Super Mario Birthday - Implementation

Last week, I have been designing up a storm for E.'s birthday. I spent part of the weekend, implementing my designs. Here was my to-do list I posted last Monday. I did almost everything off my list except the table centerpiece and the "Pin the Mustache on Mario Game" which I have decided not to do.

• Invitations
• Question Block Coin favor boxes
• Birthday Banner
• Mario Bingo Cards
  
• Table Centerpiece
• Pin the Mustache on Mario Game
  
• Yoshi Egg Hunt Sign
• Princess Peach Crowns for the Girls
• Mario and Luigi Cap patterns for the Boys
• Scratch off Winner Tickets

Here is what I came up with so far.

Invitations - I designed the invitation to look like tickets. Each child will receive 2 "ticket" invitations. I am volunteering this Friday at E.'s school and can't wait to hand these out!

Mario and Luigi caps - It turned out great, but after the 10th hour of sewing with several more hours to go, I was re-thinking this plan. When I asked my husband if I was crazy to be sewing at 3 in the morning, he said, "Honey, you are just very devoted..You win the best Mom award." That made me feel good.

I asked E. what he thought of his Super Mario hat and his response, "I love it, but can you make me a Super Power Mario hat too." Hmmm.. "Sure, honey." To which E. responded, "but Mom, you have no white fabric. What then does Mom do? She runs out to the fabric store later that evening to buy white fabric.

Here's E. and R. sporting their new caps.

Around 11PM, I managed to finally finish his Super Power Mario hat which turned out to be too small! I was so exhausted to fix it that evening. The next morning, I made E. another hat that fit. He ran upstairs, stopped mid way to tell me, "Mom, Super Power Mario has a red "M" on top of a white circle. "What do you mean honey? It is supposed to be the opposite of your Super Mario hat with a white "M," I said. E. looked confused and ran off. A few minutes later he came down stairs with his Super Power Mario figurine to tell me that I was wrong. Indeed I was wrong. I was making it from memory and never double checked.

So after making the wrong version of the Super Power Luigi hat as well. I had a lot of de-stitching to do to fix it.

R. ran off with his Super Power Luigi hat so I don't have it in the picture below. I fixed two hats, but left two the way they were for A. to play with.

Here are my hats, minus the "missing" Super Power Luigi hat. They are a hit in my family already.

At this point, I am unsure if I want to sew Princess Peach crowns. I made a template and printed it out and may just use that. Paper is definitely not as great and lasting as fabric, but I am not sure I want to spend another 15 hours sewing. Knowing me, I probably will.

Scratch Off Winning Cards - I absolutely LOVE the way these turned out. I may use the same template to make E. Valentine cards next year if he still loves Super Mario.

I ordered some scratch Off stickers to cover up the circle so the kids can really it scratch off to see if they are a winner. I think I made 16 different versions with different characters and borders. Here is a picture of just a few of them. I can't wait till the stickers come in the mail so that I can show you the finished product. I did read tutorials online on how to create your own scratch off stickers, but the costs for all the supplies ended up being more than the $2.25 I did spend buying it on ebay.

Cupcake toppers - I decided that I wanted to make cupcakes for the party. They don't sell any Super Mario cupcake toppers so I decided to make my own.

What does this really mean? This means I will have to make a cupcake stand! Another project that I will have to attach to my to-do list. I have an inkling of what I want it to look like, now I need to go and buy my supplies.

Mario Bingo - I found this idea online and decided to make my own. I think it turned out really great. I don't know how many kids there will be, so I decided to make 32 different cards should parents want to play as well. Yes, each one is completely different from the next. I then made larger character cards for the caller. There are names underneath so if you don't know all the characters, you can just read them.

I printed them on card stock and my kids absolutely loved them. I also printed an extra two sets of the calling cards for my kids to play Memory with. We are adding Mario Bingo to our game closet so I needed a place to store it all. I found this perfect sized box to store all the cards. I pasted one of the Bingo cards on top of the box for a cover.

I may print out little stars for the kids to mark their cards. I was just going to use some beans, but my hubby said it may roll off.

Question mark Blocks - A staple in any Super Mario game. Usually one bumps the blocks to retrieve coins. I made my own template, printed them out and will fill with coins and goodies. I may also string some for added decor.

What remains on my list from last week as far as implementation is the Birthday Banner which I did design and cut out, but need to string together and cutting out all the Princess Peach crowns or deciding whether or not I will actually implement with fabric.

I was definitely busy this weekend, but my to-do list is shortening by the week which is a fantastic feeling. What is also great is when I get comments about selling all these things I create. Having ideas flood your brain and then seeing them implemented is such a great feeling and I look forward to putting it all together at the party.