Chase is 5!
My firstborn is 5 years old, guys! 5!
It's true what they say, "time flies when you're having fun" and these past five years have been the best of my life. This year C had a lot more input in his birthday than usual. He's got a lot more friends now due to preschool and with that, I had to choose the perfect venue to host his 20+ little buddies and their parents/our friends. We decided to throw it at C's favourite play place, Funplex! I've posted about this place before so you may recognize it. Raj is the owner and you'll often be greeted by her at the front desk. This has been the best birthday experience we've ever had and I can't thank Raj and her family enough for being so accommodating and helpful before, during and after the event! I recommend you use their facility to host your next birthday, the prices are unbeatable and the service is extraordinary! You all already know how I feel about the place in general, it's clean and its big enough for the kids to keep busy but also they're close enough for you to see where they are at all times. On to the party details....
Chase took one look at Mario and his pals and was completely obsessed after we had played a few Youtube clips. Surprise, surprise but his favourite character is Yoshi, the dinosaur. He going back and forth between a Dinotrux or Paw Patrol birthday but after seeing Mario party supplies at our local Party City, he decided that he definitely wanted a Mario Party. So, I delivered!
When we arrived at the venue, my Mom and I quickly ran upstairs to set up while this kid, his sister and Daddy went to go play! As soon as he saw his dessert table set up, his face lit up and the biggest smile I have ever seen spread across his handsome little face! See, that's what all of this hard work is for, that smile. Worth every second I spent crafting his table.
After Christmas, we are always left with a lot of boxes! I recycled most of them to create the castle, brick wall and the flag.
I realized a few days before the party that I didn't have C's name on a banner so I contacted the company who created his custom centre pieces and they made me this! I love it and its now being used in his bedroom as part of his decor.
I've got a lot of tiered plates but none that were coloured so I popped over to Party City and found this little cardboard beauty for $8. I had some leftover prints that I found on Pinterest and hot glued them to the tiers.
The Yoshi, Bowser and Luigi "Happy 5th Birthday Chase" centre pieces were what I used on his table to add some visual character appeal and to hold his party favours (I used a floral block to keep them up!). Yoshi (his favourite) showcased the rice Krispy pops I made!
I found some great Mario themed photo props from Pinterest, too! Can you spot them?
I also made my own Piranha plants using a free printable I found off Pinterest (which I can't find anymore!), some green paper confetti to fill it and maybe some hot glue to keep the plants in the centre. I bought some green poster board and wrapped them around a big container - I suggest using something similar to a protein powder container! They're the perfect size. I cut out a smaller piece to give it a bit more dimension which I loved.
The Mario centre piece showcased the Piranha plant skewers and I made a flower power veggie dip! I owe these great ideas to good old Pinterest. Honestly, the first to go on the table were these guys - Going forward, I think I'm going to spend more time finding ways to incorporate more healthier alternatives since they were such a hit this party!
All of C's centrepieces were put into a terracotta plant pot that I had painted a light green. They were supposed to resemble a green pipe, like the ones they go through in the game to get to places!
I was originally going to go with our usual, Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake but after being recommended this Mario Cart themed cupcake cake from a good friend, I decided on it instead! It was probably the best decision for us since it was so easy to distribute to the kids and it didn't require plates or forks. C also got to keep Mario and Luigi, which was a huge bonus! I think we'll be going with cupcake cakes for a while now ;)
My Mom is such a balloon fanatic so she brought this for C! I love gliding balloons and the kids love them too - It added so much to the backdrop!
What's a castle without Mario's victory flag? This was so easy to make! I used one gift wrapper tube, a small box as its base, paint and some cardboard that I used to make the C flag and the yellow topper. Super glue was my best friend during all of my crafting!
Chase's Giveaways
I had to make two different giveaways for C this year! One for his preschool friends and the other for his party friends. For preschool I made each kid a Rice Krispy dipped pop. I made the Rice Krispies, let them cool and then dipped them into some coloured melted chocolate and added some birthday sprinkles for some fun! I put them into a clean treat bag and tied them with some ribbon. So easy and quick to do!
For C's party, I used the same giveaways I made for baby H but changed the colour of the chocolate dip. These were such a hit last year that I couldn't resist doing them again for C. Our Etsy order came with these awesome Thank You tags so I tied those to the pops and that gave it a lot of visual appeal on the table. These marshmallow pops were super easy to make. Buy some cake pop sticks, stick a marshmallow on there, dip it into a chocolate dip of choice and dip into a bowl of sprinkles, then let cool.
Happy birthday my sweet boy, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.
I love you with all of my heart, bello.
Birthday details:
Custom Mario Themed Centre Pieces & Name banner: TusCuchituras on Etsy
Mario Themed cupcake toppers: TusCuchituras on Etsy (FREE with order of Centre Pieces!)
Mario Themed Thank You Tags: TusCuchituras on Etsy (FREE with order of Centre Pieces!)
Mario Cart Themed Cupcake Cake: Save-On-Foods, Canada ($35 for 24 cupcakes!)
Red Tiered Dessert Display: Party City ($8)
Chase's Birthday Invitation: SunshiineStudio on Etsy
Mario, Luigi & Yoshi Figurines: Ebay ($15)
Mario Themed Backdrop: Party City ($7) (FREE)
Mario Gold Coins: Party City (.60 cents for a pack of 12)
Fire Power Flower Veggie Idea: Pinterest, TwinDragonFlyDesigns
Printable Mario Block Templates: Pinterest, MySupermarioBoy