The night before was spent madly assembling the toadstool cake pops by Auntie Angie and myself. I was overwhelmed with memories of my little boy and the night he came. It seems like it cannot have been 6 years ago, but then again, so much has happened in his little life, that I can believe it. He has learned so much, grown so much.... It's hard to imagine fitting all that life into a 6 year old, but he loves adventures and luckily, so do I!
He woke up bright and early - so excited to open his gifts from us and from his Auntie and Uncle. He knew what the big one was - kind of hard to disguise a bey blade stadium. He also got some legos, a cool transformer thingy, and some more bey blades. The boys also both got shirts to wear for the Mario party.
While Brian, Angie, Nick and the little boys headed to Uma and Upa's to start setting up the party, Ethan and I went and ran the Kitsap Family Fun Run. He was a little nervous - hadn't ever run that far or experienced a race. We talked about how our goal was just to finish. He didn't need to be concerned about beating anyone or trying to get to the front, just about finishing it. I figured I'd have to drag him for part of it and that he'd give up at some point and I'd be the heroic person carrying him to the finish line.
Apparently I forgot he is six now. He left me in the dust in the first turn and never really looked back. See, he's all grown up now and doesn't need Mom to propel him. He can do that all on his own.
On our way to the party, we talked about goals for this 6-year old year of his life. He has 3. 1) Learn to read chapter books. 2) Learn to add with hundreds. 3) Learn to swim by himself. All reasonable and awesome.
And then it was time.... We got to the U's with about an hour and a half till party time.... The stage was already set, we just had to lay out all the pieces.... (Please see the end of the post for credits to other blogs I used for ideas - I'm not so creative that I figured all this out myself!)
The first table held the visors, fake mustaches, and mario fruit snacks... This was where I got to hang out to help kids get suited up.
The chain chomp pinata turned out awesome and was a good example of teamwork for Brian and I. I made the pinata and he painted it... And I loved it... The problem was that Lucas really loved it too. Apparently it became his "best friend" which led to a rather emotional outburst later in the party....
The folly became Princess Peach's castle - guarded by ghosts!
We took a quick time out in setting up to visit with Nana and open gifts from her and my parents.
The little boys loved watching Ethan open his gifts and Ethan was thrilled with it all. He sure is a lucky kid!
The cake turned out awesome! We ordered a Costco cake (because you can't beat the taste+deal) with no design - just the letterning. Then I bought some Mario figurines (which are just toys after) and used some of the candy melt stars we used in the favor bags. Too cute!
It was a whirlwind once people started coming. We had hidden a bunch of gold coins in the woods behind the house and the kids got suited up in hats and mustaches and headed down to find them. It was a good icebreaker and way to get all 20ish kids busy.
I seriously loved putting mustaches on the kids. Hilarious. And so glad no one took a picture of me!
You could just see Ethan's face light up as all his friends arrived to celebrate!
Some people looked a little creepy in their mustaches, but what're you going to do?!
My favorite part of big parties is how so many kids can come together from different places, have one kid in common, and get along like they all knew each other forever. Crazy awesome! I think we adults should study it!
For dinner, my mom made her excellent spaghetti sauce with meatballs and breadsticks. Since it was a LOT of people to feed, she figured out how to use crockpots to keep us all fed. And the food was a hit for most everybody. And looking at their faces, I was glad the rain held off and we could be outside!
Being the teacher I am, I have a lot of fun planning games and activities for the kids. Unfortunately my camera got smudged and the remaining pictures aren't great, but you get the idea.
I pulled the kids together and explained that Princess Peach had been kidnapped and we had a few different things we needed to do to rescue her.
The first thing that we had to do was "Save Yoshi's Eggs!" I took 24 raw eggs, drew green spots on them, and had the kids do an old-fashioned raw egg toss. There were a few plastic eggs for those too scared, but the kids did great. No one got too gross, though one kid got hit in the head by his dad :).
Next stop was the Chain Chomp. We didn't even think he'd hold candy - but he lasted through three hitters! As soon as the candy went down, the kids swarmed and Lucas sobbed - overwhelmed by the crowd and sad for his "best friend" to be destroyed.
The next stop was the big "Level" - the obstacle course......
First stop was the Goomba forest. We had balloon Goombas (which I don't have a picture of - boo!) that they had to stomp... From there they had to get in a Mario Kart (the cars from his party last year) and make a lap around the garden....
Then into a Yoshi (blow up pool toy) and to the playground where you went down the slide and through the tunnel (dog training toy)....
Then it was down to the woods where Brian was hiding as Bowser... The kids had to hit him with a water balloon while dodging his balloons firing back....
Then finally they had to encounter Nick as the ghost. Just as in the game, if the ghost was facing them, they had to freeze and could only run if he was turned around.... He was actually kind of freaky....
If they made it through, there was a prize at the end! Princess Peach (Miss Elizabeth!) was handing out the cake pops to the kids.
It was a riot to watch them and I know Ethan had a blast going through. Brian looked a little beat up and wet, but he even had fun! Lucas was concerned about his afterward, but he managed fine.
Then it was time for cake and I was so impressed at how much of that cake we decimated!
He was spoiled by all his friends and has had a great time digging through the gifts - loves each and every one!
But I think his favorite part was just having all his friends together to play. So while 40 people may have been a bit much in theory, when it's 40 people that all love your kid - it's worth it!
The kids took home bags with a question mark block (printed from the internet) on the front, some Mario goods and plastic Easter eggs filled with jelly beans, colored to look like Yoshi's eggs. They also included candy melt stars (like on the cake).
You know what else was cool?! We had brought the Wii and the Mario games to have for the kids to play, but they never even asked. They were too busy playing out the Mario scenes in real life and playing together. That makes me happy!
What a fun day! I know my sister in law took a bunch of photos as well, that will show what all we did better, and I'll post those here when I get them. Thanks Angie and Nick for all your help! And to my parents for helping with the food and using your house! We couldn't have pulled it off without all of you!
Here are the sites I browsed for ideas (not including just doing a google images search for Mario birthday):
http://yvonnebyattsfamilyfun.blogspot.com/2010/11/mario-birthday-party.html
http://www.behemothgaming.com/2011/05/02/the-super-mario-party/
http://www.ehow.com/list_6965554_mario-birthday-party-game-ideas.html
http://www.cuteasafox.com/2011/08/mario-and-luigi-poster-board-visors.html
http://www.cuteasafox.com/2010/09/mario-themed-birthday-party.html
1 comment:
Great job Katie! It looks seriously awesome!
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