It's Mario Time....Birthday stye!!!

Anthon James turned 5 yesterday. I can't believe my baby is five years old!!!!! Last year we tried to talk him into a friends party, but he wanted no part of it. This year when he said he wanted a friends party, I knew just the perfect theme................MARIO!!! Anthon has been obsessed with Super Mario Bros. since he and his sisters combined their own money to purchase it a few months ago. It's a game they play on the wii.

Anthon's favorite Super Mario character is "blue toad"---a little character that looks like a baby with a huge mushroom looking hat with blue polka dots. So he dressed as "blue toad" for the party.

When the boys arrived (8 came to the party, besides our children) they were each given a Mario hat that I made....okay, I did cut out the fabric..........and then my very kind mother sewed all of them for us. Thank you Nana!!! We drew mustaches on their faces to complete the Mario look.

Isn't this the cutest little Mario you've ever seen!!! They were all so dang cute!!! It was fun to see lots of little "Mario's" running around.

These were the "blue toad" cupcakes I made. Don't know if you can see the eyes, but they turned out pretty cute.

First the Mario's (and one "Toad") had to be trained on how to be be Mario's/Toad's. So they played Mario....Mario......Bowser---a version of duck, duck goose, so they could learn how to run away from Bowser. (Bowser is the villain in the game........a giant monster/dinosaur looking guy who steals Princess Peach.......who Micaela dressed up as for the party..........in the video game Mario and Toad have to save her)

Next in their training they had to make friends with the Yoshi's. They had to help Mama Yoshi find all of her eggs she'd lost. They went for a Yoshi egg hunt around the yard (we hid silly putty eggs I bought from the dollar store).

Then they had to learn how to ride the Yoshi's. They had Yoshi races against each other (we had 2 wiggle cars with Yoshi neck and faces added).

Next......if you're going to be a Mario/Toad, you need to learn how to break up bricks. They each took turns hitting the homemade brick pinata with their heads, and then their fists.

Lauren and her friend had fun helping at the party. They actually were extremely helpful and cute with the boys.

We opened presents a little early because one boy had to leave before the end of the party. Of course Anthon loved this part. His cousin Jacob suggested they do "heavy, heavy hang over".....I'd forgotten about this little game to play when opening presents. We played that back in the day when I went to themed birthday parties.

Next we went outside and Bowser (Dad) went and kidnapped Princess Peach (played by Micaela) and put her on a tall swing that hung over hot lava. The Mario's had to use their newly discovered skills they acquired during the training session to rescue her. We made up an obstacle course that was scattered with gold coins they collected along the way. We set this up similar to the levels that you play on the Mario wii game. Their final level----they had to break down Bowser's castle (large toy blocks we have that can be constructed into a castle) and then defeat Bowser by hitting him 10 times with balls (similar to dodge ball). Bowser fell to the ground, and the boys ran over to safely help Princess peach down. They had successfully defeated Bowser and saved the Princess. They each got a gold medal for completing their mission.

Here's Bowser, mean and scary. Matt had no voice for 2 days after this because he was growling so loud.

Little Toad blowing out his candle.

Here's a picture of the crew. It was a fun party, and I had lots of fun throwing a boy party for a change. And I think Anthon enjoyed being in the spotlight. He's made a great group of little friends recently as he just started pre-school, a playgroup, and soccer for the first time. We love our little Toad!