How to Throw a Super Mario Birthday Party
First of all, I can’t believe my oldest is FIVE. FIVE freakin’ years old, isn’t that wild? But, anyway, when your almost five-year-old requests a Mario birthday party — you do it.
We’ve done some fun-themed birthday parties in the past (a fave is this Onederland-themed first birthday), and I wanted this one to be just as fun while still getting everything my son wanted.
His list of demands included Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and the two inflatable slides owned by his Gigi. Easy to meet, right?
This is how I threw a Super Mario Brothers-themed birthday party. Here are a few ideas and inspiration you can use to throw yours, too!
My Son’s Super Mario-Themed Birthday Party
I’ll be honest; this one threw me for a loop because it was very literal. While I could get creative with the themes with the other birthdays, you can only get so creative (or maybe it was just me, I don’t know) with Super Mario Bros.
I feel like if he had asked for a “Mario Kart” or “Mario Party” birthday party theme, I would have been able to have a little more going on — but, overall, I’m very happy with how it turned out and so was he, which is all that mattered!
He also scored these super cool Mario and Luigi shoes that he’s absolutely obsessed with (and tbh, I am, too).
I would also like to share that while food is normally the least of our problems (I’m typically struggling with decor), it was our BIGGEST problem this birthday party.
Normally, when I budget, I set aside an amount to cater food – nothing super fancy, normally some pizzas, a fruit tray, or some nuggets, and this time was no different. The problem was that everything became a problem (except the Publix fruit and cheese trays; those were amazing), so let’s get into it.
And if you’re ever curious how I plan my parties and stay on time with everything, download this free party planning checklist:
Super Mario Themed Food Table
Before we get into the whole food debacle, let’s talk about this Mario-themed food table setup, which was my genius moment at the party.
If you’ve seen any of the parties my sister or I host, you’d know that food tables are our thing — just check out the one she did for her son’s three-rex birthday not too long ago.
Back to the THIS food table. I really wanted to go all out even though we were keeping the actual food simple. He’s really picky about textures, so anything too ‘different’ wouldn’t have been enjoyable.
I started with this Mario-themed blocks backdrop:
I was limited on placement since we were doing the party outdoors and knew that it would be on a window in some way, shape, or form, so I placed it on one intentionally and loved how it turned out.
Also, it had a sticky strip on the back, but I taped it up for extra durability!
Next, we brought our two high-top tables and placed them in front of the window to create a ‘bar’ for our food table.
After unpacking the tablecloth and paper plate set, it really started to come to life. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate how well-packaged these party supplies were first. I’m a true appreciator of someone who provides a great customer experience like this:
Now, here’s how it looked on the food table:
Of course, that’s not the “finished” setting — once everything was ready and available, it’s time to start putting stuff where it actually belongs!
Technically, you don’t have to do this in steps, but it was hot as a frying pan outside, and all of the food would have gone bad while we set up (and everyone would have been hungry).
So, let’s talk about this food debacle. As you can see, we ended up with Domino’s Pizza (say what you will about flavor, they’re not bad, and they’re the only pizza place within, like, 20 miles). This wasn’t the original plan.
The original plan was to pick up Chick-fil-A nuggets and tender trays because they’re my son’s favorite, and it’s easy. But, apparently, the card linked to my order expired at the end of the month, causing a payment rejection. Whoops.
My issue is that they never called to tell me it was declined. They never emailed or canceled the order. On my end, I had no idea anything was wrong, so I sent my husband to pick up our order, only to be told they had never made it.
Que PANIC.
I was super confused and concerned, and there was literally nothing I could do. I called Chick-fil-A and was sent in circles. Their catering line doesn’t actually link with the store? Their store line requires a 1-2 day buffer to get back to you? I couldn’t get ahold of anyone.
Funnily enough, my order was still pending pick-up in my app like my whole food plan wasn’t melting away like soft serve.
This is how we ended up at Domino; I had 45 minutes on the clock and a very small town to work with, but, luckily, my kid loves cheese pizza, so it was a good second pick.
And this was the final food table look:
I just had a mini-meltdown. But it’s fine. We’re fine.
The Mario and Luigi Cake and Cupcakes
Just to be clear, I didn’t make the cake or cupcakes — Publix did. I will ALWAYS buy a store-made or gourmet cake for birthdays. I may bake a mean Snickerdoodle, but cakes have never been my forte.
We decided to go with this small cake and cupcake combination, and it even came with the tier!
The cake topper didn’t come with the cake, but it did come in the Mario-themed decoration kit I grabbed from Amazon.
I really loved how it looked on the top tier, and my kid loved that it included Peach (where the normal cupcake toppers did not).
All of the cupcakes were vanilla, which sucked a little because his favorite is chocolate — but the not-so-local Publix only had vanilla available with only a little chocolate left, so they saved it for the cake.
It was delicious, as always. We ordered their cookies and cream cupcakes for my daughter’s Wild One party, and let’s just say they were amazing.
However, the cake stand was very thin, and the cake was very heavy. Unless you’re a wild one who enjoys cutting slices from opposite sides, you may end up in a situation like this one.
It was towards the end of the party, so luckily, no one really witnessed the cake flop except my sister-in-law, who took the tipping piece.
Could we have avoided it? Possibly. Were we thinking our cake stand would flop and our cake would drop? No.
The Fun Stuff! Party Games and Things
I’m going to be honest with you: I didn’t really get many pictures from this part because I was frustrated and ready to clock out after the food issue. But I still wanted to share what we did!
First, my son did get his two inflatable slides. My mom has had one for almost three years and purchased the second one this year from Sams:
But, that’s not all we had. We also had a cool mini frisbee golf standing toy and an oversized badminton set.
Plus, there was the other slide I didn’t get pictures of and my son got a new bike — essentially, there was plenty to play with and stuff to do!
How to Throw A Mario Birthday Party
Really, just remember that fancy isn’t always the best way to go. I love doing the most for our birthday parties, but sometimes, kids just want to play so that’s what we do! It’s their birthday after all — I just want to create memories they’ll look back on and love.
My son loved his birthday party, even if the decorations aren’t perfect and the caked tipped over and that’s all that matters.
Also, try to focus on what you can do and not what you can’t. All of the decorations were $20 or less each, and I maybe spent $60 on everything decoration-wise. Food is normally the highest expense since I buy and not DIY — but that’s also up to you and your preferences.
So, what did you think of this Mario-themed birthday party? Did you find any ideas you loved? Let me know in the comments below!
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