Mario Party 8

Well, I finally did it. I gave in and let my son convince me to do a Mario theme for his birthday. And you know what, it was really cute and turned out great!

Thanks to my husband Tyler for the cute power up art on the dry-erase board! Sam made the hat himself.

It was a pretty simple party. Friends came over to play and spend time with us. No big organized activities, mostly free play and a little Mario Kart thrown in. We even encouraged guests to bring "their presence, not their presents," a line I stole from the book The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. I'm desperately trying to get rid of the clutter in my house, not add to it!  Plus I think it helps put what's really important into perspective. I promise I'm not being a mean mom! We did get him a new book, and of course grandparents can't resist giving birthday gifts either. Truthfully, the birthday boy didn't seem to mind at all. He was happy just to have his friends over for a special day!

Food is easy with Sam. It's always pizza, pizza, and more pizza!  I guess that goes with theme this year since Mario and Luigi are Italian. I made the the drinks  on theme by making fruit punch and labeling it "Mario Punch" and coloring lemonade green and calling it "Luigi Lemonade."  We also picked up some green and red cups from the store.

The centerpiece of the party, and one of the main reasons I finally agreed to a Mario party, was the cake. We've been known to watch an episode or two of Rosanna Pansino's YouTube baking show "Nerdy Nummies." When Sam saw her make a question block pinata cake filled with chocolate coins - well, let's just say I knew what I was doing for his birthday! A couple of Sam's Mario toys on the table next to the cake rounded out the decorations.

This was the first time  I've ever made a pinata cake, and it is actually really easy. And the excitement from all the guests when they see the surprise inside is very rewarding! It was a huge hit. There were a few differences between Rosanna's cake and mine. I used boxed cake mix in chocolate, yellow, and white instead of homemade lemon cake, the bottom of my pinata was the cake stand, not a layer of cake, and I decorated completely with frosting, no fondant.

 As you can see, it took three layers of cake baked in a 9X9 square pan to give us the final shape. . Each layer was one box of cake mix. If you want a true cube you'll probably want a fourth layer. I put the first to layers down and cut a square out of the middle, which I filled with the chocolate coins. These were readily available at the store since it was around Christmas time, (they are often used on St. Nicholas Day and during Hanukkah). Then I put the last layer on top, frosted in yellow, and added the question marks and corner dots in white. I decided to the use the cake I cut out from the middle to make a warp pipe - you don't want to let any cake go to waste!  That just took a little carving with a serrated knife, green frosting, and some melted chocolate chips.

Happy Birthday Sam! You amaze me every day. I can't to see how you grow this year.