Mario Party

Alex's 5th birthday has come and gone!  And for MONTHS now, he's been planning his birthday party.  With the help of Pinterest and my awesome Party Planning Committee {aka Ethan, Grace, Sophie, and Jane}, we made all his dreams come true on Saturday.  :)

For his very first "friend party," he was dead set on having a Mario theme.  He spent the last week and a half searching for Mario cakes on Pinterest, and after finding one I thought I could handle, I enlisted the help of my good friend Linsey to learn how to make fondant and conquer that new territory.  The verdict? Aside from the actual covering of the cake with the large sheet of fondant, it was really fun and not that hard!  It helped that I found the PERFECT Mario action figure set for posing on the top, and after that it was simply a matter of cutting out shapes and "gluing" them onto the cake.  {I bought premade, colored fondant for the decorations since it would be easier than mixing up a bunch of different batches of colors -- plus I was running out of time.}  Ethan helped with cutting out stars and the piranha plant flowers, and Sophie drew the eyes on the stars with a food coloring marker.  It was a real group effort.  Haha.

Along with Pinterest, we have Party City to thank for getting this Mario Party started.  So, just what were the essential elements for this five-year-old's birthday? Well, we had...

• Decorations.

 Ethan is our streamers boy.

• Party favors.

 Mario and Luigi hats plus "Princess Peach crowns" as an option for the girls.

• Food.

 Grace made the piranha plants we found on Pinterest.

Rice Krispie Treat stars were another Pinterest item.

• Activities.

 The traditional birthday banner -- which believe it or not, did not really hold this group's attention like it has with the others.  Hahahaha.

"Yoshi Egg Hunt"  -- featuring Easter eggs filled with gold Mario coins.

 Grace drew all those dots on the eggs to make them look more like Yoshi eggs.

 "Stomp the Goomba" -- and just as an FYI, the balloons were a LOT harder to pop than expected, and a bit more dangerous than you would think.  I wasn't expecting the kids to try and jump on the balloons rather stomp them with one foot.  Jumping on the balloons caused a lot of falls as the balloons rolled out from under their feet.  Whoopsie!

• Presents.

 The BEST part of the party if you ask this kid.  Hahahaha.

 He wanted to open presents as soon as everyone was here, but we managed to hold him off until after we played our games. :)

• Cake.

The back view of the cake.

 It always pains me to cut into the cake after so much time has been spent making it!!

• Friends.

 Alex invited his primary class from church -- basically all girls, and his best friend from next door, Jackson.

 I loved that Jack showed up dressed in HIS Mario shirt plus a Mario hat. :)

• And finally, a pinata.

 

 The kazoos in the party favor bags were a hit!  With the kids, that is.  Hahahaha.  For the adults?  NOT so much.

The party was a smashing success and Alex had SOOOOOOO much fun.  The best part of being a mom is seeing your kids so incredibly happy.  We finished off our day making him even happier -- a birthday dinner at McDonald's complete with playing at the PlayPlace.  :)  This kid is living the dream!!!

Happy birthday to Alex!!!  We love you!