About this time 5 years ago, I would have had my first child home for 2 days.  After my sweet little boy was finally cleared to leave the hospital, it was time for us first-time parents to figure out exactly how this parenting thing worked.

Fast forward 5 years.

Sitting before me is an adorable, smart, tall, funny, sensitive, out-going little boy.  Guess we’re doing alright with the parenting thing.

My husband thinks I went all out for Peamite Alpha’s 5th birthday, but really, I didn’t.  I had so many more ideas that I didn’t get to implement because I simply ran out of time!  (You can check out my Party Ideas board on Pinterest to see where I received a lot of  inspiration!)

To get this party started, I began with the invitation.  I found this awesome tutorial for DIY Super Mario Bros. Invitations over at Chica and Jo.

I needed 24 invitations, so I started early because I knew it would take some time to get each step done, especially since I don’t have a Cricut machine.  I didn’t have any brads or grommets for the corners, so I just glued the 3 sides down, and left the top open to slide the mushroom down into.

I realized when I attached the mushrooms to the white invitations, that I completely forgot to cut the bottom of the mushroom out on tan paper, but hey, it still looks ok.

Next, I brainstormed on what the cake should look like.  I found a lot of neat ideas.  Would you believe most of the ideas that I found were actually wedding cakes?  Not a groom’s cake…the actual wedding cake.  I found that interesting.

I liked this design the best, so this is how my version turned out:

For the characters, I used Carter’s favorites from this Super Mario Bros Mini Figures Set.  He loves playing with them now that all the cake is gone!  The ones that I didn’t use on the cake, I used as table decorations.

Also, on each of the tables, I had a package of self adhesive mustaches so the kids could channel their inner Mario or Luigi.   They were super cute on all the kids.  Here’s the birthday boy sporting his.

I was at the party store looking for decorations and such for my daughter’s princess party, when I spotted a pinata shaped like a mushroom down on a clearance shelf.  It was marked down to $5!  I had just seen a very nice, big Super Mario Bros pinata for $20.  It was nice, like I said, but I really would hate to spend $20 on something you’re eventually just going to beat to death to get candy out of when I could just spend the $5 and make it match the party decorations.

Before:

 

 

 

 

After:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite things was the backdrop that I made.  Yet again, I found the inspiration for the party backdrop from Chica and Jo.  Unfortunately, I did not buy the light blue table cloth when I was at the party store, because I thought, “I’ll just grab one at Walmart for way cheaper.”

Well, wouldn’t you know because I said that, my Walmart was out for a whole week.  I even had to go by the store the day of the party, and I checked.  Nope, still hadn’t restocked the light blue tablecloths.  I think the royal blue is nice, too.  It’s just not the exact same as the game…

Somewhere along the way…most likely on Pinterest…I saw an idea to draw Boo faces on white balloons.  Carter just loves this character, so he was super excited the whole time David and I assembled them.

I drew the face on with a Sharpie, and then taped on both sides of a triangle (so it would stick up) for the arms.  I then cut out tongues, folded the end, and the taped the folded end to the Boo’s mouth so it would look like it was sticking out!

The goody bags were made by taking 27 cent gift bags and attaching either a Mario or Luigi symbol that I made by cutting out a circle, and then using an Xacto knife to cut out the M or L so that the color showed through once glued on.

I think everyone liked all the details.  Most importantly, my five year old thought everything was “so cool.”