A Ninja Party (Ninjago Style)

 

Jack LOVES all things Ninjago right now- and has for a while.  He told me AT HIS PARTY last year that he wanted a Ninjago party for his next birthday! Jeesh! So when I saw little Ninjago sets that were on sale or clearance in JANUARY I bought 14, knowing we'd have a Ninjago party come October.  And Jack never changed his mind. 

 

I'll have to come back later & add the links to the sites I got my inspiration from. 

 

The party was from 4-6:30 (the longest party I've done - usually they're 2 hours).  Since it was basically right after school for most of the boys we started with a snack.

 

"Burning Snake"

 

Fushi (fake sushi)

 

 

After a snack the boys went outside & Jeremiah timed them going through his "ninja" obstacle course.  Okay, there wasn't anything that ninja about it, but kids love obstacle courses.

 

 

 

After their obstacle course they came in for the Fortune Cookie Toss game.  The winner was the ninja who had the most points.  They each got 3 fortune cookies to toss into take-out boxes that were worth 3, 5 or 7 points.

 

 

Next up: Pin the Beard on Sensai Wu.  Jack really wanted Pin the Sword on Kai's Hand, but since I'd decided on the pin the _ while he was at school & had already spent a bit of time photoshopping Sensai Wu to get rid of the beard, I told him he had to be happy with it.  And he was.   Jack walked right up to it & put it right where it belonged.  I'd double wrapped the scarf & checked under their cheeks to see if they could see & he couldn't.  He is just a true pin the __ ninja!

 

   

Callie

 

 

The game that Jack was most excited about was the Throwing Star Game.  I ordered rubber throwing stars from Amazon that they threw into this foam insulation board that we already had.   

 

Hard to see but that's Ellie in front of Jack taking a turn.  She was better than a lot of the boys!  

Jack's 2nd turn.  He didn't do so hot on his first one so he had to redeem himself! ;)  

 

While we waited for my dad to bring our food the boys went crazy outside with dollar store ninja swords I gave them all.  I was really really hoping to find foam ones but I couldn't so they were flexible plastic.  I bought a couple blow up punch bags from Kmart & they had one of them popped in seconds.  What a waste of $7!  If they weren't attacking the punch bag they were attacking each other.  I had to take one boy's sword away because he just couldn't seem to remember to not hit PEOPLE with it.  Poor Ellie got a big welt on her arm from him!   Here's a few pics of party stuff:

 

 

Food's here!

 

 

For dinner we had non-spicy orange chicken from Panda Express with fried rice.  We also bought frozen pot stickers & egg rolls that they ate.  So I've thrown quite a few kid parties now & I couldn't think of a single one that the kids had eaten much.  So when I was ordering the orange chicken I thought 1 pan would definitely be enough for the boys (12 of them!) plus the rest of the family, including Grandpa & Grandma, Papa & Nana, and Uncle Jonny & Aunt Ann & Taylor.  The boys LOVED the orange chicken and almost every one of them had seconds.  By the time I got a chance to eat there were 2 puny pieces left.  And Jeremiah & his mom didn't get any!  I guess I should have made sure the rest of us had our food before I gave all the boys seconds.  It's not like I would have been starving them if they couldn't have seconds! :) I was shocked but glad it was a hit!

 

After dinner we let Jack open his presents.  Our friends are all overly generous! He got lots of Ninjago stuff.  He was thrilled!  

 

For his cake, I'd seen on another blog a cake the mom made that was simply rectangle cakes & a paper pagoda on top.  The paper pagoda is a free printable from HP that I printed.  So on the assembly directions it says it will take about 2 hours to assemble.  But I have a paper trimmer and I've done a lot of paper crafting so I knew it wouldn't take me 2 hours to assemble.  WRONG! It took me 2 1/2!  That put me behind schedule on the morning of the party!  I'm SOOO thankful that Jeremiah's mom had offered to make cupcakes for Jack's class & that my mom picked them up from her & delived them!  Even with that I was still behind schedule (an absolutely regular thing for me)!  When Jeremiah's mom got to my house to help me finish getting ready she made the frosting for the birthday cake & frosted it for me!  I have to say, the paper pagoda was very impressive looking!  Jack couldn't find any of his Ninjagos to put on the cake so he found one of his skeletons (enemies on Ninjago) and stuck it on!

   

 

As the boys were eating/finishing their cake & ice cream the parents showed up to get them.  It was a great party but it was great that it was over too! :)  We sent each boy home with a take-out box that had their name on it (I can't believe I forgot to take a picture).  Inside was a little Ninjago set (the sets I'd bought in January), a mini rubber ninja (like the ones in the quarter machines), and a fortune cookie along with a pair of chopsticks & the chopstick helpers they'd used to eat their dinner with.  They also got to take home their ninja swords and a ninja mask that we were working on even as the boys were arriving!   

 

After all of Jack's friends left he got to open presents from us, the grandparents, & aunts/uncles.    Jack had an awesome party!  I'm so grateful that Jeremiah's mom & my mom both saved the day again & helped me with his party!  Jack's very sweet & has thanked me several times & he likes to tell people that his mom throws the best parties ever!  (Not true, but I'm not too shabby!)   Happy Birthday Jack!