Super Mario Bros Party Ideas and Free Printables

I've created this article to hopefully inspire you. If your child is a fan of Super Mario Bros, then this article will provide lots of ideas for some creative fun. If you're planning a party with a specific theme—like Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Donkey Kong, etc.—I hope I've got it covered here with the best party decorations and ideas I could find on the web!

I gave my son a Mario Brothers party for his sixth birthday, and one thing I noticed was the lack of Mario Bros party gear, especially gear found all in one place at affordable prices. So, I've found what I consider the best choices and added them below.

Printables, Videos and Party Inspiration Galore

I've included a wide range of free printables—some I made myself, and others I found online. I've made a video of awesome Super Mario Bros costume ideas. And I've even included some ideas for fun Mario party treats and decorations, plus photo galleries of other amazing Mario-themed parties for inspiration. Enjoy looking through the following:

• Free Printables
• Costume and Cosplay Ideas
• Cakes and Other Sweet Treats
• Balloon and Lantern Decoration Ideas
• Party Inspiration Galleries

If anything, may this article give you some creative enjoyment or perhaps some memories of your own experiences with the icon that is Nintendo.

For all of these printables, you can click on the "Source" link to download the images to print.

1. Super Mario Bros Printable Invitation

I created an invite for my son's birthday using free vector shapes. And I've made one just for you! This is for personal home use only, please.

You can print something like this and then write your own details on it. Or open it in your editing software and add your own text, then print! It couldn't be easier—or cheaper. Or, if you don't have time to snail-mail invitations, save it to your own computer, add some text, save it again, and then email it as a JPEG file to all your friends.

2. Pin the Mustache on Mario Party Game Printable

This game works just like Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I created this for you all. This is a large, high-resolution PDF file. You can print it up to A2 size, no problem. To do that, your best bet would be to send the file to your local printer for printing on A3 or A2 paper.

3. Free Printable Mario Bros Paper

Use this paper however you like—maybe as a table decoration or to wrap small gifts?

4. Mario Bros Party Table Place Card Printable

I've created these for you all to have free! Print on letter-size paper (8.5" by 11"); use thicker paper or photo paper, if possible. Then cut and fold. They will look best if you're able to cut the edge very straight, using a ruler and knife or a paper cutter.

I've left enough room for you to hand-write names easily. Alternatively, you can open the JPEG in an editing program and add text that way, then print.

5. Mario Bros Colouring Pages

I've got some fantastic ideas for how you can use outline/colouring images.

Colouring

• Print them out two to a page (or one to a page) and staple them together to make a mini colouring book, perhaps with a coloured-in sheet on top, and give them out to the kids to take home. It would be even better to put the kid's name on the front of their book.
• Hand them out for a colouring-in competition that they do at the party. Best colouring effort wins a prize?
• Laminate each one, and use them as placemats on the party table! Put whiteboard markers or Textas on the table, and the guests can colour them in!
• Or don't laminate them, and use them as paper placemats. Put a tin of coloured pencils in the middle of the table so kids can colour them in, if they wish.

Decoration

• Colour them in on your computer, using any paint shop program, then print them out and use them as posters to decorate the room.
• Use cardboard and glue/tape an image to both sides of the cardboard. Then put a hole in the cardboard images, tie fishing wire to them, and hang them from the ceiling as decorations.

On the Table

• Colour them in on the computer, then add a guest's name to each sheet and print them out. Alternatively, print them out as is, and colour them in yourself with markers or pencils. Stick them on the chairs for fun table seating arrangements.
• Stick cardboard to them and attach them to something (a peg or clip, for example) to make them stand up on their own. They can then be used as table place markers which will add heaps of colour to the table!

6. Large JPEGS of Mario Characters

To help you make cool things for your party, here's an absolutely fabulous array of large JPEG files (for personal use only). These could really do the trick for adding extra colour and pizzazz to your party. They're free for you to use at home (but not for any commercial purpose). As long as you have a good colour printer, then this is a really cheap and easy way to make your party extra special.

You can right-click on the images above to save them to your files. These originally came from the One Hip Mom Blog. Please remember, these images are only for personal use.

There are so many ways to make great use of these!

Labels and Name Tags

• Use them to create gorgeous, full-colour labels for party favours.
• Create gorgeous labels for a dessert table. Have matching labels for your apothecary or glass jars as well as on all your treat plates.
• Insert them into a template that prints out labels to make name tags for the kids. Name tags on stickers may seem silly, but they can be a lifesaver for moms! How else are you supposed to remember all the kids' names?
• Print them on round labels to make cupcake toppers.
• Print them on larger labels to put on water bottles.

Decorations

• Make a collage with them.
• Print them out on full A4 pages and then cut them out and hang all over the party room walls.
• For added effect, print two of the same image (with one image reversed). Stick one side to cardboard and cut it out around the edges, and then stick the other piece on the other side, making sure to match the edges. Then cut the remaining paper off. Put a hole through the image, and use fishing wire or ribbon to hang it from the ceiling.
• Print them on iron-on transfer paper and stick them to a t-shirt for the birthday boy or girl.
• Print them onto edible transfers to put on a cake.
• Use a word processor to create little fold-over table place cards.

Fun Extra Touches

• Use them to create a great screensaver to display on your computer desktop on the day, with a personalized message for the birthday boy or girl.
• Use them to create an email invite, a website invite, a Facebook invite or a printed invite.
• Print them on thicker paper and make them into cones to hold caramelised popcorn or lollies.

7. Papercraft Printables

The three patterns above can be used to create 3-D papercraft figures—just print, cut, fold, glue/tape and assemble!

8. Printable Mario Mask

Print this mask and use it for a decoration or a costume! (See more costume ideas in the video below.)

If you can't find an idea for your party cake or treats out of all the fantastic examples here, then you never will.

Mario Star Cake

The video above shows you how to bake a Super Star-shaped cake. Follow along with her instructions, or use it to inspire your own starry cake!

Star Cookies

Here are three ways to make these, as shown in the photos above:

1. Simple: Just use a star cookie cutter. Then, for eyes, cut chocolate buds in half and slide them sideways into the dough.
2. Frosted: Do star shapes, then colour and outline them with frosting.
3. Fondant: Apply star-shaped fondant to cookies or gingerbread.

Chocolate Molds

Look through the photos above to see what Amy made with star-shaped, mustache-shaped and controller-shaped chocolate molds.

Variations on Cake-Pops

1. Donut Hole Cake-Pops

Amy also made Toad cake-pops by sticking a lollipop stick into a donut hole and then dipping it in green candy melt. Making "cake-pops" with donut holes or marshmallows is easier than making actual cake-pops, and it's a lot of fun. See Amy's other party decorations on her blog.

2. Marshmallow Mushroom Pops

Holly Moeller (see more pictures of her stunning Mario Bros party below) created these fabulous mushroom marshmallow pops, a gorgeous and much simpler alternative to actual cake-pops!

I've written my own quick guide to making Lego marshmallow pops; the same procedure would work for making mushroom pops. You would dip the marshmallows only halfway into the candy melt; then, while the chocolate is soft, you could attach white fondant circles or perhaps rolled-up marshmallows.

3. More Marshmallow Mushroom Pops

Cute as a Fox made these awesome Marshmallow Mushrooms. She's written a tutorial on how to make them.

Cupcakes

Use small, cheap Mario figurines as cupcake toppers! Even better, each kid can keep their topper and take it home.

Cupcake "Cakes"

Arrange frosted cupcakes into a Mario-shaped "cake" that resembles pixel art.

I found the following balloon and lantern ideas on the internet, and I wished I'd seen them before my son's party, because I definitely would have used them.

My Son's Party: Foil Star Balloons

Instead, for balloon decorations, I bought lovely foil star balloons in the Mario colours (blue, red and yellow). They looked fabulous, and they only cost around $2 each. I'd planned to fill them with helium, and my local party shop had told me they'd be open on Sundays—but then on the Sunday morning of the actual party, they were CLOSED! Not a happy Mum at that stage.

But then I just decided to blow them up with air, so I used a drinking straw and blew them up and then used pre-made balloon strings. I attached one each to my blue and red Chinese-noodle-box lolly bags. It actually turned out for the best, because the venue we were in had really high ceilings; at previous parties, we had lost expensive helium balloons to the ceilings in the first five minutes! Not only that, these air-filled star foil balloons are still in pristine blown-up condition months later!

Consider some fabulous alternative ideas below.

Boo Balloons

1. For these, just use white balloons. Use round balloons, or if they are long, only blow them up enough to keep them round.
2. Get pieces of white computer paper and make cones out of them. Make sure to cut little flaps at the tops and fold them inwards to glue them to the balloons. I would suggest PVA to stick them on, because a glue gun may pop the balloons.
3. Then just get yourself a black permanent marker (it has to be permanent, or you'll have black ink everywhere!) and use your creative skills to copy the face onto all the balloons! Make sure you position the face just below the knotted end of the balloon, so you can hang them right-way-up from the ceiling.

Boo Lantern

I love this idea! How great would lit-up Boo lanterns look at night? But even during the day, they'd look fantastic.

You'd just need to get lots of round white paper lanterns and use your creative skills with permanent markers to draw a face on the lantern. You could also do the same as with the balloons above and add paper cones to the sides for the arms.

They'd look so fabulous hanging from the ceiling, don't you think?

Stomp the Goomba!

Here's a really cute party game idea: kids stomp on the Goomba balloons! The paper plate "feet" help keep the balloons upright and in place.

Holly Moeller created the most awesome party for her son, as you can see in the photos above. I recently discovered Holly's blog. I know a lot of you will be able to relate: When you see all those incredible, beautifully matching party and dessert tables, your heart skips a little beat, and you're inspired so much that you want to have something like that in your life, too

I've been inspired by the party Holly created for her little 6-year-old. I love the Mario Kart theme because there is so much you can do with chequers and racing stripes.

This is the perfect example of the kind of party you can create if you give yourself enough time and do a lot of your own DIY creative options. And the resources are all available to find on the net. See more details of this gorgeous party on Holly's Paisley Petal Events blog.

Holly created yellow bags that the boys got to fill to their hearts' content from the stunning sweets table she created at the end of the party. Sweets or dessert tables are definitely all the rage now for parties, and to have the sweets used up at the end of the party like this is just perfect!

The above photos are from a brilliant party created by GreyGrey Designs.

Talented "Stampin Up" demonstrator and card-maker Michelle Fisher came up with these brilliant paper cut-out ideas for her own son's sixth birthday. She was pressed for time and could not find any Mario party supplies, so she decided she had to make some herself. And aren't we glad she did?

Wow—she's impressive! Just look at those fabulous Mario and Luigi party lollipop favours! She also made her own mushroom boxes, Koopa Troopa pencils and Yoshi favour bags! Talk about a creative mind; I love it!

You could always focus the party theme on Yoshi! How brilliant is this easy-peasy Yoshi eggs idea? I love it! Just hard-boil eggs and dot them with green paint or permanent green markers! It's just too easy, and they look fabulous!

A great idea that I saw on Amy Daton's blog is to have an egg-and-spoon race with the Yoshi eggs.