For his 6th birthday, my son asked for a Mario Party-themed birthday party. Today, I’m sharing some of the details to give you some party-planning inspiration. I hope you’ll find some ideas on how to throw a party your kids will love (and how to get your family involved in the party planning to make it a stress-free experience).
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First, we did some research to get some party inspiration. I couldn’t think of a better way to gain party planning intel than to watch Super Mario Party in action. Let’s be honest…I was the only one researching. The kids just loved an excuse to play Mario Party!
Decorate
I try to get my kids involved in the party prep as much as possible. Our favorite part of the whole process is decorating because it really gets us in the partying mood! I had the kids place Mario themed stickers around the house. I loved that they were removable and repositionable so we used them to decorate his room after the party!
It was so much fun to get the whole family involved in the party preparation. In fact, my husband and my son worked together to DIY a Mario party staple: a giant star pinata!
Food
There are a couple of ways you can go with birthday party food. You can either a) spend hours and hours making tons of food that the kids attending might eat or b) save yourself the stress and do something quick and easy. We chose to go with pizza because, honestly, what child doesn’t like pizza! Unless you are throwing a big soiree for adults, I highly recommend going the simpler route.
Mario Party Games
No kid’s birthday party is complete without some fun party games! Since this was a Mario Party-themed party, I thought it was only fitting to recreate Mario Party with some mini-games. I gathered the birthday party attendees up and gave them their mission: The evil Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach! It was up to Team Mario and Team Luigi (read: the partygoers) to save her by going on an adventure and completing a few mini-games. We set up large multi-colored dots to serve as our Mario Party board map. In order to move their cars cross the board map, the kids rolled dice to find out what mini-games they would be playing! We played games like:
- Hot Potato – Such a classic! The kids really got into this one. We passed the potato until there was one person left standing. The winning team got an extra roll!
- Target Practice – The kids channeled their inner archer by competing for the most points. The person with the most points could choose to switch someone on their team for another person.
- Marble Race – The object of this game was for the kids to line up and get as many marbles as possible from one end of the line to the other. We used a pool noodle to make the ramp and they had to pass the ramp pieces down the line quickly in order to keep the marble rolling.
- Water Balloon Smash – This was a perfect activity for a summer birthday party! Basically, it’s baseball with water balloons.
In the end, Team Luigi was the first one to rescue Princess Peach from the grips of the evil Bowser!
Party Classics
After we wrapped up the Mini-Game event, it was time for two birthday party classics: a piñata and a Mario Party themed cake.
As if they hadn’t had enough Mario Party, the kids wrapped up the day with a round of the Mario Party video game. The whole family had a blast. We want to create memories that last a lifetime with our kiddos and I hope that his party goes down as a treasured memory!
What birthday party theme has your child requested? Comment below and let me know what you are planning to do!
If you want to see how the party went down check out the video here.
Do you like themed parties? They’re a ton of work, but I always feel proud of myself when I see it all come together. My favorite party to date has been my daughter’s Harry Potter Party.
-Janice
