For the final part of this series, I’ll show you some of the crafts and activities the kids enjoyed at our Mario themed birthday party.

As guests arrived, we invited them to sit and make a craft. I found this helped to direct their excitement and give them something to do as people trickled in.

I was inspired in early February by this Groundhog’s Day activity. I considered the classic green pipes in the Mario games, and together with my 7 year old, adapted it to suit our party. We used green paper cups from the party store (easy to find near St. Patrick’s day); colored popsicle/craft sticks and craft foam from the dollar store; and adhesive backed white craft foam and a white paint pen from the craft store.

Each guest made their own piranha plant and attached it to the green popsicle stick. We used a craft knife to cut a small hole in the bottom of the paper cup and inserted the piranha plant inside. The boys really loved this activity. Each guest had their own take on exactly how the teeth should go.

For games we played egg and spoon races, inspired by Yoshi’s eggs. We also had PVC marshmallow shooters for some wild fun. I considered painting the PVC green, but decided since they would be close to the children’s mouths, it was best to just skip that step rather than worry about what type of paint to use. The boys didn’t mind at all. We chose a simple T shaped design rather than the more intricate designs you find on the internet. They worked pretty well, there were a few stuck mini marshmallows, but nothing the boys couldn’t resolve. We’d hoped to play this outside, but the weather was not in our favor that weekend. We played inside in the unfinished basement, and I sat out bowls of mini marshmallows in two spots on opposite sides of the room for the boys to reload. It worked fairly well. The downside of playing inside was that my husband had to vacuum up all those marshmallows when we were finished. I love that man!

Our son also chose a piñata, a tradition for our family. Instead of finding or making a piñata to fit our theme, he chose the more traditional donkey shape. I was really hoping he’d go with the theme, because I found this great idea for a Chomp piñata, adapted from a store bought ball shaped piñata. Oh well, it’s was his party, and they all enjoyed the piñata. Let’s face it, kids don’t really care what it looks like as long as candy falls out of it.

If you are looking to plan a Mario birthday party yourself, don’t forget to check out these two great blog posts which really inspired me: Super Mario 1st Birthday Party Theme and Super Mario Birthday Party.

First up, the hats. What began as the bartering chip for an “at home” party became the centerpiece of the whole theme. Last October, I created Mario and Luigi hats for Halloween costumes. I told the birthday boy I would make a hat for each of his friends IF he agreed to a party in our home. He countered that the girls invited should have Princess Peach style crowns. I agreed, on the condition that we only invite a few children, 1 for each year of his age, and his brothers were automatically invited as well. The terms were accepted by all parties and I began crocheting hats in February.

I used the same pattern I used last fall, Mary Jane Hall’s Purple Newsboy Cap. This time I chose the Caron One Pound yarn in the scarlet color. I caught it on sale for about $5 a skein (pound) and I was able to make 4-5 hats out of each skein. Quite the deal! Also helpful is the fact the Caron One Pounds are dye lot free. That way if you run out, it’s easier to pick up a new skein without having to worry about the colors being ‘off’.

For the badge, I used acrylic felt. I grabbed a drinking glass from my kitchen cupboard that matched the size I wanted. Tracing around the edge of the glass helped to keep my circles uniform. I folded the red felt in half using the same technique you would to cut out a heart, and I free handed the letter M. On my original hats, I hand stitched the badges to the hat, but since we were making so many, I opted for hot glue as a quick solution. They turned out just fine. One tip: if you use hot glue, make sure to place some newspaper inside the hat so the hot glue doesn’t accidentally drip onto the back portion of the hat. It’s possible that it might render the hat unwearable if you miss this step.

For the Princess Peach crowns, I found a lovely tutorial from Juicy Bits and just adapted it to mimic Peach’s design.

The birthday boy chose a “Fire Mario” design for his hat, it was made with Red Heart Super Saver in white and the badge is the inverse of the others, a white letter on a field of red.

The hats were a huge hit and all the guests were thrilled to have a special hat to take home with them!

Join me later this week for details on the food and party activities.