Ninjago Birthday Party Favors

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birthday, diy, favors, free printable, ninja, Ninjago

I simply had to make the kids ninja headbands when I saw a pin from (I)(L)ove(D)oing(A)ll(T)hings(C)rafty. The (free) birthday printable is from eighteen25 and something we use over and over. 

To prep your own ninja head bands, order some 1.5″ satin craft ribbon (I ordered ribbon that was too wide the first time) and print out the names of all of the party guests in 80 point Chinese Takeaway font. I had plenty of extra ribbon on hand for head bands for the adults as well. 

Tape the pages to a window, tape a strip of ribbon (approximately 36″ long) over the name, and trace with a fine point Sharpie pen. This has to be done during daylight hours, so I did it mostly on weekends and saved my origami throwing star folding for after bedtime.  Aren’t these ninja head bands adorable?!? Almost as cute as Designhermomma’s Baby Paul. 

In addition to the head bands, I sent everyone home with fortune cookies. You can get these green bags here and the free printable Ninjago green ninja favor tags at our homemade happiness.

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Lego Brick Bunting, Ninjago Decorations, and What Was Missing

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birthday, decorations, diy, Lego, ninja, Ninjago

While the Sugar High Sushi was probably my favorite part of this party, the Lego brick banner was a close second. I saw lots of cute Ninjago bunting ideas on Pinterest, but I wanted to work the Lego part of Ninjago in a bit more. Delia Creates has the perfect free printable Lego bumps and lots of other cute Lego ideas. I took her printable, turned it landscape (without auto-rotate) and printed at 137% to create two 3×4 Lego bricks per 8.5″x11″ page.

I then printed my letters in 300 point Chinese takeaway font, cut them out, and applied them to my Lego blocks with pop dots just like I did for the antique book bunting. This, like all the other banners I have created, now hangs in the birthday child’s bedroom.

We re-used lots of dragons from Chinese New Year, like this guy with the bamboo sticks and gold pipe cleaners left over from New Years Eve, and Lego dragons from the old castle sets.

The giant Lego brick back drop is made from disposable table clothes and paper plates, although I would have used Delia Create’s Lego bumps again if I had papers in the right shades. The nunchucks hanging from the chandelier were an impulse buy at Dollar Tree which basically became yet another gift for my son along with the Ninjago Green Ninja t-shirt we spotted while picking up last minute party supplies.

The balloons (weighted by ball jars filled with Legos) would have had Ninjago eyes if I hadn’t run out of time. There was also a “7” candle and a tall jar filled with Legos ala this first birthday party centerpiece, but it showed up (with my parents who were filling it) right as the party started and I didn’t grab a photo. Of course the birthday party wreath was hanging on the door to welcome our guests. You could use the same font to add your child’s initial just like we did for the Mario birthday party.

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Candy Sushi and Ninjago Party Food

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birthday, cake, candy sushi, diy, gluten-free, Green Ninja, Ninjago

My favorite part of this party was the “Sugar High Sushi” made from Rice Krispie treats, fruit leather, and candy. Rice Krispie treats remind me of my grandmother. I have her recipe in her handwriting framed and hanging in my kitchen right by my stove – which was handy as I was making so many batches after midnight the night before the party.

I ordered the Gluten Free Rice Krispies and mini marshmallows in bulk from Amazon. I used three entire boxes of Rice Krispies and part of the fourth. We only had a few left over pieces and they were all gone by the next morning. Rather than pushing the Rice Krispies, marshmallows, and butter into a pan, I created rolls in parchment paper, dividing each batch into 2-3 rolls, depending on how large you want your sushi pieces.

Once the Rice Krispie treat logs were solid, I cut them into pieces using a serrated knife. The ends looked more like the oval rice rolls used to make nigiri, and they laid nicely when cut in half to give a flat edge. Then it was time to make them look like sushi.

Obviously Swedish Fish were an important staple. I tied some fish on using Strawberry rope candy (warning: this is not gluten free). I used the darkest fruit leather I could find (since dried seaweed is black) rather than trying for a neon green. To make the fruit leather stick (even though it is a little sticky), it has to be heated. I kept a tray in my oven set to warm while working. I tore the pieces into the size I wanted, then pressed them onto the Rice Krispee treats.  To create candy caviar, I tried to make paleo (blueberry) gum drops, but I wasn’t satisfied with the consistency, so I rolled some of the extra mini marshmallows in black food dye. 

There were at least two additional trays of Sugar High Sushi – it was popular stuff! If you notice, in the bottom right hand corner, though, after several hours the red ropes untied as they dried out.  Heather has decorated some amazing cakes for us (John Deere Two and Half a Death Star) but I kind of like working in fondant. I use the recipe from A Spicy Perspective that consists of a package of melted mini marshmallows, a package of powdered sugar, shortening or butter to keep things from sticking, a bit of almond extract (my preference), and a bit of water. I free-handed all of this to create the Green Ninja from Ninjago per the birthday boy’s request.

One batch was enough to create two Green Ninja cakes and decorate three cupcakes for one of my favorite birthday traditions – a special cupcake with candles. We even do it for adults. There was even still enough fondant left over for me to snack on all day the next day – yum.

I did also use the paleo gum drop recipe to make mango Lego mini figures using this mold, but I forgot them in the freezer… We served Golden Dragon Scales (tortilla chips) and Fire Sauce (salsa), a fruit dragon made with strawberries, blueberries, and mango inspired by this that the kids ate before I could get a photo, and Salted Numchucks (pretzel sticks), along with Golden Ninja Nectar (lemonade), water, and Sensei (Wu) wine for the adults.

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Ninjago Photo Booth Prep

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birthday, diy, ninja, Ninjago, photo booth, printables

We are in full party prep mode here. I have been working on some things for a few weeks, but I am just getting them to the point where I can blog them. I can’t wait to show you the bunting for this party; I think it’s adorable.

Most of this photo booth is made possible thanks to the generosity of other bloggers providing or linking to free printables. I found the backdrop at Craft Interrupted along with a couple of the props: Sensei Wu’s beard and the word bubbles. The weapons can be found here. I printed the backdrop at 4×4, trimmed the margins and taped it all together. It will hang on a gray wall during the party. I will try to take photos of all of the kids and email those as another Thank You/favor to the guests.

For everything I printed, I simply printed on regular printer paper, cut out, taped (double sided tape) to card stock, and cut again. I printed the weapons enlarged (I believe at 300%, but looking below you can see they could be larger. The sticks on the beard and word bubbles are bamboo that was taped to the back. This was all super easy. In fact, if you look closely, you can tell that my son helped tape the weapons. The Serpentine glasses are just $1 sunglasses with hand-cut spirals glued to the lenses.

I am also making each child a personalized ninja head band to wear during the party and take home, but that is for another post.

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Star Wars Dog Party and Pool Noodle Light Sabers

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diy, dogs, gluten-free, printables, Star Wars

There were dogs in costumes….(Check out “Vader” dressed as an Ewok)

… and dogs not in costumes.

There were people in costumes….

… but I opted for the “Support Our Troops” t-shirt…

…and Leia-inspired hair style.

All of the food had Star Wars Names (PDF for your use: Star Wars food labels).

I think “Padawine” and “Boba Fett Brew” were my favorite Star Wars names by “Droid Popper” was pretty good too. “Jabba the Cupcake” was the most popular food item hands down. I wish I could give credit to someone for this idea, but I never could find an original source for the photo. We took the photo to The Flying Cupcake, and they reproduced it for us on gluten free cupcakes!

Guests even brought themed food to share.

There were Star Wars toys, movies, and decorations everywhere…

… and of course there were light sabers.

I made these with pool noodles (in our party theme colors of course)….

… cut in half with a serated knife, which was SO easy!

The handles were made with duct tape, electrician tape, and Sharpee by some sweet teens that showed up early. You can be as creative and detailed or as simple as you want with this part. We ended up with a variety of different handles.

This may be the best photo from the entire afternoon!

Monster Bash Roundup

Tags

birthday, centerpiece, color scheme, decoration, diy

There was more to this monster bash than just the monsters I made, the first birthday bunting, and the monster food and drink.

I made a centerpiece by picking out the cereal with the right color scheme for the party and displaying with a 1 candle. I used cereal because it is less expensive than candy – at least to get the right colors – and the birthday boy could actually eat it if he wanted.

Can you tell I think a color scheme is really important? Even the flowers matched the color scheme – lime green flowers!

There were balloons in all three colors. I’d intended to hang them, but I ran out of time so they were floor decorations and toys.

I couldn’t resist adding more googly eyes to my gift for the birthday boy. I also displayed his scrapbook (even though it’s not a monster theme). I caught one or two people looking through it.

I think everyone got into the theme because most of his gifts were monsters as well (not pictured: monster bowling)

And perhaps most importantly, I hired Danese Kenon to photograph the event, so I get the gift of fabulous photos to frame for my family wall.

First Birthday Bunting

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birthday, decoration, diy, pinterest

Every first birthday party needs baby photos. I liked the idea here of a guessing game of how old baby is in each photo month by month, but I knew our guests wouldn’t really participate. Instead, I used mommyinthemidwest as my “pinspiration”. Everything I needed for this project I already had at home, but if you don’t the supplies are fairly inexpensive. The most expensive part will be the patterned paper. I had a slab of patterned papers that pretty closely matched my color theme of lime, orange, and light blue.

The first step was choosing the height and width of the triangles for my bunting, which I did based off of the slab of papers that I had. I created a triangle template in pages then adjusted each of my photos behind the triangle to make sure the baby’s face fit how I wanted it to. (Here is the triangle I created: bunting template) I turned all the photos to black and white in iPhoto. There is plenty of color in the patterned paper, and I wanted the focus to be on his adorable face. I printed each picture with the triangle, so that I could cut the photo out using the triangle guide and cutting all of the background out. I did leave the hands holding him in one or two, but mostly the photos are just the baby. The triangles also had to be cut by hand, but maybe you can figure out how to cut the correct angles with your paper cutter.

Once I had the photos and the triangles cut out, I simple glued them together. My bunting is hung on a line made of three threads of embroidery floss (lime, orange, and light blue) twisted together. I used a large needle to simple “sew” it all into one line. Notice, that some of the photos are sized in a different place on the triangle. The majority are at the bottom, but some fit better a little higher. I like that it’s not all exactly the same.

For the party, I hung it over the french doors behind the dining room table (where all the food would be). After the party, I moved it to the baby’s room because it is too adorable not to keep around as long as possible.

Itsa Birthday Party! Super Mario Brothers Theme Party

Tags

birthday, decoration, diy, Mario Brothers, mustache, super mario brothers, treat bags, wreath

It all started from the idea of the cake. An 8-bit Mario made out of 143 mini cupcakes. Icing the cupcakes is what took the longest, but overall, it wasn’t so difficult. I substituted blue for his eye rather than black because I liked it better. (No one noticed).

I have two amazing friends who helped me pull this all together.
Katie made this amazing Rice Krispie treat because Rice Krispie treats are totally her thing; she makes some amazing creations. Notice our lovely Luigi-inspired party attire? Click through to find out how to make your own Mario photo frame.
And her kind boyfriend made and iced the cookies for the party favors. Here is a pdf of the Game Over tags for you to use as soon. (I’d love link backs if you blog about it)
Somehow Mina escaped the camera, so I’ll share a photo of her husband Josh instead.
Mina has an old Italian recipe for marinara and meatballs. Best marinara and meatballs EVER! Not only does it fit for the Italian plumber theme, but it also happens to be the birthday boy’s favorite meal.

Along with the spaghetti & meatballs, we served a “Toadstool and Friends Salad”
with “Yoshi egg dressing” – those are just slices of cucumber on top of the salad dressing, served in a gravy boat to be more egg-shaped.
Did you notice the green pipes that held the utensils as well as served as decoration? We also filled one with gold coins.
There were (chocolate) gold coins spread all over my house! It certainly helped with the Mario feel! Katie and Mina got the tables ready while I was finishing up juicing the strawberries and lemons for the “Princess Peach Pink Lemonade” and cleaning up from the failed pin.
We also had Strawberry “Cloud Salad” and a variety of choices for “Bowser’s Fire Brew”
Behind Bowser, you can see a jar of Mario fruit snacks (because they were on sale) and Yoshi Eggs.
I just used green glitter paint and white easter eggs to make these. Don’t forget the chain chomp piñata that was never broken,
the birthday wreath,
or the Mario mustache cups!
I hope you can tell that we had a great time, despite the fire….

More PDFs for your use: Mario Party food labels and Bowsers Fire Brew sign

P.s. If you haven’t seen my new header, you should check it out!

Birthday Party Wreath

Tags

birthday, diy, Mario Brothers, super mario brothers, wreath

This is actually a project that I threw together last minute. I’d had it in mind, but didn’t find the right bows until the very last minute. I got four packages of primary color bows (one each of red, blue, yellow, and green) from Hobby Lobby (I’m starting to think they should sponsor me). Rather than buying a wreath form, I used a diaper box and an old hat box as a template.

It took a few attempts to find the right adhesive for the bows to really stick, but I think I ended up with craft glue.

Once I got the bows all the way around the wreath “form”, I tied a “celebrate!” ribbon that I had picked up at Dollar Tree (who should also sponsor me).

For the Mario Brothers party, I grabbed a free Mario font, printed an M which just happens to be the birthday boy’s initial also, and just used scotch tape to attach it to the door. The hardest part of the entire project was finding the best way to adhere the bows to the cardboard!

Mario Chain Chomp Piñata

Tags

diy, Mario Brothers, piñata, spray paint, super mario brothers

On my Saturday of spray painting, I also started this project. My family is pretty big on piñatas, and this one was just too cute to pass up. I did fill it with candy, but as predicted the adults were not interested in breaking into the piñata – piñata for sale… what will you bid?

I did some price comparison of round piñatas since there were not any all black ones, and I really was not up to making my own. I bought this one at Target.com because it was the cheapest I found at any store. The black spray paint was (I believe) less than a dollar at Lowes.

It did take a couple of coats to fully cover, but it turned out quite well in my opinion. Next time, I will cut the hole out of the piñata before I spray paint it. I used my first chain link to cover the hole, rather than trying to patch it back up. I just stapled it to the piñata. The chain was created by 2″x10″ strips of black card stock. I used two sheets because the birthday boy thought the chain needed to be longer.

I hand cut the mouth of of red tissue paper and the eyes and teeth out of card stock. I tried to make strips of teeth, but ultimately to get the shape I wanted, I had to hand glue each of the teeth on individually. What do you think?