Super Mario Party -7yr- Winners get Coins

My son turned 7 and is obsessed with Super Mario Bros.  It was an easy decision to throw a Mario-themed birthday party this year. 

Invitation - A large sized clip art picture of Mario on one side, details of the party on the other, and Mario-themed clip art decorated the rest of the page.

Decorations - This had to be a low-budget endeavor, so I decided to make my own decorations, which ended up looking fantastic and all the parents were impressed.  I bought a pack of white poster board and made large pictures of flyer Mario, Luigi riding on Yoshi and Peach.  Brown butcher paper for the ground and Bowser's castle.  Colored construction paper to make mountains, question boxes, goombas, shells, mushroom, tube, pirana plant and fire flower.  All these were strategically placed on our dining room wall to picture a scene from Super Mario Bros. world one. 

Across the top was a complete line of the clouds to frame the scene. Around the rest of the house, I made question boxes, stars and red and green turtle shells and taped them all over the walls, mirrors, windows, kitchen cabinets.  These were all taped up with painter's tape on the back, which would not peel the paint. Opposite the Mario World scene, I had the food/gift table and over it I printed out a banner on the computer saying, Christian is 7 up!" with a green 1 up mushroom.  Balloons and stars completed that festive look.  Outside we had another cardboard Mario hanging from our gutter right over the front door.  The lawn was filled with cardboard mushrooms stuck in the ground with pencils taped to the back.

Games - We played a bunch of mini-games similar to Mario Party.  They earned coins (made out of yellow construction paper) for winning and got at least one coin for playing each game.  When they earned 10 coins they could trade it in for a yellow star that they could wear around the neck.  We had Bowser bowling. I wrapped unopened water bottles with a picture of Bowser. Coins for each pin knocked down.  We played Pin the Nose/Mustache on Mario.  Number of coins earned depended on how close you were.  Yoshi's Egg Relay was next.  I painted green spots on eggs and the children carried the eggs on a spoon from one point to the next.  Coins earned according to the order of crossing finish line.

Next was Goomba Stomp.  Balloons were tied to the legs and they were supposed to stomp on each other's balloons.  If their balloon was popped they could keep playing and stomp on other's balloons until all were popped.  This prevented hurt feelings from being "out." Even some of the dads wanted to play. Coins earned for each balloon they popped.  Boo was next.  I made a big Boo out of a cardboard box painted it cut out the mouth part (his mouth is open) cut holes on the two upper corners of the mouth and used bread ties to keep the mouth in place yet swing free when a ball is thrown through it.  Nailed Boo the tree.  Hit Boo get a coin.  Through the mouth earns 2 coins. 

The last one was the favorite Cheep Cheep dash.  Each child got to be Mario got to run from one side of the driveway to the other while avoiding water balloons.  If a child hits Mario they get a coin.  If Mario gets to the other side without getting hit he gets 5 coins.  It was so much fun that three dads got involved.  Costumes - No costumes were required but I did make Mario hats for each child.  Red ball caps from Michael's for a little over a dollar each (my most expensive purchase) white felt cut in a semi-circle with the letter "M" cut out of the middle glue on front of cap with tacky glue.

Party Snacks/Food - Since Mario and Luigi are Italian we had the old stand-by pizza.  Can't go wrong with that.

Cake - A friend decorated cupcakes.  They were laid out six across and four high and were decorated to look like a scene from Mario World.  Green across the bottom of the bottom row to look like grass.  Mario mountains tubes blocks question box mushroom clouds star etc.  Each child got to pick which item they wanted.  Of course Mario went to the birthday party. One more note about the cupcakes - my son has severe food allergies. He has not had a traditional cake before because of it but this year I looked up a vegan recipe and no one was the wiser!  Finally my son was able to join in the fun and not be relegated to a popsicle.

Activities - After cake and presents the kids played on the Wii.  Mario of course.  We borrowed another Wii from a friend and had 2 Wiis going at the same time so 8 could play at once. We also had a homemade pinata (paper maiche) decorated to look like Yoshi's egg.  I cut up squares of tissue paper wrapped it around the end of a pencil dipped in glue and stuck on pinata so the edges stuck up. In it were leftover candy from past parties and holidays and about 60 silly bandz which cost me four dollars.

Favors - I took brown paper bags covered with green construction paper cut to the shape of Yoshi's head and snout.  Each child's name was printed on the bottom and these were used during the games to keep their coins in.  The children got to take home their stars that they earned during the games any extra coins that did not add up to ten two mushrooms from the lawn and a homemade Mario coloring book with pages printed off the internet held together by brads from my scrapbooking stash. They also had the pinata prizes and of course they wore their Mario hats home. I plan on putting some of the decorations in my son's room after the party.  Why waste good decorations? 

I also took pictures of each child with the birthday boy in front of the decorated wall and plan to put that in the thank you note that my son will write.  After all is said and done not including the food I spent about $25 on decorations games and favors.  I simply used what I had around the house. You don't have to be fancy with food with children.  Pizza chips and drinks are fine.  Cupcakes cut down on the need for separate plates and forks.  You can plan a party on a small budget.  Simply be creative and use the internet as a resource.  My son said "It is better than the best party ever!"  That is what makes it all worth it."