Mario Inspired Birthday Party

My baby boy turned 8 last week, and he decided he wanted a Mario Kart birthday party.  Character inspired birthday parties are always tricky…we all want our kids to have unique parties, but we also want to make sure that they have the characters they love so much as a part of the festivities.  If it were up to my son, we’d have ordered every Mario item out of the Birthday Express catalog.  So, we compromised.  I think it turned out really cute, and most importantly, the birthday boy couldn’t have been more excited!

We went with a blue and red color scheme.  Perfect cupcakes were baked by my friend Alyssa from Cake Couture, with cupcake cups and food labels from The TomKat Studio.

What birthday part is complete without a birthday banner?? Sometimes when planning for a party, you have to think outside the box.  I knew I wanted to go with a blue and red color scheme, but couldn’t find any printable party collections that coordinated with what I wanted to do.  Sooooo, I came across this collection and thought I could make it work for our party.

Cowboys?? Probably not what you’d think of when scrolling around for a Mario party, but the colors were right and it was neutral enough that with just a couple of alterations, it was just what we wanted!

I’m always hearing people debate with tissue poms are in or out, whether medallions are in or out…I say they’re all in! All together! I mixed them all together and hung them from the chandelier over the table. I’ve been ordering these for the past several months from The TomKat Studio for a variety of occasions…I love when color schemes cross over from party to party.  (You’ll most certainly be seeing these again next month for my daughter’s birthday party!)

If you’re familiar with the Mario Bros. games, you’ll know that oftentimes you end up climbing up into the clouds during the game.  So, since I was going with a blue and red color scheme, I decided to pull in the colors of the clouds and sky and add pops of red.  I used a blue and white cloud print fabric as the table cloth, and used quilting batting down the center of the table as a runner to look like clouds.

The red DIY cake trays (tutorial coming on that tomorrow…I made them for $.50 each!!) looked like the “tubes” that are often seen emerging from the clouds during the game.

I love the idea of making some things and buying some things for a party in order to alleviate the stress on the party planner…you! Kids always love Lofthouse Cookies, and they come in such a wide variety of colors, you’re sure to be able to find some that will go with your party theme!

By ordering the Mario cups and plates, my son was pleased to see his favorite characters on the table, but to make it unique, I added different napkins and paper straws!

Since the table was covered with batting, I couldn’t really set the food labels directly on the table.  So, with a little bakers twine and some tape, I hung the food tags from the bottom of the cake trays…like little swings!

I had such fun planning this Mario party for my baby…and he couldn’t have been happier with the results.  He was definitely a proud birthday boy that day! It was great that we were able to plan this party together, I even had plenty of helpers when it was time to set it all up! (When it was time to clean up, was another story, however…..)

Cupcakes: Cake Couture
Party Printables: The TomKat Studio
Partyware: The TomKat Studio