A Karate/ Martial Arts/ Ninja Party!

So....I thought about *not* having a party for Toby's 6th birthday, what with a new baby and all......but soon found out that I am in wayyyy too deep with the parties to just simply not do one! 

ya right, mom!

hah.

Not only were we to have a birthday party, but it was, once again, a very specific type of party....with many "custom" requests from one very enthusiastic Toby boy ;)

It would involve ninjas and martial arts....and weapons. Oh my. 

Let me just tell you that I do not love weapons. They're just not my style. I tried to avoid any sort of weaponry in our house for a long time, but sigh....I've given up.  I decided that if we were to have weapons at the party, they would have to be made of foam. 12 boys in a room with foam weapons is bad enough...trust me! ;) So...I headed to the hardware store and picked up a whole bunch of "pipe insulator", duct tape, and electrical tape. Toby requested that they each had a "bo" and nun chucks, so I got busy. I used zap straps for the nun chuck "chains", which I poked through the foam handles.   

They were definitely a hit :)

I figured that theere was no way we'd be able to host 12 little ninjas in our home, so we rented a room in our local rec centre, which worked really well!

The invitations were made using PicMonkey with a photo I took of Toby pulling his fiercest look ;) I just added the wording, etc and had them printed on photo paper, then glued them to black cardstock. Nice and easy.

;

The cake was completely basic, and it just wasn't my proudest moment....but the boys thought it was the best thing they'd ever seen...and that's all that matters, right? :) I just made three 9X9 square cakes and layered them, then iced it with buttercream. I cut out the fondant silhouettes and stars a few days earlier, so that they'd be hard enough to stand up. I bought some ninja weapons at the dollar store (washed them really well!) and jammed them randomly in the top of the cake. Done. 

I kept the food very simple, and decided that having everything in individual portions would minimize any germs from little fingers :) I served grapes, carrots, raspberries, blueberries, Pirate's Booty, bunny crackers, Smarties, and chips in little shot glasses, cupcake wrappers, mini muffin cups, etc. I used chopsticks to make strawberry skewers as well...and that was about it. Nothing fancy!

The red mesh bags were found at the dollar store, and were the perfect size to fit the weapons, a white karate belt, headband, etc. Everything a little ninja would need ;) 

Wee man Rory taking it all in !

I found some balsa wood strips at Michael's, which were perfect for "breaking boards". I bought the 3/32 width, but could have probably gotten slightly thicker ones to make it a little trickier (I just didn't want any little ninjas to feel embarrassed/frustrated if they weren't able to break their board!) Better to err on the safe side, right? ;) 

They boys were awarded "medals" for breaking the boards.

Dustin was a good sport and donned a martial arts uniform to be the "sensei" :) He set up a simple obstacle course, which involved kicking the target, etc.

Didda (my dad) arrived, and was instantly attacked by about 10 little ninjas! 

Fierce!

Our little Finny ninja :)

I used plastic tablecloths to make a quick backdrop because I figured the wall at the hall would most likely be somewhat unsightly. I made 4 big chinese lanterns with poster board as well as the TOBY banner. I bought the Happy Birthday banner on Amazon for $4 :)

Part of Toby's plan was that he would cut the birthday cake with a sword. Oh my. 

Whatever. They're only little once, right? 

All in all, it was a gong show. But a fun gong show :)

Toby could hardly get to sleep tonight, going over it all in his mind, and thinking about every little bit of fun that he had. 

Thanks to all of his wonderful friends for coming to celebrate with us!! 

I still can't believe our little man in 6.

Where does the time go??

xoxo