It’s-a Mario Time! A Super Mario Birthday Party
It’s-a Mario time! Themed parties can be a fun way to create a memorable birthday experience so when my son asked for a Mario party, I was excited to tackle the request. Enjoy these festive tips for creating a SUPER party for the special kiddo in your life!
The invitation sets the stage and establishes your party’s theme from the beginning. Etsy provides a direct link to a plethora of talented people who can customize a digital download. I recommend this invitation and then having copies printed at any photo printing service.
For a themed party, food and decorations tend to be highlighted. In preparation for my son’s party, I spent a lot of time researching food options that would hit several key points – fun, theme-related foods that would be easy to prepare and assemble and offer some reasonably healthy options to have a good balance that appeals to a variety of guests. You’ll love these (incredibly!!) easy and impactful refreshments!
Piranha Plants
These grape and strawberry skewers are adorable and fresh fruit is always a hit at parties! They are easy to assemble and offer a great way to get kids involved in the birthday preparations. For added fun, put them in a small green pot and use a foam wedge to help hold the skewers upright.
Chain Chomp
This is another healthy and creative option that is sure to be a hit. For the watermelon cutouts, pumpkin carving tools are incredibly useful!
Red/Green Mushrooms
These were a lot of fun to make, and I really enjoyed the way they turned out. I used red and green candy melts then dip skewered marshmallows into the melted candy. For the white dots on the mushroom caps, I used candy eyes turned upside down which stuck perfectly to the melted candy coating.
Mystery Blocks
What are the mystery blocks, you might ask? Quite simply these were cut-up cubes of Colby Jack cheese. The pattern of the Colby Jack gave the right white/yellow block effect and added a nice protein boost to the table!
Coins
What Mario party would be complete without a bowl full of chocolate coins? A must for any Mario party!
Princess Peach Rings
Peach rings, peaches, peachie-o’s, whatever name you know them as, they are one and the same and easily were one of the favorite items on the table!
Fire and Ice Balls
Crunchy cheese balls (Planters or Utz) are a great stand-in for fireballs. Powdered donut holes make for cool ice balls.
Yoshi Eggs
I used yogurt-covered peanuts as a bowl of Yoshi eggs and will admit I briefly considered hand-dotting green speckles on each egg with a food pen, but ultimately decided against it and they still gave off the desired effect. In hindsight, had I started planning around Easter, I might have grabbed a few bags of candy eggs at that point so if you’re planning a Mario party, consider stocking up in the coming month.
Birthday Cake
A birthday cake can tie the party together and Lynnette’s Custom Cakes and Cupcakes went above and beyond what I imagined with a stunning Mario cake! The birthday boy and I enjoy baking together, so we additionally decided to make some pull-apart cupcake cakes shaped like a red mushroom and invincibility star. Pull-apart are great for serving a crowd and I appreciate how easy they are to manipulate into a variety of shapes.
Party Favors and Other Items
Our party was an outdoor driveway party in the summer so I kept decorations to a minimum, but still found Mario-themed essentials — a tablecloth, table decor, plates, cups, napkins, and balloons — all at Party City. For party favor bags, they have some great Mario favors including the bags themselves, temporary tattoos, gold coins (which are perfect for decorating too!), and pop-ups. Our favorite was the Question Block pinata which I filled with candy and coins. I cut off the strings and instead used it as a traditional pinata, which was a smashing hit!
Whatever you choose to include in your party, remember to have fun while planning and enjoy the big day making memories when it arrives. Just remember…no one will know if it went “according to plan” or not, so roll with it and know you are a million bucks in your kiddo’s eyes!
