Our family has been going Super Mario crazy! With Super Mario halloween costumes, Super Mario trunk or treat set up, and Super Mario pregnancy announcements…it’s been a lot! When planning my son’s 6th birthday, it was no surprise that he wanted a Super Mario themed birthday party. So that’s what we did!
Decorations
For almost every party that we have at our house, I am always hanging things from the ceiling (much to Cameron’s dismay). There is just something about having levels for the eye to take in that I really like. I found these brick boxes that were very easy to assemble, and hung them with fishing line and command hooks. To sit on top of the boxes, I made fire flowers from foam sheets and plastic planters. I also found the cutest mini-piñatas that fit perfectly on top of the boxes. These mushroom lanterns made the perfect addition to the space right in front of the rainbow curtain backdrop and giant Mario ballon.
On the table I used a large red table cloth with a black and white checkered table cloth as a runner. I covered a square box with yellow paper and used a white foam sheet to make the question mark for my cake “stand”. For brick boxes on the table I just spray painted shoeboxes in a brick color and used a marker to draw the lines. These worked great to display some of the food items! I found the treat boxes here and filled them with Mario themed toys and chocolate gold coins.
Making the piranha plant was one of my favorite DIYs of the whole party! I used a thicker foam roll and cut it to the size I wanted the Mario pipe to be. I then cut a thinner pice of the foam roll to serve as the lip of the pipe and hot glued it to the larger piece. Once I rolled it all together and hot glued the seam on the back, I spray painted it green. To make the flower, I used a large foam ball which I taped off and spray painted red. I then used white foam sheets to cut triangles for the teeth and circles for the spots that were all hot glued to the foam ball. I secured it all together with skewers and wrapped them with green pipe cleaner. I then pierced the skewers into a piece of styrofoam inside the green pipe and finished it off with leaves I cut using green foam sheets.
Our breakfast nook turned into Mario cloud land with clouds that I cut out of…you guessed it…white foam sheets! I also made coins out of yellow modeling clay.
Food
The food for the party was probably the most low maintenance of any party I have hosted at our house! I covered the table with blue table cloth and the checkered runner and made food place cards with the Mario themed names for each food option (free download of food place cards below!)
Since the Super Mario movie came out, these Super Mario Oreos have been available and that’s the only kind my son will eat! Naturally I wanted to include them for the party. For the “Flower Power Brownies” I bought boxed brownie mix, poured the batter in mini muffin tins, and cooked them per the instructions on the box. I made fire flowers out of colored cardstock paper and glued the faces onto green straws that I cut in half.
I also bought cheese balls that I threw in a bowl and called them “Bowser’s Fireballs”. How easy is that!
How cute are these stars!? To make, get some rice crispy cereal and follow the instructions on the box. Once made, use a star cutter and cut out your shapes. Add eyes with black gel icing.
For a healthier option for guests I made “Piranha Fruit” by inserting green grapes on skewers and topping them off with strawberries. Before putting the strawberries on, I cut the tips of the strawberries in a “v” shape to look like an open mouth.
And you can’t forget Princess Peach! I got peach rings in bulk and threw them in a bowl. They went fast!
I loved the way the popcorn boxes turned out. The Mario mustaches were made with black foam sheets and glued on to the stripped boxes with a glue stick. I purchased a big bag of pre-popped popcorn and filled each box and called it “Plumber Pop”. I also had these fun candy kabobs made that were Super Mario themed and even included pictures of the characters. They were a hit with the kids to take home and enjoy after the party.
Entertainment
The bulk of the entertainment was a pool party. But with my son’s birthday being in October, you never know what the weather will be. So, I got backup entertainment just in case it wasn’t hot enough to be pool weather. I rented a castle bounce house which became “Bowser’s Castle”. I had a local printshop make me a 4 ft. Bowser on foam board which cost about $60. I added stakes that I got from my local hardware store and stapled gunned them to Bowser to stand in the lawn. I purchased brick patterned bulletin board paper and spray painted “Bowser’s Castle” on it after stapling it to stakes. The kids LOVED jumping around in it! They went back and forth from swimming to bouncing. It was a hit!
This was definitely one of my son’s favorite parties. It was really fun to plan with all of the colors, characters, and excitement around all things Super Mario Brothers! There was a good balance of things that I DIYed (which saved me money) and things that I purchased. If you are looking for a fun themed kid’s birthday party, this is definitely one to consider!
For a one-stop-shop to everything you need to re-create this party click HERE!
