This year we put our game faces on and threw a joint birthday party for Jake and Ava's birthday! Both of my kiddos have become completely obsessed with the Mario Brothers after being introduced to Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart, and Super Mario Odyssey....so it only seemed right to celebrate their birthdays together (and mom only has to do one party this year....bonus!).
When I was coming up with a vision for the party, I knew I wanted it to
be bright and colorful so I chose the red and white polka dot pattern as
my main source of color, then I used small accents of yellow/gold and
green for added pops of color. When I designed the printables I made sure that I didn't use a pattern that would complete with the table cloths and accents. Thus, I used a simple chalkboard background and added the characters and colorful font that would work well with the rest of the decorations and goodies!
A few months ago, I was looking on Target's online party decorations and came across yellow mystery box party boxes....I knew at that moment, I would have to get those for the kids party favors! They were just too cute and screamed Super Mario Brothers, plus they really unified the table with the backdrop and dessert table.
Again this year, I had to have a cake created by the talented Natalie Laskarides (as I have done for the past 2 years), but this year I wanted to have 2 cakes....one for each of my kids. This was especially important because I wanted to give them both something that would make them feel so special and was representative of them and their personalities. Ava is my little princess and loves all of the princesses in the games, but especially loves Princess Peach (she even owns the costume), therefore her cake was inspired by Princess Peach's dress and crown. Jake has loved Mario since he was 4 years old....there was something about the character that he just gravitated towards. So his cake was inspired by the game itself and has a Mario hat on top (very much like the game Super Mario Odyssey). The detail work on this cake is just phenomenal and my son's jaw dropped to the floor when he saw his cake. The best part of these cakes.... not only are they beautiful, they are delicious!
My best friend, Gabby, is always my right hand woman for all my parties, she assists me with anything I need before, during, and after the party. Each year she helps me with making the cake pops because she has got some mad baking skills and has a special talent for decorating them with such detail. This year she took on the challenge of making Boos (ghosts), Bob-ombs (bombs), and Goombas (brown mushrooms) since I really wanted to add some of the bad guy characters to the table too (she even threw in some stars and mystery boxes as a bonus!). They turned out cuter than I had imagined and they were quickly devoured!
In addition to the cake and cakepops, I always like to create cupcakes.....they are just so cute, easy to do, and kids just love them! This year, I created vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting and decorated them with a power star chocolate topper. It is just another simple way of adding fun and festive goodies to the dessert table.
Chocolate covered Oreos are always a staple at my parties and this year I knew I wanted to highlight the mustaches that are so indicative of the famous plumbers. So I created mustache chocolate covered Oreos in red and green to symbolize Mario and Luigi.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with sugar cookies! So when it comes to a birthday party, they are probably the first thing I think of when my kids tell me the theme they want. This year was no exception! As soon as they told me they wanted a Super Mario brother party, my mind went to brainstorming cookies.
I love to create cookies with the age that they are turning so it really personalizes them, so I created a number 8 cookie with the brick pattern that you see in the game (but I used a fancy gold/copper color for an added pop of gold) and included the bomb character. I also designed the number 6 cookie to resemble the pattern of the red and white mushroom (but used a fancy pearlized white) and decorated it with a power star. The other two cookies I created were the green 1Up Mushroom and the Fire Flower. I think they all worked so lovely together and the colors just unified the red and green from the Oreo platter.
When I saw that Pez offered Mario Brothers Pez dispensers, I knew I had to place those on the tables! Not only did they make great decorations, but they were fantastic party favors for the kids to take home!
Because a dessert table has so many different kinds of goodies, I like to offer to-go bags for my guests to take treats home with them. It also allows me to add to the decor with themed paper bags. The best part is that they are so easy and inexpensive to make! I just used red, green, and pink colored bags from Michael's Crafts Store and glued some printables that were designed to look like Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach's outfits.
A party isn't a party without a traditional party game! I love to do a twist on pin the tail on the donkey game. It really only seemed appropriate to pin the mustache on Mario!
My beverage station consisted of my homemade lemonade where the guests could "power up"! Let me tell you, there isn't anything like homemade lemonade....it is so fresh and refreshing!
My Super Jake and Princess Ava are very loved and they were so happy to be celebrating their birthday with family and friends. I just feel so blessed!
The Game Truck was the activity that my kids and all their friends had been counting down the hours to do! Let me just say, this trailer is the coolest....it plays up to 20 kids at once, it is air conditioned, and has an employee inside to assist the party goers with starting and operating their games and answering gaming questions. Before the children entered the truck, I provided each gamer with a VIP badge that had their name on it. This not only allowed the
kids to feel important like VIP members, but it also helped the guy
managing the game truck keep all the kids' names straight.
As you can see from their smiling and silly faces, these kids had a blast playing games on the game truck!
Pin the mustache on Mario and the pinata were two fun games played at the party that really added to entertainment and to the theme! Of course the pinata is a highlight for the kids because there is candy inside!
Cake time and blowing out the candles is always a special time for us as everyone gathers around to sing and wish them a happy birthday! These two definitely had a SUPER fun filled birthday party!
Happy 6th and 8th birthday my sweet Jake and Ava!
