Super Mario Birthday

Guess who turned FOUR!?!

It's no secret around here that Kaeden has been planning his birthday party for over 3 months.  After we had Carter's party back in March, Kaeden was instantly mesmerized by the Pom Poms, balloons, etc, and started making wishlists for his own party.  I think it was the first time Kaeden fully understood the idea of a special day dedicated to the birthday boy, and was so excited to enjoy his own.  There has not been a day that has gone by since March where Kaeden hadn't used the phrase "For my birthday party...." to describe some aspect of his sought after soiree.  He would even talk about it in his sleep.

Needless to say, his excitement over this year's birthday only fueled my excitement.  Add to that a healthy addiction to Pinterest, and you've got yourself a mamma who was determined to have an all out Super Mario birthday.

We always have a barbecue with family and friends for Kaeden's birthday because let's be real:  that's what summer birthdays are for.  Since I knew Mario Brother's spaghetti wouldn't be on the menu, I decided to focus my themed efforts on the decor rather than food.

Basically I was too cheap to buy the $30 wall clings of Mario or Luigi [you read that right, you only get one for $30], so instead I found some clipart online, blew it up on my computer, printed it at home, and then peiced together the characters with some good old scissors and tape.

*side note - early 90's video games are not the only thing my kid is into that is well past his time. 

It also includes old TV shows like Dexter's Laboratory [as shown] and old school Tom and Jerry cartoons.  

I do not know where the gets it.

They were like a Monet.  Looked good from afar, but closeup a little bit of a mess - pixelated and taped within an inch of their life.  But they worked.  And trust me, the whole process sounds a lot more time consuming than it was.  It also allowed for us to have not only a Mario AND Luigi to join the party, but a Yoshi, Toad, Princess Peach, and one of those chompy plants as well [forgive me gamers for my non-technical reference.  I do know what a goomba is though].  FYI:  Princess Peach is Kaeden's home girl.  He tried to convince me 321687431358 times that we should hang her in his bedroom for the party.   

About the only licensed items I bought for the party were those napkins.  I felt like I needed something festive for the food, and that's where I splurged.  All the other decor was stuff Kaeden has collected over the years because he's been obsessed with Mario for much of his short time on this earth.  PS.  I really, really thought over and over again about putting white vinyl "M's" on all the red plates to make them more festive.  I only didn't because I thought I would be made fun of.  I was right.

When I first thought of a Mario party, I immediately thought of doing a fun cake for Kaeden.  Then I thought about using my giant cupcake pan [it makes a regular size cake shaped like a cupcake] to make a mushroom guy cake.  The idea was genius.  All it would take was some red and white frosting and I've got myself a mushroom like this:

Well.... I forgot that you have to alter the recipe a little, and just used a regular old box cake for the mold.  When I went to take the cake out...it wouldn't budge.  So as everything crumbled in front of me [literally and figuratively], I just kept whittling away at my plans until eventually all I ended up with was this:

Oh geez.  Don't worry.  It was about a half size larger than a regular cupcake by the time it was done.  Not to mention the thing was barely held together.  Luckily I had other treats to feed our guests.

As has become tradition around these parts I made some yummy cupcakes to celebrate the occasion.  Double Stuffed Oreo Cupcakes.  And I don't want to brag, but they were delish!  Perhaps I should just stick to what I know.

With all the little projects we were working on for the party, Kaeden just got more and more excited.  I think his favorite part was the hats and mustaches we made for all of his friends.  We sent this pic out as a sneak peek a couple of days before:

It was fun to see all the kids dressed up as little Marios and Luigis.

In the end, Kaeden had a great time.  Any time he gets to have all his friends over [which by the way includes all of his cousins.  In order to be a "friend" you basically just have to be 12 or under] he's so happy. I was really impressed about how his excitement leading up to the party seemed to be about the party itself, and not all the other things kids kinda tend to get caught up in, like the gifts.  That changed though when people started arriving, and as Kaeden swung open the door he would ask, "Do you have a gift for me?"  I about died.  I honestly don't know where he came up with that.  He hadn't even talked about the fact that he'd be getting gifts.  Sorry!

He got lots of great gifts though, including all sorts of goodies for his crap [craft] box, books, clothes, toys, roller skates, etc.

I loved the look of horror on all the mother's faces when Kaeden abruptly interrupted his gift opening and said, "Hold on guys!"  Then came running back holding a pair of scissors the way you should NOT hold them while running [i.e.  nearly stabbing all of his "friends"].  Whoops.  Oh well.  At least he was resourceful enough to realize he could tackle those ribbons so much quicker with the aid of a sharp object, right?

I love how little kids crowd the birthday kid whenever gifts are being opened.  Without fail it has happened at every kid's party I've been to.

And since the crowded kids pretty well blocked the view of what Kaeden was opening, Carterbabes entertained the crowds by riding his four wheeler with a makeshift helmet.

 
We sang Happy Birthday, and Kaeden sat there watching everyone with a grin.

Carterbabes on the other hand used the time to swipe as much frosting off the cake as he could.  Too bad the trail of red drool from his lips to his shirt was a tell-tell sign we had a thief on our hands.

It was definitely a fun day.  And so rewarding to see the excitement on my little guy's face as another element of his favorite game was brought into his real life.

I cannot believe this little guy is four.  Then again, he's been hyping up this fourth birthday for so long, it kinda feels like it's taken FOREVER for him to turn four. [I kid.  Sort of.]  But this sweet kid continues to grow and develop and amaze me in new ways every day.  I love this stage he's in where his language and thought processes are developing so fast.  He never ceases to say things that make me giggle, or amaze me with their complexity.  I definitely hit the jackpot when this little guy made me a mom four years ago.

With the party over I was a little worried about what sort of a let down not having a party to look forward to [or in his case - plan] would be.  Early in the day though I realized we might be in for it when Kade said, "Mom, you see those cupcakes..." pointing to the ones prepared for that night's party.  I said, "Yeah...", and he continued, "Next time, when I turn five, we should have ones with lots of colors.  That would be way cooool."

Please don't say we have 364 more days of party planning ahead of us.

Happy birthday Bug.  I love you more than you'd ever know.