Josiah’s 7th Ninja Party

Josiah’s 7th birthday was less stressful for several reasons.  The main reason was I omitted the goodie bags and didn’t have any games.  It felt so weird at first, because I always have both, and I even felt kind of guilty. I was imagining the kids having a riot at the end of the party when they realized they weren’t getting a gb.

Josiah wanted a Ninjago-themed birthday (series of Lego ninjas for those that don’t know).  I sent out some Evites (they have a Lego looking one, and uploaded a doctored picture of a Ninjago with my sons eyes pasted into it…hehe).

We had the party at the local pool.  I love it, because less clean up for me. There really isn’t any need for entertainment, because the kids just want to swim.

Another thing that greatly decreased my stress level was that my in-laws took care of grilling all the meat, infused with some Asian flavors. I made some fried rice, because I would feel too guilty letting my rice cooker take care of everything.

I am very proud of my first attempt to make Ninjago cupcakes! I got some ideas online, but they were either too hard or too generic looking.  I think this one turned out really well and wasn’t overcomplicated.  I iced the cupcakes blue, used yellow icing in a piping bag with a ribbon tip (not sure if that is what it is called) and black gel in a tube to draw on eyes.  I used all the blue food coloring, and that was as blue as I could get it. I’m sure there is a way to achieve a darker blue, but this turned out well since all the kids loved it and you could tell because of BCMs (blue cupcake mouth).

I loved how these turned out! Got this idea online at several sites.  Do not be intimidated to make these.  These were actually the easiest thing to make.  I just made Rice Krispie treats, put a Swedish fish candy on top and wrapped a green fruit roll-up around it.  To get the green fruit roll-up, I sliced the bottom half of a blue and green roll-up into 6 strips.  The kids loved these too.

I saw this fruit kabobs idea on Pinterest, except it was laid out on a platter to look like a rainbow (cute idea for another party). I had put them in a bowl with the intention of laying them out, but then I thought this looked more ninja. I love how convenient this is for kids.

My Japanese friend Miyuki made some real sushi (Arigato!), and I bought some ginger cookies, and rice crackers (not pictured). Like I mentioned earlier, other than the treats, the only thing I cooked was fried rice.  If you are a natural born Betty Crocker, knock yourself out. However, I do not love cooking (sorry I just don’t), so keeping the menu simple alleviated stress for me.

I made this banner for the backdrop of where Josiah would open gifts.  It wasn’t too hard, and I can’t sew to save my life.  I could’ve used fabric glue on the whole thing, but wanted it to last longer, so I sewed on the black ribbons, printed out, laminated the letters, and glued them on with fabric glue (I heart fabric glue).  By the way, on other sites that made banners, people were top secret ninjas about the font they used…lol.  I looked through a bunch of Asian fonts, and liked Kingthings Conumdrum font the best (Always be careful for viruses when downloading anything). The country club didn’t have anything I could hang it on, so I draped it over a lattice screen.

Instead of my traditional gb each kid got an inflatable ninja sword (worked well since it was a pool party) and a homemade ninja headband.

To make the ninja headbands I just cut strips from black fabric, and used fabric paint to write the first letter of the kids’ names that RSVPed yes or maybe.  I made some extra with the number seven written in Japanese just in case anyone that didn’t RSVP showed.

Guess what! There was no riot, the kids loved their ninja swords and headbands, and the parents were happy they didn’t have to deal with all the little gb knick-knacks.  Josiah loved spending time with all his close friends and family, loved the great gifts, and loved his ninja party! Thank you to all those that shared it with us.