping" the Goombas at the end of the party!!

We did little embellishments like drawing a mustache on the cups, and providing stick-on mustaches for the kids (and adults!).

Jewell spent HOURS on this thing! Pin the mustache on Mario was another game we played. 

And Tristan won! :) (if you're wondering where I got his short, I had it customized by Made Cute Just 4 U, an awesome shop over at Etsy. I highly recommend them!

And then, last but not least...

The Mario Mystery Box Pinata!! We made this out of a large box, cut the bottom out and wrap it in yellow construction paper. Then cut out a question mark from white construction paper, glue it on, and then outline it with a sharpie. The bottom of the box has about 10 Trader Joe's bags (the brown bag type) stapled together and then glued to the box. This made it so the kids could "punch" the bottom just like Mario! We filled the box with gold coins (of course) and lots of candies and goodies. The kids loved it.

Another easy thing I did was make the goody bags from brown paper bags and again, construction paper (all things you can find at the dollar store). We filled them with Mario-related things and the kids used them during the mystery box pinata.

Overall it was an super-fantastic-Mario day! I still can't believe I have a 5 year old....

Lastly, here are some videos of the day!