Sage's Super Mario Birthday Party

Sage and I like to plan his birthday parties. He begins the day after his birthday, planning what he's going to do for the next one. At first, he thought he wanted a Goosebumps (R.L.Stine) party because that's what he was into a year ago, but shortly after Christmas he changed his mind and decided he wanted a Super Mario Bros. party. 

So we did. 

The first hour was a pool party, then we served pizza (in honor of Mario and Luigi). Next up, games!

I made these Mario, Luigi, and a Wario hats using a pattern I found here. I made them in a 2-hour sewing frenzy  the day before and I can't believe I didn't stop to take any photos of the cutting/sewing process or close-up pics of the finished products. I only had enough yellow felt to make one Princess Peach crown, but luckily only one girl wanted it. The rest wanted to wear the stick-on mustaches! 

First, the kids played a game called "Toss the Bob-omb" where they stood around the pool and threw three small balls down the floaty thing and got points based on where it landed (a sneaky way to get them to do math). The winner got a trophy and the 2nd and 3rd place winners got medals.

I was afraid the kids would think the chintzy plastic trophies (bought at the party store) and medals (found 2 days before the party at a thrift store for $1.29) were lame, but they LOVED them and oooed and ahhed over them and carried them around proudly.

 

Next the kids played "Find Princess Peach." I hid two princess peach figurines in the yard and the kids hunted for them (sadly, no pictures of this). After lots of looking and a few hints, Sage's friend Dylan found both of them and was deemed the Peach hero. He got a trophy and a medal.

The next game was called "Pop the Bob-omb." Before the party, Sage  made all these little notes with Mario symbols on them and designated prizes to go with them.

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies got, you guessed it, trophies. The star coins won you medals, the power-up mushrooms won chocolate coins, the stars won the star-shaped balloons we had as decorations (gold foil helium balloons with simple eyes hand-drawn on them). I can't remember what the turtle shell got but the flower got a real flower and the GAME OVER got nothing. Next, we rolled the notes up and inserted them into blown-up balloons, tied them, and put them in a safe place for later...

When later arrived, the balloons were scattered in the yard and after I replaced the ones that spontaneously popped in our too-dry grass, each kid ran to a balloon and popped it, then ran to me to redeem their prize. Sage's sweet friend Abby got the GAME OVER and I felt bad so I let her pop the extra one.

Now it's time for water balloons!

  Are you exhausted yet?  Wait! There's presents and cake!

(Bowser-shell cake instructions blogged in the previous post.)

 

I love that picture. Everyone looks happy. 

The kids ate their cake on quilts on the hill.

and Kali ate their leftovers.

Now for the final hurrah... a pinata! Sage made it in the week before the party, though we'd been brainstorming it for months. We spray painted a Costo Waffle box white (to hide the words) and then yellow, then Sage painted question marks on every side. We filled it with candy, chocolate coins, and medals and folded it closed on the bottom and taped for added security. Then the kids lined up and went at it in an orderly fashion.

One hit each for the first round,

Then two hits. Mild-mannered Simon smacked it like a pro and the candy went flying.

And the kids promptly scooped it up into their hats. 

and then the party was over. It was a success! No one got hurt or cried and everyone seemed to have a great time. It's hard to believe that this time last year we had a house full of moving boxes and today we had a yard full of friends.

How to make a Bowser Shell Birthday Cake

For those of you who aren't familiar with Super Mario Bros., this is Bowser:

He's the bad guy. After months of deliberation, Sage decided he wanted a Bowser shell-shaped birthday cake. The night before his party I made it. Here's how:

First, I mixed 2 boxes of cake mix and poured the batter into a cake pan, a larger pie pan, and a shallow metal mixing bowl. (Note: Bowl-shaped cakes take longer to bake.) Then I let them cool separately. Here they are before the icing:

Next, I iced the bottom layer with whitie icing...

 and the other two with green...

 

and stacked them again,

and smoothed out the icing.

Now for the spikes. I used sugar cones that I coated with light yellow icing.

It was and experiment that kind of failed at first, but I got the hang of it. (Note: Don't just try to ram the cone in. Carve circle with a spoon first and then slowly push the cone in deep.)

Bower has 10 spikes - 4 down the middle/top and three on each side.

 

(Note: Have extra cones available, there may be some casualties.)

Next, I filled a freezer bag with orange icing, cut a hole in the corner of the bag,

and squeezed an orange ring around each spike at the base.

I dyed some shaved coconut green and scattered it on the tray to look like grass, and here's the end result:

I defeated Bowser!