This year, for their 7th birthday, Jude and his "best friend" Will announced that they wanted to have a co-birthday party, a Super Mario Brothers Birthday Party (due to their mutual obsession with all things Mario). Which should have sent me running into the basement to hide with a bottle of vodka and the earthquake emergency box of canned food until it was all over. But I was undaunted, because I knew I would be party planning with Will's mom, the most excellent Lizzy.
I don't know if I'm just lucky so far, or if my son has particularly good taste in friends. But so far, he has two "best friends", and both of them have parents who I consider highly superior human beings. Which makes life so much easier, doesn't it?
In the past I've mentioned my theory about the 20/80 rule. That 20% of the people do 80% of the work. I have found this to be true in almost every area of life. I, unfortunately, always seem to be amongst the 20%. I don't know why. Well, that's not true, I actually do know. It's due to the insane example set by Roy and Dorothea (my parents), who were also 20 percenters.
But anyway...the point here, and the incredibly amazing thing, is that the most excellent Lizzy is ALSO in the 20%! This woman not only did half of the work, she did well MORE than half of the work. She had ideas. She made things happen. I mean, this woman made Mario hats out of felt, people...
There they are, the birthday boys. Cute, huh?
She also made Toad hats for all the other guests, by taking inexpensive paper chef hats, and gluing felt spots on them...
And the best part for me was that we used their yard, which is far superior to ours because it has actual...grass.
What did I do? Well, lots of stuff...I...um...well...(I must have done something...) Ah! I made the invitations...
Using this website Face in Hole to insert their little heads into the little faces.
And I tried very hard to do the majority of the set up/breakdown on the day because...oh did I not mention this?...Lizzy is VERY pregnant. Yep, I told you I got lucky.
Brief rundown on party details: pizza (those Mario Bros. are Italian plumbers, after all), snacks, lemonade, water, wine for grownups, delicious sandwiches for grownups from local upscale deli, ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. Easy peasy lemon squeazy.
And we had games! A Yoshi egg relay (I colored green spots on two dozen eggs), Pin the Mustache on Mario. And BEST of all, a Super Mario Bros. Obstacle course. Which was as follows...
Here's the course set up...
And "Here We Go!"
First they jumped on the "mushroom platforms" (made out of hula hoops covered with cheap plastic tableclothes and more of Lizzy's felt spots)...
Then they "ground pounded" a "goomba"...
Grabbed a "Star Power-Up"...
Then the "Gold Coins"...
Then they ran "The Gauntlet" avoiding the evil swings (yes, that's me, the swinger of the evil swings)...
Threw a "fire ball" (water balloon) at Bowser...
Climbed up the "Warp Tube" (more hula hoops and cheap plastic tableclothes)...
Popped a balloon filled with gold chocolate coins...
Rescued Princess Peach (teddy bear in a pink dress!) and escape from Bowser's Castle!
And even kiss the girl if you want!
And since SO much fun was had by all, I hearby submit this to...
OMG, this looks like the best party in the whole world!! I want to come next time. That obstacle course is amazing. We used to do obstacle courses at my son's parties and he still remembers. You're right about 20% doing 80% of the work. When you get to plan ANYthing with another person like this, it makes it so nice, doesn't it? Lucky Jude!!
Posted by: Maureen@IslandRoar | 05/26/2010 at 05:34 AM
Wow. Just, wow.
Posted by: unmitigated me (m.a.w.) | 05/26/2010 at 07:28 AM
Amazing! And they looked like they had a lot of fun.
Posted by: The Bug | 05/26/2010 at 08:06 AM
I am amazed and little resentful that I could not be that creative with Sprite's birthday.
Happy birthday, Jude!
Posted by: Sprite's Keeper | 05/26/2010 at 08:31 AM
My birthday's in September, can you throw me a party? Lizzie will have the kid by then, right?
Posted by: Mama Badger | 05/26/2010 at 08:49 AM
My kids would lose it if they saw that. That is impressive.
BTW, I think that in the final scene of Lost, the church was just a place they had all gathered after they died, regardless of when they had died. Jack's father said time didn't mean anything there and that the island had been the most significant moment of their lives so that is why they all looked the same age.
Posted by: Captain Dumbass | 05/26/2010 at 09:46 AM
Wow, that is awesome!! And I'm a 20%er too.
Posted by: Shelby | 05/26/2010 at 11:06 AM
What a great party! That obstacle course alone took a lot of thought, and I can tell the kids loved it!
Posted by: Jeni | 05/26/2010 at 11:51 AM
We lived in a little town that had two pizza shops, one owned by Mario and the other his brother, Luigi!! That party looks like it was fantastic!! The obstacle course was over the top! LOVE the invitations and all the other so-cute ideas; I'm sure Jude, Will and all the attendees will remember this party for years to come!
Posted by: Lynn Hornsby | 05/26/2010 at 11:57 AM
Awesome. You guys rock! I;ll bet all of thekids are wishing you were their moms!
Posted by: Suzicate | 05/26/2010 at 12:09 PM
What amazing creativity. What an amazing Mario party. And that Lizzie? Oh Mighty Isis!
Posted by: Lawyer Mom | 05/26/2010 at 06:48 PM
Oh, good Lord. I thought your son had a slumber birthday party already? In all seriousness, that party looked awesome -- I'm very impressed!
Posted by: Elizabeth | 05/26/2010 at 10:51 PM
Show off! ;)
That was brilliant!
Posted by: Sara | 05/28/2010 at 12:52 PM