My three munchkins...

Meet Luigi, Mario, and Toad...well, the asian version.

I was finally able to capture a picture of my boys in their costume this year. This is a rarity.

All three of them decided they wanted to be Super Mario characters and fortunately, it worked out perfectly. E. was Luigi, R. was Mario, and my little A. was Toad.

Just in case you're not a Mario fan and don't know why they keep raising their hands in these pictures, my boys are showing their video game moves (of capturing stars).

Since my hubby didn't like the store bought costumes, I went ahead and found some overalls at the good will store. The t-shirts were bought at Target. I used their Mario caps I sewed them for E.'s 6th birthday party, and sewed the gloves myself. I did buy the original gloves, but they were so huge, I decided to just use some blizzard fleece and make my own. The buttons are made from yellow felt. The mustaches are from the store bought costume which could be easily made from felt and double sided tape. I also made a little stuffed belly for R. since Mario is "chubby."

Oh, if you are wondering whether or not I am crazy to spend $20 for each costume only to use the mustache...don't be. I bought the costumes last year at 90% off. The same costume that is selling currently, I bought for a mere $2.00 so it didn't bother me to only end up using the mustaches. The kids still play with the store bought costume, but they rather wear the one I put together.

Here is A. posing up a storm.

Toad's hat and vest were bought. You can't tell in this picture, but I did embellish the vest a little with some trim. I tea-dyed a white shirt and made the pants from white fleece (basically the only white fabric that was soft and not see through).

Aren't they cute? I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will be a set again for Halloween next year.

Super Mario Birthday Party - Princess Peach Felt Crowns

For E's birthday party, I was confident that I was going to make Mario Caps for the boys, but I didn't want the girls to be left out. The majority of girls don't even know who Super Mario is so I wanted to make something that they would enjoy regardless if they knew who the characters were, but I also wanted to keep the Super Mario theme. Therefore, I decided to make the crown Princess Peach wears.

Here is the character, Princess Peach. Her crown looked simple enough. I figured, "what girl wouldn't want to be a Princess?" I'd been invited to three Pink and Princess Parties this year alone so I convinced myself that this was a great headpiece for the girls.

As with any creation that I make, I started with a hand-drawn picture which I then drew on the computer. Here's the crown I came up with.

After spending 10-12 hours sewing the Mario caps, I was unsure if I wanted to tackle another unknown amount of sewing hours on the crowns. The weekend before the party, I printed and cut the paper crowns for all the girls that I invited. I told myself "...and that was that."

Yet, if you really knew me, "that is really never just that." In the end, somehow, I always convince myself to go the extra mile and so off to the fabric store I went to buy some felt two days before the party.

I used my paper crowns as a template for the felt (slightly modifying it), layering a slightly smaller yellow layer on top of the golden felt.

To save a little time, I used some spray glue to adhere the two layers together. To match the princess peach crown, I cut out blue and red circles to resemble the gems she has on her crown.

Since all the girls have a different size head, I used elastic for the back in order for it to be adjustable.

To make the elastic strap, cut out a piece of felt approximately 24" in length and about 2"-3" wide depending upon your preference. The length doesn't have to be exact since it will be scrunched up in the end.

Fold the felt length-wise and sew. Do not sew the ends together so that you can insert the elastic all the way through.

Next, cut a piece of elastic that is approximately 6"- 8". Use a longer piece for a larger head size. Mine were for 6 year olds.

To get the elastic to go through the fabric, tie a knot at the end of the elastic and insert a stick in the knot. I just nabbed a chopstick.

Insert the stick into the opening of the fabric.

Be sure to pin the end of the elastic to the end of the fabric so that it does not go all the way through.

Once through the fabric, grab hold of the elastic and remove the stick. Un-knot the elastic.

Pin the elastic to the felt and then sew the ends of the openings together with the elastic in between. Make sure the elastic doesn't slip.

When you are done, they should look like this:

Sew the elastic band to the crown.

Here is the back of the crown





The final product is a crown definitely fit for any Princess

Here are a few princesses that were more than happy to model their crown.

Thanks girls! You are all a peach!

Super Mario Birthday Party

E's Birthday Party was a huge success. The kids had a lot of fun as did the birthday boy. We started out with the Mario invitation that I designed and had printed.

Once at the party, the kids jumped into the pool immediately. They had a fabulous time swimming and splashing around.

After swimming, it was time for a snack.



Boys received a Mario Cap while girls received a Princess Peach Crown. I had sewn enough so that if the kids wanted a different hat, there would be enough, but no one complained. You can go here to read more about the caps I made.



The caps and crowns were a big hit!



The kids loved wearing them and were excited to take them home.



After a quick meal, the kids enjoyed a game of Mario or two, another game I had spent hours making.



We used gummy bears to mark the cards. It was perfect because they stuck to the cards. With winds at 18mph, the kids cards remained in tacked.



After a few games of Mario, the kids enjoyed Yoshi's Egg hunt. I made the sign and stuffed the eggs with candy and chocolate coins.



The kids were given green buckets which were to resemble the pipes in the Super Mario games. I added some name tags so the kids can identify their buckets from each other.



After receiving their buckets, kids ran quickly to retrieve their eggs.




Immediately afterward, the kids had to examine their eggs.







It was now time for cupcakes. E helped me prepare the cupcakes with the toppers I made. We wanted to have it ready before the party, but the winds were so heavy, we were afraid, it would get knocked over. Learn how to make the cupcake stand here.







Happy Birthday E!!!



E with his green mustache.



While they munched on their cupcakes, the kids enjoyed their scratch cards. I had made these scratch cards weeks prior, but waited for a head count before adding the scratch stickers to the cards in order to conceal the winning card. I wanted to make sure we had two winners. The kids chose their cards based on their favorite character.



...and the the winners were:



After cupcakes, we ended the party with some water balloons.







I had designed, printed and folded these question mark boxes filled with chocolate coins, but in the hustle and bustle of things, I forgot to hand them out. oops!



At the end of the day, it didn't matter. The kids had a fantastic time and made great memories. Hearing several kids mention this was the best birthday party ever made all the hard work in preparing for this party well worth it.



Happy Birthday E! I hope you had a wonderful day.