well this has gotta be the happiest party i’ve ever thrown! i had so much fun with this theme. once i decided on it, i saw it done a lot of pinterest but i put my own simple, pastel spin on i…

well this has gotta be the happiest party i’ve ever thrown! i had so much fun with this theme. once i decided on it, i saw it done a lot of pinterest but i put my own simple, pastel spin on i…

Mall birthday parties, shopping parties, are the most stress free, simple, afforadable, and one of the easiest parties you will throw! Forget the same old party venues and use this free venue to have a unique party that kids haven't already been to 100 times that year!

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

It's finally done! That's why I haven't had time to post regularly. I've been working on this party for my boy who recently turned 16. The party was awesome, if I do say so myself, but it was a lot of work! But now I've done most of the work for you, feel free to take my ideas and run with them, or race with them as the story goes. First I scoured the internet for ideas for an Amazing Race party and found quite a few good ideas, but most of them didn't take care of all the finishing touches. All the little details that make the party great. I'm really not trying to brag or anything, but it turned out much better, and a little different then I imagined. Second, since the original show takes the players all over the globe, I wanted to re-create a little of that. So I looked through images of flags from around the world. I chose 12 of the more easier designed flags, pulled out my fabric stash and made flags for each of the countries. The cut size was 20x30 inches. They were pieced together and then sewn and roll-hemmed. I may make them into a quilt someday but I already have a request to borrow them for an upcoming youth activity at church, so the quilt will wait. The 12 countries I chose were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan. My husband asked why I chose the countries I did when we were making up the location clues and I said just by the flag design. I went to Goodwill and found 3 different color sheets for $1 each and ripped them up in to bandana size. Each kid got a bandana in their team color to wear the rest of the night. If you look close in the pics you will see them on the kids. The colors were Blue, Yellow, and Red. Then I solicited the help from a few of my neighbors to help with the challenges. I needed locations close by for the kids to go to for each challenge. I ended up with more volunteers than challenges which was nice. There was a total of 8 challenges. At each location they hung the flag of that country in the trees outside so the kids could find it easily. Since my house was the start and finish, I hung a huge American flag above my front door. I also ordered globe balloons from Amazon to put out in the front of my house. I should have taken pictures of the front but unfortunately, I forgot to. These are the ones I chose: 1. Become a spy and change your identity. Dress up and have the handler take your picture. I found a package of mustaches at Party City that were stick on. They were a must for this challenge. The boys ended up wearing theirs for the rest of the night. 2. You must put 7 marshmallows in your mouth and say "Chubby Bunny." Then eat 7 saltines and whistle 3 notes. I only got video from this location, and I know some of the kids would be embarrassed if I posted the video. Just use your imagination. It's really funny! 3. We live by a lake that is surrounded by trees and ducks that swim in the pond. So for this challenge they had to each climb a tree, feed the ducks, and count the benches that surround the lake. It's not that big of a lake so it was relatively easy. The pic is my monkey boy in the tree. That kid can climb anything, anywhere! 4. The Italy challenge was that they were out of money and needed to get $2.00 in change. The problem was that it was mixed in with a large bowl of cold spagetti. They had to make the change as a team, while blindfolded. One of my personal favorites! 5. One challenge was at a nearby park. The kids had to slide down the slide, hang upsidedown on the jungle jim, then do underdog on the the swings. This one was also a pit stop where I gave them water and a mini candy bar. 6. For this challenge there was two tasks. One was to separate the M&M's by color and fill in the numbers on the poster board to write 1997, which is my son's birth year. Then they had to go through a large bowl of pennies and find 3 pennies that were from 1997. 7. For this one they had to unscramble some letters to send a message to my boy. I totally messed up in cutting the letters and forgot to make a D for Birthday. Thankfully the kids were smart and improvised for me. 8. The last one was to shoot 3 free throws and throw a football through a hula hoop. Pretty easy and basic, but fun at the same time. I also gave them challenges to do along the way. Each one had extra points attached to it. One of them was to take a picture of a garden gnome. Only one team found one. The others were to take pictures of license plates other than ones from AZ, take a picture of an animal other than a dog, and take a picture with a random dog walker. Each team had a person with a camera phone with them and they texted the pictures to me as they took them. Now for the details. I made envelopes that contained the information for each challenge. It was pretty easy. I just made the image in photoshop, printed it out on colored paper and folded it into an envelope. If you use my templates, you will need to cut about an inch off each side of the 8 1/2 by 11 size paper. Fold in thirds. Then cut about 1/4 inch up on each fold line on the bottom. Fold this flap up. Trim the side pieces off like shown. Then get a glue stick and glue the bottom and top flap down. I notched the top of each envelope so it was easy to pull the challenge card out. I printed 3 challege cards and envelopes for each challenge so each team got their own. I gave them to each of my friends with their supplies for their challenge to give the kids when they came. Each team got a manilla envelope with their team color on it. Inside was the race map and location clue cards along with the bonus challenge card. Now for all the free printables I promised. Each one is a .jpeg that fits an 8 1/2 by 11 size paper. These are the challenge cards. I printed these on cardstock. Since I had 3 teams, there are 3 cards per challenge. Next are the challenge envelopes. Print these on 8 1/2 by 11 colored paper and trim like shown above. Next are the destination clues. They were made to help the kids get to each country flag at each location. I gave you a blank one if you would like to make your own. Finally, the bonus challenges. I almost forgot. The invitations. The first one I printed on yellow paper then used it to make the envelope for the invitations. This is the stripped down version I used. And this is the generic version you can use. Just add your own information to it. I hope you like what you've seen today and maybe someday do a party like this. I'd love to hear about it if you do! Have an amazing day!

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

Creative and interesting ways to make your child or loved one feel special on their birthday.

A simple cut and iron-on penguin T shirt craft tutorial with limited sewing to finish. Perfect for themed birthday party or costume events!

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

well this has gotta be the happiest party i’ve ever thrown! i had so much fun with this theme. once i decided on it, i saw it done a lot of pinterest but i put my own simple, pastel spin on i…

It's finally done! That's why I haven't had time to post regularly. I've been working on this party for my boy who recently turned 1...

Photo Booth Castle for Highlands Kids: We wanted a photo-booth for our Summer Blast (VBS) promotion day. Our theme is more or less medieval, so I thought a castle might be fun. This is how I made Castle Kids.

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

It's finally done! That's why I haven't had time to post regularly. I've been working on this party for my boy who recently turned 1...

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

Looking for some images of Ms Rachel that have the background removed? I've done the work for you! Now you can use these to make your Ms Rachel birthday invitations, Ms Rachel gifts, Ms Rachel party supplies, or whatever other Miss Rachel project you have in mind. :) You'll get 10 files of Ms Rachel in different poses and expressions on transparent (clear) backgrounds to be able to incorporate into your project. The examples images shown are the exact images you'll receive. **This is a digital print only. NOTHING WILL BE MAILED TO YOU. You will download the files (which, of course, will have the watermark removed) and then can add them to your digital project. ** You will get 10 pngs (3000x3000 pixels) to download on Etsy. (I do not own the rights to any people or characters on my shop. I'm providing the service of finding the good images and removing the backgrounds.) Thanks for stopping by! :)

Since her brother was having a bug party, Riley insisted she wanted a bug party too. I finally talked her into a LADYBUG party, knowing that I could do a

Cargo Loading may be the best and easiest Safari Birthday Party Game ever! Collect a few boxes and let the kids do the rest.

Yes, I've done another alphabet. I keep coming up with these and they kind of become an obsession until they are finished. This time, I wanted to pay tribute to another Jim Henson creation after the success of my Muppet Alphabet and my continued appreciation of these characters, but Sesame Street spans so many years and so many generations of fans that it was difficult to try to restrict to only one character per letter. After all, how do you choose between Bert and Big Bird? Elmo and Ernie? So in the theme of education, I opted to expand this alphabet to include upper and lower case letters for more of an epic creation. Even with this, I had to put some popular characters aside, including Hoots the Owl, the Twiddlebugs, SAM the Robot, Sully, Biff, Barkley, Betty Lou and Baby Bear (that's a lot of B's). How many can you name? Legend: Anything Muppet, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird, Bert, Cookie Monster, Gladys the Cow, Don Music, Dorothy, Ernie, Elmo, Forgetful Jones, Farley, Grover, Guy Smiley, Herry Monster, Honker, Ingrid, Invisible Man, Mr. Johnson, Joey Monkey, Harvey Kneeslapper, Kermit the Frog, Little Bird, Lefty the Salesman, Murray, Mumford the Magician, Dr. Nobel Price, Natasha, Oscar the Grouch, Ovejita, Placido Flamingo, Prairie Dawn, Queen Olivia, Queen of Six, Rosita, Roosevelt Franklin, Mr. Snuffleupagus (aka Snuffy), Sherlock Hemlock, Two-Headed Monster, Telly Monster, Uncle Jack, Umeko, Count von Count, Captain Vegetable, Wolfgang the Seal, Slimey the Worm, X (star of The X-Files), Ex-Ray, Yip, Yip, Zoe, "ZZ Blues" lead singer (from the band Over the Top) Tweet

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

Creative and interesting ways to make your child or loved one feel special on their birthday.

Cargo Loading may be the best and easiest Safari Birthday Party Game ever! Collect a few boxes and let the kids do the rest.

It's finally done! That's why I haven't had time to post regularly. I've been working on this party for my boy who recently turned 1...

I f you haven't seen the television show, Minute to Win It , you definitely need to watch it at least once. It is a game show where contest...

Find the perfect 30th birthday gift guide with these unique and thoughtful ideas. Discover gifts that celebrate this milestone.

Inside: A fun arts and crafts activity to do with a social skills group. This is a great way to start a discussion hidden social rules. Doing arts and crafts with social skills groups is awesome because it's fun but it’s also a playful way to teach. This lesson is all about about picking up on cl

For the third year I've done this spooky table of gross things for the kids to touch at our neighborhood Halloween party. I try to include n...

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)

I’m not writing this blog for you, I’m writing it for me. Every time I need to create an obstacle course I have to rethink every type of course we’ve done in the past. Next time I…

There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the

Summer is for celebrating and this golf birthday par-tee is one of the cutest custom birthdays we have ever done! Get ready fore some fun!

It's finally done! That's why I haven't had time to post regularly. I've been working on this party for my boy who recently turned 1...

In honor of Dr. Seuss’ upcoming birthday on March 2nd, we made a few Lorax inspired truffela trees for tot school this week. We’ve done similiar beading activities, which don’t seem to hold Logan’s attention for too long anymore, but pretend they are trees from one of his favorite books and it becomes a new […]

It's finally done! That's why I haven't had time to post regularly. I've been working on this party for my boy who recently turned 1...

Here's a Where's Waldo puzzle you have probably never done before...

I f you haven't seen the television show, Minute to Win It , you definitely need to watch it at least once. It is a game show where contest...

Cargo Loading may be the best and easiest Safari Birthday Party Game ever! Collect a few boxes and let the kids do the rest.

I've done much of the legwork for you to find the best, most excellent Mario Brothers party ideas on the web (although the content is aging, its still just as relevant)