Super Mario Party -11yr- Mario Hats

My son was turning 11 and wanted to have a Super Mario birthday party.  I decided that it would be fun if we pretended that we were inside the video game.  At the beginning of the party, the kids were given candy Wii controller(found at Dollar General)and told that they were going to play the game.  I then walked the kids outside, where they were transported into the game.  AS they walked outside my husband threw confetti at them and we had the Super Mario music playing.  My older daughter was wearing a plastic crown as Princess Toadstool and yelled save me Mario" as my husband King Koopa grabbed her and ran behind the house.  I explained to the kids that they were now inside the Wii and on level one and that they would have to complete four levels in order to save the princess.  Each child became a character. 

I printed pictures of the characters faces laminated them and hot glued them to a baseball hat.  For example I printed out Yoshi's face and glued it on a green hat. I also took orange felt and glued a zig-zagged strip down the middle(like on a dinosaur's back). For Mario and Luigi I made their trademark hats with the circle and letter on them(the birthday boy was of course Mario).  I also made a mushroom man hat by cutting out red felt circles on a white hat.  I also made a Bowser and King Koopa hat. My other daughter also wore a crown as Princess Peach. We only had five kids at the party but other characters could be done or you could duplicate some. The first level was stomp the Goombas. I stuffed balloons with plastic gold coins and then taped Goomba cut-outs on them. The children were also given bags and told for every five coins collected they would earn a prize.  We filled a trash bag with the Goomba balloons and then let them go while a fan was blowing them all around the yard.  The kids had fun chasing the balloons and stomping them and picking up the coins. 

The next level was find Yoshi's eggs. It was basically an Easter egg hunt.  I filled the eggs with coins and candy. Then I had a green bucket that looked liked the pipes in the game and had the kids step on it. Then I told them that this would transport them to a bonus level where they could earn extra coins. I made up a trivia game all about the birthday boy I had different categories(sports likes dislikes and hobbies) and each child got to pick a category and earn coins based on question difficulty. Then on to level three the haunted castle. I drew ghost faces on white paper mache pinatas(I took balloons put coins inside some and small pcs of candy in the others and then took strips of newspaper and covered them with a flour/water mixture and place the strips all over the balloons- once dry I stuck a pin through the harden newspaper and broke the balloons inside- lastly I painted them white) and hung them from a tree some had coins inside and some didn't. 

We played a bunch of party games(pass the bomb(a black water balloon) MarioMarioMario Luigi and red lightgreen light) the winner got to pick a ghost and break it to see if they got any coins or just candy. On the back of the tree was a sign that said "Sorry Mario but the Princess is not here". At the last level they had to defeat Bowser and King Koopa. I made an obstacle course that the kids had to make it through while my husband(King Koopa) and his brother(Bowser) threw water balloons at them. If they got hit they would have to start over. Along the course I had put ballons and some had pictures of a flower(which in the game gives fire power) stuffed inside. Once the kids found a balloon with the flower in it they could then throw water balloons back. If they hit Bowser or King Koopa the bad guy had to sit out.

Once all the kids made it they were led to the back where they saw a sign with the Princess on it that said "Thank you Mario- My hero!" and underneath it I had prize boxes hidden under a trash bag. I found yellow Chinese take-out boxes and put white questions marks on them. I put some coins and found some Mario gummies Thank card from the princess and lollipops inside. The lollipops had a construction paper hat and mustache on them to resemble Mario(found idea on-line). Then the kids traded their coins in for prizes I got at the Dollar store.The Princess then came over and invited the kids to the birthday party. We ate first we had pizza burger(my son's favorite) chips veggies and watermelon. We then played Mario on the Wii and then had cake and ice cream. 

The cake was just one I bought and put a Mario toy and mushroom mint tin on top. I found tall plastic green cups at the Dollar store(which looked like the pipes in the game) and filled them with ice cream. I had taken green spoons and placed a construction paper venous fly trap head on it(like in the game). Then had all kinds of candy toppings and sauces for the sundaes. I took one of the Mario gummies and placed it on top of the ice cream. I decorated with a bought Mario poster and homemade signs and characters. The banner said "Wii wish Victor a Super Happy 11th Birthday" I made signs for all the levels and at the end of each level had a sign that said "level complete".  I made a bomb with a black paper chain mushrooms pipes stars flower fire power question mark boxes and a scene of the game w/ my son's head on a Mario body. I basically went on-line and made the popular characters. It does take some planning but my son loves video games and loved this party! "