Last year Hank asked for a Super Mario Brothers party. I assumed there would be branded crap everywhere, so I went to Target the day before… and nothing. So I went to two more party stores, neither of which had a single Super Mario party supply. The hell, Capitalism? So, this is what I pulled together on a wing and a prayer.
I’m proudest of the power-star balloons above, which I made by adding strips of electrical tape to make the signature eyes. It took about a minute per balloon, and I felt like a genius you guys.
These gift bags were 30 cents each, and then I stuck on the little faux fur mustaches, which are just the ones you buy in packets for wearing on your face. I wrote on the Let’s Go! Mostly because I didn’t feel like struggling with my printer for four hours to make pro-looking labels.
Here’s what was in them:
These are chocolate coins. I filled the bags, folded them over, and wrote the labels.
I cut the mustaches out so they still had sticker backings on them, and then used double sided sticky tape to affix them to these tags.
The one branded thing I was able to find that was under $10 a pop. They’re fruit snacks. If I had it to do over, I’d also add a tiny branded toy of some sort, but there was no time for me to special order them. Be ye forewarned.
These cupcakes were crazy easy. I bought those candies you use to melt down and pour into molded trays. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can get them at Michaels or most any craft store or specialty food shop.) Then I just iced the cupcakes and stuck them on for a toadstool effect. You cannot screw this up.
And there you go. This year he wants a Minecraft party. So I’ll be hanging out on Pinterest for the next month or so.
Mighty Girl 
I made a 1-up cake for my little dude (with his help for the eyes): http://www.flickr.com/photos/95272747@N00/2268914170/in/photolist-4suM8Q-4YCuiF
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My son also wants a Minecraft party. I need to plan this quite soon too. Fortunately, my mom is quite skilled with cakes so at least I have that part out of the way. But I’ll have to keep pinning away for the rest of my ideas.
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I made a minecraft cake for my husband when he finished university. I made a chocolate cake, which I cut into cubes, as dirt, frosting the top ones in green for grass. Rice crispy treats, again cut into cubes, work for sand, and thin Jello jigglers, cut into square slices, work as water. It was really quite easy, though time consuming, making a cake, rice crispy treats and jello, and needed very little artistic ability.
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The stars ARE genius. Plus 100 points for you!
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Good work, Mama. I’ve done homemade Mario parties three years in a row. If he ever wants a repeat let me know, I have some links for you.
Minecraft (and Super Mario) are relatively easy because the graphics are so simple. But the two years of Indiana Jones? That was HARD, yo!
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I love this idea – too cute! Super Mario Bros is a great game for multiple generations now.
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So clever. If you’re looking for ideas, there are Minecraft cookie cutters on ThinkGeek. (I don’t advertise for them – my daughter gave them to a friend over the holidays. Big hit.) It seems like you could do some easy & amazing stamp art for a Minecraft party because of the uuber-pixillation. So curious to see what you come up with!
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