Ninja/Karate Party -8yr- Chinese Take Out Boxes

For my son's 8th birthday he wanted a ninja party. I started planning the party by calling the local Academy of Kung Fu and asking about party packages. I signed up for the board breaking party. Package included fee for up to 10 kids where they each learned a few kung fu moves and got to break a small board that was signed and dated by the instructor. Each child also received a kung fu headband and coupon for discounted lessons.  

Invitations. I found a toilet paper roll craft on www.dltk-kids.com that was a karate man, however I modified it some. These took a lot of time to make because of all the cutting and gluing but well worth the time. Each one had a black felt karate belt as extra embelishment. Inside each roll was a flyer giving the details of the party printed on red paper. I found a website where you can translate English to Chinese characters. At the top of the invitation was my son's name in Chinese (he thought that was cool). No one else knew this little secret but it was a nice touch.  

Decorations were simple, we went with the standard black, white, and red. The academy provided all the tablecloths, plates, napkins, and cups so all I needed to provide were balloons. 

Favors. The party favors were put into Chinese take out boxes purchased at a craft store. Each one had a couple of small ninja figures, stickers, tattoos, chop stick pencils, fortune cookies, and a colored wristband that had the words courage honor respect". Most of these goodies were found at an online martial arts supply store.  

Games and activities. All of the entertainment was led by the instructor. The lesson and board breaking was about 40 minutes. A kicking contest (to see how high) and bean bag block were done as games. After the lesson and games we ate cake and opened presents. 

Cake. This was the first party I have done that was just regular cake ice cream and drink. The cake was pretty basic. I used the Chinese character website to print "Happy Birthday Ande" in Chinese and had the bakery freehand it in black icing. I also colored and lamintated the same image from the coloring page of the karate man I used to make the invitations and had him put on the cake. All the kids thought it was pretty neat to see words written in a different language.  

The party was a huge success and the best part was that I didn't have to do much of the entertaining. Parents hung around to watch his/her child and grab some pics for the scrapbook. The party lasted about an hour and a half which was just right. Can't wait to plan party number nine.  "