Last Sunday organized the first at home birthday party I have ever done for Kaydin. In the past, I have always thrown him a super fun birthday bash but it has always been somewhere that includes all the entertainment and they take care of the clean up. For example, last year we took a group of six kids to Casa Bonita in Denver where they watched a dive show and played arcade games. The year before we went to the Denver Zoo where we spent a great day with all of the animals.This year for the first time I had a group of 10 kids over and entertained them with a ninja themed party requested by Kaydin.
I had the most difficulty finding decorations for the party. I had originally planned to trow the party outside which wouldn’t have required much in the way of decor but when Sunday morning came and I woke up to a chilly 30 degrees with some high gust of winds I knew that we would have to shift indoors. I had searched high and low at all of the local party stores to find the proper ninja decorations (my son had forbidden me from getting anything that was “karate”, ninja turtles, or kung fu panda) so I decided to start searching online. After days of very little success, I found the Karate Mart website which had the best selection I had found of decorations and party favors (not to mention fair prices). I ordered a package that included drinks, cups, napkins,a birthday banner, and more for only $20. On Sunday morning I had arranged to pick up the cake and helium filled balloons but also made a quick run to the hardware store to grab some streamers. Overall I think the decorations turned out great!
The finished room decorations
For days before the party I was worried that the games I had planned for the kids wouldn’t be able to keep them entertained for to whole hours but the kids seemed to really have a great time and they went right up until the last 5 minutes of the party.
Since we didn’t ask everyone to wear ninja costumes to the party I planned to spend the first half hour or so turning them all into little ninjas. We laid Kaydin’s train table out with strips of black fabric I had bought from the store and some puffy fabric paint. Each child make his or her own special ninja headband to wear during the party. My only regret here was that I didn’t think through how long it would take the paint to dry (the bottle said 4 hours!) so I would advise using something else to decorate such as stickers or pieces of felt that can be hot glued on. But we had some extra strips of plain fabric that some of the kids choose to wear. Next each child picked out a dragon ninja tattoo that the adults helped put on and their transformations into little ninjas was complete! I would have liked to get them all long black shirts to wear as a costume but it did not fit in the already stretched budget.
The ninja headband and tattoo set up.
While they were getting all dressed up we threw some pizza in the oven which they all took a break to eat (along with strawberries, chips and fruit punch) afterwards. Then we started the games…
The first activity involved finding and popping the gold balloons to let out the secret ninja who was hiding inside. The kids loved finding the surprise toy and had a great time finding unique ways to pop each balloon. The next activity was throwing stars (made out of plastic of course) where the kids each took a turn throwing the stars at a blow up ninja my husband had creatively hung up from the ceiling. Each time we went through the whole line of kids we would move them farther back and have them all go again. They loved this game and it was a great time filler!
Throwing Stars Game
Next we played a game called the floating orb where the kids had to keep a magic “orb” (balloon) from touching the ground using only the “bongo sticks” from Karate Mart. These sticks were a great alternative to buying expensive nun chucks for each child and they actually got to crack the end piece and watch them blow up which was really fun. They are incredibly durable (Kaydin’s is still fully blown up 4 days later!) and pretty safe too.
Deflated bongo sticks and party favors
Playing The Magic Orb Game
Finally we ended with cake and a dragon pinata. By the time it was all said and done I was totally beat but the kids had an amazing time and I felt like it was a complete success. I hope this can help with anyone else who has been given the difficult task of planning a ninja birthday party! I had so much fun I may even try it again next year : )
gardenmamma 
My mom always did at home birthday parties for me growing up (mostly a function of where we lived and the prospect of dragging a bunch of kids into the streets of DC), It was always something that my friends love and really got into. It sounds like your first adventure into home birthdays was a huge success. I’m sure all your sons friends had a great time and will be remembering this for a long time(I still remember my western themed birthday from when I was 6).