Planning the Perfect Mario Party

As an event planning mom of two young boys I am always tasked with the planning of their birthday parties. And with my background my kids expect a lot! So I’m going to tell you about how I planned my 4 year olds Mario themed birthday party so that hopefully it is a little easier for you to do on your own!

Note: I might earn a small commission if you click on a link and buy something, but it doesn’t cost you anything extra!

Mario Birthday Party Decor

Mario Party Decorations

Below are some of the items I made or purchased for my Mario party decor and tips on how you can recreate or get them for yourself!

Boo Balloons: To make these Boo Balloons took white balloons, white printer paper for the face and white card sock for the wings, Elmer’s glue, and tape to put these Boo’s together. I used this BOO TEMPLATE feel free to download and use too! I printed out them out, glued the face on and taped on the wings, I then strung them up across our living room using fishing wire.

Bomb Omb Balloons: For these cute little guys I took a simple black balloon, white pipe cleaner, white printer paper for the eyes, and yellow construction paper for the feet and I free cut it all and glued it together.

Chain Chomp Balloon: For the chain chomp balloon I used red tissue paper and white printer paper for the mouth. For the eyes I used the white printer paper again and some black construction paper. And I free cut and glued it all on. I also used the black construction paper to make the chain coming off the back of chain chomp.

Mario Bricks and Question Blocks: To make these blocks I bought these boxes and covered them using glue with this Mario Printable 4×4 Block Sheets feel free to download and use too. I then taped them up on windows and walls or put them on top of tables for extra decorations. I also created vines growing out of some using green construction paper and free cutting and taping it up.

Mario Clouds: To make the Mario clouds hanging around the house I hot glued fiber fill to white card sock and then attached the black eyes also with the hot glue gun. I strung them up around the housing using fishing wire. I actually was able to get a giant box fiber fill for free as someone was giving it away which gave me the idea on how to make these!

Purchased Decorations

While I love to create decorations for a party sometimes you’ve just got to purchase some supplies! Here are a few items I bought for the party. But fair warning I bought some of my materials at Party City before they went out of business… RIP Party City.

Mario Wrapping Paper – I covered the window and a picture frame with this to make our birthday sign. The exact paper I can’t find any more since PC went out of business but this was the closest I could find.
Mario Table Cloth – I got this one at PC it was much cheaper there… But there are alternatives!
Mario Balloon – I’m not sure they actually make him any more. This link takes you to someone on Etsy (if it’s still available when you click it) I got it from a neighbor who had had a Mario birthday party 3 years before and was giving it away. I asked on my list serve if anyone had any old Mario decorations and she had saved him.
Mario Question Block Piñata – We had this piñata to play with and for decor again, I was given it from the same neighbor as the large Balloon.
Mario Star Pinata’s – We had 3 of these from PC. I used them as decor since we were given the larger piñata. They were $5 at PC but I could’t find them online.

Other decorations you can download for free print and put up yourself from Nintendo!

Mario Games and Activities

To keep the kids entertained throughout the party, plan a variety of Mario themed games and activities. Here are a few that we did and how I made them happen.

Yoshi Egg Hunt

Setup: Hide plastic eggs (white with green spots like Yoshi eggs you can color on them with green permanent marker to make the spots) around the yard or house.
Activity: Kids search for eggs filled with candy or they can trade them in at the end for a prize
Pro Tip: Give each child a small bag or basket.

Mario Kart Course

Setup: We created a Hot Wheels Racing (we used this set) Track with lots of Mario Hot Wheels cars (you can find them on Amazon or just walking through the Hot Wheels isle at Target or Walmart)
Activity: Kids use the race track to race the Mario Carts
Enhancement: We used these free Home Circuit race course decoration’s from Nintendo to decorate the course. They also have these ribbons you can give the kids after they play.

Fireball Toss

Setup: We took some large cups from the Dollar Tree and covered them in green construction paper to create pipes. And we took our red, orange, and yellow ball pit balls we already had to create this game.
Activity: Kids stand behind a line and try to get their “fireballs” into the tubes.
Tip: You can have this set up as a station that kids can do whenever they want or as a group activity depending on the group size and age of your guests.

Yoshi Knockdown

Setup: We had a cup full of Yoshi Tongues (party blowers) and a pyramid of cups with bad guy characters from Mario glued to them for them to knock down.
Activity: Kids use their Yoshi tongue to try and knock down each cup with a bad guy on it as fast as they can.
Tip: Label each party blower with the child’s name so they don’t go sharing their blowers.

Piñata or “Break the Brick” Punch Wall

Setup: You can get one of the Mario Question Block Piñata I wrote about earlier or you can create a wall of boxes (you can use these boxes again covered in Mario Printable 4×4 Block Sheets) decorated like Mario bricks. Fill them with small toys or candy. Mario Question Block Piñata
Activity: Kids punch through box or piñata to get a treat.
Tip: Have a big space if you’re doing a piñata kids take big swings!

Mario Character Craft Table

Supplies: Printable Mario character masks or coloring sheets, crayons, glue sticks, pom-poms, googly eyes.
Activity: Kids decorate or color Mario themed materials
Tip: Go to the Nintendo website for their many free printable activities! We did coloring sheets at ours.

Food and Drinks

For our party we had Mario themed snacks and drinks and Mario themed cupcakes based on my birthday boy’s preferences. Because our party also had 3-4 year olds and a lot of grownups we tried to have some snacks out everyone could enjoy like cheese and crackers, fruit, veggies, apple sauce, pretzels etc.

Fire Flower Veggies: I cut up lots of veggies and formed the fire flower for this fun themed snack that was healthy and everyone could enjoy!

Mario Cupcakes: I made these Goomba and Mushroom cupcakes using my usual cake decorating supplies like piping bags and tips. I do have trouble coloring black frosting myself so I purchased a black frosting tube from the store while I made all the rest from scratch.

Mario Cookies: For the Mario cookies I used a square cookie cutter, round cookie cutter, star cookie cutter to form all of the shapes. Manipulating the circles to become the boos and Yoshi eggs. I used my piping bags and tips again to create these but I also used food safe pens to free draw the boo faces.

Plates and Napkins: We also had Mario plates and napkins for the party but those were from PC and no longer available.

Party Favors

Here are some of the favors we gave away along with a few other ideas for you!

We gave everyone some of these Mario Gummies
And little Mario Coloring Books from Party City that you can’t find any more.

Here are some other Mario favor options:

Remember, the key to a successful party is to have fun and let your child’s imagination run wild!

Would you like to explore other party themes, want a custom Mario signs done for your party or have any specific questions about planning your Mario party? Then contact me!