Ninja Costume Party -10yr- Ninja Sword Exibition

 This party is really designed for boys, but could work if your child is a girl who is into anime or ninjas.

For the invitations, I got blank white cards and cut them into the shape of Ninja throwing stars with four points. On them, I wrote Come to Jake's 10th Birthday Party dressed as your favorite ninja. There will be games food and an appearance by real ninjas! Shh don't tell Jake. It's a surprise." The boys all came dressed as a TMNT or Naruto character or in something as simple as a makeshift ninja mask (you can learn how to make one online) and a black t-shirt. 

For our decorations we hung tinfoil ninja throwing stars from the ceiling as well as blue and green streamers (his two favorite colors.) We had Naruto (an anime about ninjas) paper plates and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles paper cups. 

The cake was chocolate with white frosting and was decorated with five plastic ninja figures (one for each party guest and one for the birthday boy) and some green sprinkles to represent their "ninja training field." The Chinese characters for "ninja strength and stealth" were written on the sides. The kids loved the idea and played with the plastic figures while they were eating the cake.  After the kids were done eating their cake the birthday boy opened his presents. Most of them were ninja- or anime-related and all very cute.

Afterwards we went outside and the boys took turns hitting a ninja pinata with a wooden practice sword covered with a layer of foam to prevent injury. I filled the pinata with fun-sized chocolate bars Laffy Taffy and Starbursts though any candy could work for this.

We then played a little "Ninja King of the Hill" by using duct tape on the ground to make a large circle. The boys put on martial arts sparring helmets (this is not necessary but you can never be too careful with ten-year-old boys) and were given a swim noodle when it was their turn to try to become "ninja king" of the hill. A kid won a match when their opponent was pushed back too far and stepped outside the circle. Each kid played five times.

We rented a "moon bounce" and organized a ninja squirtgun battle while inside. The kids were very careful not to get hurt during this part since I was clear about the safety rules of the game. 

To finish the party off perfectly we had the boys sit on the ground and watch a ninja sword demonstration. The "ninjas" were two of my martial artist friends dressed in ninja masks and black gi. The swordfight was totally choreographed and the swords were unsharpened and far away enough from the kids to remove any posible safety risks but it didn't ruin the illusion of a real ninja sword fight. The kids were all amazed by the demonstration. 

The guests all left the party with a black rubber ninja shuriken (throwing star) a booklet of temporary tattoos of Chinese/Japanese letters a Hershey bar a pair of ninja chopsticks (you can get these off ThinkGeek.com) and their plastic ninja figure from the cake. They all had a blast and Jake said it was his best birthday ever."