Mario Birthday Party Brainstorm

A variety of Super Mario Brothers Mushroom cupcakes
A variety of Mario Brothers Mushroom cupcakes

Update: Our party was a smashing success, and dozens of other parents have posted their stories too! Also, there are finally some cute mario party supplies to help supplement these ideas. If you need the supplies you can support this page at the same time by ordering them here.

My son turns six this month and would like to have a Mario Party Party. It’s a fun idea really, but I’ve noticed that mario birthday party supplies and favors are a bit hard to find. (Not anymore!)

So this time around in addition to posting my ideas as to what worked and what didn’t, I realized I could check with you! Here’s what I’ve got so far:

(I’m updating as I come up with ideas, and there are tons of other mario party ideas readers posted in the comments below!)

  • Mushroom cupcakes made with red icing and white candy spots or orange frosting and red candy — or green frosting with white, for that matter — maybe all of them? Let the kids decorate?
  • Ice Cream shaped like a star using a star shaped cake pan
  • Star shaped mylar balloons for party favors – just add eyes! I gold star shaped mylar balloons, 20″ across for 99 cents here, or you can get a 3′ star shaped mylar balloon for $2.99 . These also make excellent additions to any mario-themed costume 🙂
  • Chocolate (Or bubblegum) coin hunt
  • Pizza – oh and set the table with a red/white checked tablecloth
  • Mini Games (haven’t figured out which ones yet but stuff like a beanbag toss, frisbee throw, etc. would probably work – I should go play mario party with the kids for more ideas)
  • Yoshi Egg Piñata
  • Mushroom Invitations (pattern posted below)

I did find some red newsboy/cabbie caps that’d be adorable on the kids. A bit over (my) budget for mario birthday party favors but it’d be fun for someone I’m sure. Maybe I could make some out of .. I dunno, foam visors and fabric? who knows 🙂

So anyway.. If you’re looking for mario party ideas for your kid, there are a few, and if you’ve got some I’ve not thought of, please feel free to contribute.

Old School Mario Mushroom
Old School Mario Mushroom

There are some cute Mario Birthday Party invitations available now along with favors and other party supplies, but if you want to make your own, here’s the pattern I made for our party. These look like the 8-bit mushrooms you might remember from Super Mario Brothers. Print caps.pdf on orange, red, or green cardstock. Paint the spots.

Print stems.pdf on white cardstock, and then print envelope.pdf on goldenrod 4.25×6.25 envelopes.

Cut out the caps and stems. Fold forward along the dotted line on the cap to form a tab to glue the stem to the mushroom cap. Let the glue dry first, then put the cards in a heavy book to get their folds crisp.

You could do the same thing with a smoother mushroom look, but I think the 8 bit pixelated thing is a bit fun and unexpected. Enjoy!

Chain Chomp Pinata idea by Heather & Joe - this is awesome!
Chain Chomp Pinata idea by Heather & Joe – this is awesome!
Heather and Joe sent in this awesome Chain-chomp pinata idea. Very clever and cool! “I used a dollar store beach ball so I could deflate it for reuse after! I also used black construction paper for the final layer so the color would be stronger. It hung with an old light fixture chain. It turned out great! we had already hit it a few times before we remembered to take a pic.whoops! ”

Awesome Mario Peel & Stick Wall Stickers
Vinyl Mario Peel & Stick Wall Stickers – out of my price range but SO COOL!

And I totally love these wall stickers. I can’t afford them, but if I could I would totally turn my apartment’s living room with it’s nearly black wall into World 3-1, and then it’d be like having a Mario Party every day!

Have fun at your Mario Party!

156 responses to “Mario Birthday Party Brainstorm”

  1. My sons were Mario and Luigi for Halloween and we just bought the white painters caps from our local craft store for like 50 cents each and Rit dyed them. Then we nout an iron on with the letter "M" and "L". It was very in expensive and would work for favors too.

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  2. My sons were Mario and Luigi for Halloween and we just bought the white painters caps from our local craft store for like 50 cents each and Rit dyed them. Then we nout an iron on with the letter "M" and "L". It was very in expensive and would work for favors too.

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  3. Thanks Hope – great tip! I tried making a hat out of red foil wrapping paper and cardboard. It was OK but not what I was hoping for.

    I did end up making some very cute 8-bit mushroom themed invitations though, and the coin hunt (aka, throw a hundred gold chocolate coins into the back yard from the deck and turn the kids loose) was super fun. The mushroom cupcakes were also wildly popular.

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  4. Thanks Hope – great tip! I tried making a hat out of red foil wrapping paper and cardboard. It was OK but not what I was hoping for.

    I did end up making some very cute 8-bit mushroom themed invitations though, and the coin hunt (aka, throw a hundred gold chocolate coins into the back yard from the deck and turn the kids loose) was super fun. The mushroom cupcakes were also wildly popular.

    Like

  5. where can you find party suplies out there that have mario on them? I see people selling them on ebay for gosh awful prices. What shops sell them?

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  6. where can you find party suplies out there that have mario on them? I see people selling them on ebay for gosh awful prices. What shops sell them?

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  7. I couldn’t find any shops that carried mario supplies. I recommend picking up some italian themed party supplies – which you can get anywhere. Then add in a few mario-ish decorations you print or make yourself.

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  8. I couldn’t find any shops that carried mario supplies. I recommend picking up some italian themed party supplies – which you can get anywhere. Then add in a few mario-ish decorations you print or make yourself.

    Like

  9. I am having the same problem right now with my son’s sixth b-day that just HAS TO be Mario themed. We like the mushroom cupcakes and chocolate coin search. We also are going to a pizza place in town that is known for it’s "tubes". A fun playland for kids with the largest tubes and tunnels in town. So we will be able to pretend at least we’re in Mario land.

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  10. That sounds like it’ll be lots of fun. I’ll have to get the personal details off of my invitations I made so I can upload them here for anyone who wants to use them… they turned out very cute.

    Oh – one other thing that was fun for a photo background – I took a black tablecloth and used a sponge to print teal bricks on it, like the underground parts in old-school mario.

    One thing I found out about 6 year olds is that they are pretty good at entertaining themselves. I had other games planned for them (such as mario in the middle – put a mario had on one kid and have him try to catch the ball being thrown back and forth between the others – the last person who touched the ball before mario catches it becomes mario) … but between decorating the mushroom cupcakes and the coin hunt, they had themselves completely entertained the entire time.

    Like

  11. I am having the same problem right now with my son’s sixth b-day that just HAS TO be Mario themed. We like the mushroom cupcakes and chocolate coin search. We also are going to a pizza place in town that is known for it’s "tubes". A fun playland for kids with the largest tubes and tunnels in town. So we will be able to pretend at least we’re in Mario land.

    Like

  12. That sounds like it’ll be lots of fun. I’ll have to get the personal details off of my invitations I made so I can upload them here for anyone who wants to use them… they turned out very cute.

    Oh – one other thing that was fun for a photo background – I took a black tablecloth and used a sponge to print teal bricks on it, like the underground parts in old-school mario.

    One thing I found out about 6 year olds is that they are pretty good at entertaining themselves. I had other games planned for them (such as mario in the middle – put a mario had on one kid and have him try to catch the ball being thrown back and forth between the others – the last person who touched the ball before mario catches it becomes mario) … but between decorating the mushroom cupcakes and the coin hunt, they had themselves completely entertained the entire time.

    Like

  13. I was looking for Mario themed items for a game party/my husband’s birthday. So far I have found that http://www.evite.com has a couple of Mario invite designs.

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  14. I was looking for Mario themed items for a game party/my husband’s birthday. So far I have found that http://www.evite.com has a couple of Mario invite designs.

    Like

  15. Hello, like all of the other mothers out there, I have a son turning 5 in a couple of weeks and just has to have a mario party! I cannot find anything! I did have a lady who makes chocolate lollipops on ebay, make me some mushroom and yellow star lollipops. I am making him some mushroom cupcakes and also making the centerpieces myself. I had the idea to get some mini plastic terra cota looking pots, paint them green and print out some large fire flower stickers, that I plan to glue onto posterboard. All you do is get some of that green florist sponge and stick it in the pot, then you stick the fire flower posterboard cutout into the sponge and add some green paper easter grass shreds and you have really cool centerpieces. Really cheap and will look great with on a checked tablecloth! Still on the hunt for some more ideas though. Thanks for your great ideas.

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  16. Hello, like all of the other mothers out there, I have a son turning 5 in a couple of weeks and just has to have a mario party! I cannot find anything! I did have a lady who makes chocolate lollipops on ebay, make me some mushroom and yellow star lollipops. I am making him some mushroom cupcakes and also making the centerpieces myself. I had the idea to get some mini plastic terra cota looking pots, paint them green and print out some large fire flower stickers, that I plan to glue onto posterboard. All you do is get some of that green florist sponge and stick it in the pot, then you stick the fire flower posterboard cutout into the sponge and add some green paper easter grass shreds and you have really cool centerpieces. Really cheap and will look great with on a checked tablecloth! Still on the hunt for some more ideas though. Thanks for your great ideas.

    Like

  17. I’m loving the fire flowers idea! Woo hoo! In fact, I’m really loving ALL of these ideas.

    If anyone wants to send a file for me to post here (like a pattern for anything) just drop me a note in the contact form & I’ll email you.

    Like

  18. I’m loving the fire flowers idea! Woo hoo! In fact, I’m really loving ALL of these ideas.

    If anyone wants to send a file for me to post here (like a pattern for anything) just drop me a note in the contact form & I’ll email you.

    Like

  19. My son is turning 4 and loves to play Mario Party on the Wii. I am searching for ideas for his birthday and was happy to find your site. I had a different game idea–I am going to place stars all over the house and have them go on a search for stars.

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  20. I’m planning a Mario party for my 6 year old boy.
    I decided to go w/ the Mario Galaxy theme, so I plan on hanging gold stars and maybe some planets too (found at the Oriental Trading Company). Also found some Mario hard candy packs and gummies at my local 99cents store. I am making red felt Mario hats for the boys and princess Tiaras for the girls. Also I plan on serving Pizza, Spaghetti, Cheese sticks, and salad. I printed several Mario coloring pages (Landscape Layout-2 per page)and made coloring books as party favors. I printed a cover sheet on photo paper cut and pasted a MARIO image on it, downloaded a Mario font and wrote "Mario coloring book"…"Thanks for coming to…Birthday Party" all the pages are held together w/ Star brads I found at Michaels, you know the little brads people use for scrapping. To find coloring pages just google "Mario coloring pages" can’t remember the site…something..CAPTN Network. BTW they sell Mario toothbrushes at Target about $5, might make a good prize or gift for the birthday child.

    Like

  21. I’m planning a Mario party for my 6 year old boy.
    I decided to go w/ the Mario Galaxy theme, so I plan on hanging gold stars and maybe some planets too (found at the Oriental Trading Company). Also found some Mario hard candy packs and gummies at my local 99cents store. I am making red felt Mario hats for the boys and princess Tiaras for the girls. Also I plan on serving Pizza, Spaghetti, Cheese sticks, and salad. I printed several Mario coloring pages (Landscape Layout-2 per page)and made coloring books as party favors. I printed a cover sheet on photo paper cut and pasted a MARIO image on it, downloaded a Mario font and wrote "Mario coloring book"…"Thanks for coming to…Birthday Party" all the pages are held together w/ Star brads I found at Michaels, you know the little brads people use for scrapping. To find coloring pages just google "Mario coloring pages" can’t remember the site…something..CAPTN Network. BTW they sell Mario toothbrushes at Target about $5, might make a good prize or gift for the birthday child.

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  22. We are also planning a mario party for my 6y.o. daughter. Wilton did make a mario cake mold that is no discontinued (I saw a few on Ebay). I saw several cute ideas on amazon.com for party favors- candy/toys. target.com also has racing mario remote control Mario kart toys (2 for $20) Oriental trading also sells red and green ball caps in dozens(discounted from Christmas)

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  23. We are also planning a mario party for my 6y.o. daughter. Wilton did make a mario cake mold that is no discontinued (I saw a few on Ebay). I saw several cute ideas on amazon.com for party favors- candy/toys. target.com also has racing mario remote control Mario kart toys (2 for $20) Oriental trading also sells red and green ball caps in dozens(discounted from Christmas)

    Like

  24. We did a Mario party for our son’s 6th birthday, you can check out the photos on flickr. Or google Kirby pinata.
    This is the website:
    http://www.flickr.com/photo

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  25. We did a Mario party for our son’s 6th birthday, you can check out the photos on flickr. Or google Kirby pinata.
    This is the website:
    http://www.flickr.com/photo

    Like

  26. Holy smokes, Michelle! Is that an origami goomba? -All- of this stuff is homemade? All I can say is you’ve got some mad cutting & folding skills. My hands were cramping after cutting a dozen cards, and you’ve got nearly twice that — all of them as flawless as they would be had they come out of a die cutter.

    I’m loving the Boo piniata.

    Like

  27. Holy smokes, Michelle! Is that an origami goomba? -All- of this stuff is homemade? All I can say is you’ve got some mad cutting & folding skills. My hands were cramping after cutting a dozen cards, and you’ve got nearly twice that — all of them as flawless as they would be had they come out of a die cutter.

    I’m loving the Boo piniata.

    Like

  28. Wow. You all have such great ideas. My son is turning 3 and one of his first pronounced words was Mario…and when I write out his name and ask him what it says he replies "Mario" so he’s getting a Mario party too. I may have to use some of these Ideas and even add a few new ones. I’ll let you know later what I do.

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  29. Wow. You all have such great ideas. My son is turning 3 and one of his first pronounced words was Mario…and when I write out his name and ask him what it says he replies "Mario" so he’s getting a Mario party too. I may have to use some of these Ideas and even add a few new ones. I’ll let you know later what I do.

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  30. To Velda:

    Yes, Velda everything is homemade! The goomba is a papercraft we downloaded. And, yes, a lot of cutting. Thank you for the compliments, it was both my husband and I. We started planning a couple of months before. It’s a lot of work, but my kids enjoyed the whole process. My birthday boy never even asked for a present. He was just excited about everything we came up with. Parents wouldn’t leave the party! They wanted to see what we’d do next. It was a lot of fun. We also had a "store" they could purchase "stuff" with the coins from Yoshi’s egg hunt. I hope we could be of help to people for their kids’ parties. There just isn’t anything for Mario to purchase. And if you have a computer and ideas, you can make it! Jessica…post a link for pictures! I would love to see your son’s party!

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  31. Well congrats. It’s beautifully done.. I take it you’re a print designer? How did you cut out those cards so well? They are amazing!

    And I would love to see other peoples pics. If you don’t have a site to upload them to and want them posted here, you can email them to me at myname at novapages.com (I don’t want to post the actual address to be harvested by spam bots)

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  32. Well congrats. It’s beautifully done.. I take it you’re a print designer? How did you cut out those cards so well? They are amazing!

    And I would love to see other peoples pics. If you don’t have a site to upload them to and want them posted here, you can email them to me at myname at novapages.com (I don’t want to post the actual address to be harvested by spam bots)

    Like

  33. Someone said they got painters hats at your local craft store? what store was that? i have been looking everywhere for them, mario party here too!

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  34. Someone said they got painters hats at your local craft store? what store was that? i have been looking everywhere for them, mario party here too!

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  35. Hey there! My son is turning 5 in April is LOVES to play Mario Party on the Wii…and of course that’s what kind of party he wants. I never thought that finding party things would be so hard! has anybody bought the Mario items from Ebay? I’m thinking about getting the Edible Image, but really would rather find something local…

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  36. Sorry Amanda – I haven’t tried them. Have you had any other feedback on the edible images or did you find another solution? Let us know!

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  37. Sorry Amanda – I haven’t tried them. Have you had any other feedback on the edible images or did you find another solution? Let us know!

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  38. We will be doing a mario party for my son’s 5th birthday. I’m usually an over planner and go a little overboard, but this is what I’ve come up with so far.

    For invites we will make one on the computer of Mario Galaxy with my son dressed as mario imposed flying through space with Mario, then have them copied at Kinko’s.

    I ordered Mario keychains, dolls and poseable guys off Ebay for the grab bags and will also add the Oriental Trading green and red hats with M’s and L’s iron on. I also got mustaches from Oriental Trading along with gold coins and stars for pinata and game prizes. For the grab bags I am getting cheap canvas bags from a craft store and ironing on images of Mario with the kids names on them (I have tons of iron on paper left over from last year)

    We are going to copy off of your super sweet cake table idea and have a cake made with an edible transfer photo of Mario Galaxy on top of a sheet cake.

    We will be playing Musical Mario tubes. Covering 5 gallon buckets with green posterboard and playing Mario tunes downloaded to CD.

    We will have a huge ball pit in the yard where the kids can search for stars, most stars wins a prize.

    I will be making a huge Mario cut out of thick cardboard and painting it. The face will be cut out for kids photo’s as Mario. I will send these along in Thank You cards.

    I have TONS of large white caste building blocks (just like Mario) that we purchased on clearance on Lillian Vernon site a while back that we will hide 1UP (made of cardstock) for the kids to find.

    We will attenpt our own pinata,or purchase one probably of a star.

    We will be making huge fire flowers with 5 gallon buckets plastic pipe and huge styrofoam balls.

    We will be dressing up our dogs with costumes made as Kuppa, toad and yoshi. I will be dressed as a princess. My son was Mario for Halloween and will be dressed as Mario.

    We will have 1/2 of the yard decorated in a italian restauraunt theme for pizza, pasta, salad, and cheese sticks.

    Since it is in the middle of summer and scorching outside we will also have tons set up inside for the kids.

    Mario VS Sonic olympics tourniment, Mario Brothers movies/cartoons playing for the smaller kids.

    That’s all I’ve come up with so far. All of your ideas are super awesome, hope you don’t mind if I slide them into our planning also.

    Like

  39. We will be doing a mario party for my son’s 5th birthday. I’m usually an over planner and go a little overboard, but this is what I’ve come up with so far.

    For invites we will make one on the computer of Mario Galaxy with my son dressed as mario imposed flying through space with Mario, then have them copied at Kinko’s.

    I ordered Mario keychains, dolls and poseable guys off Ebay for the grab bags and will also add the Oriental Trading green and red hats with M’s and L’s iron on. I also got mustaches from Oriental Trading along with gold coins and stars for pinata and game prizes. For the grab bags I am getting cheap canvas bags from a craft store and ironing on images of Mario with the kids names on them (I have tons of iron on paper left over from last year)

    We are going to copy off of your super sweet cake table idea and have a cake made with an edible transfer photo of Mario Galaxy on top of a sheet cake.

    We will be playing Musical Mario tubes. Covering 5 gallon buckets with green posterboard and playing Mario tunes downloaded to CD.

    We will have a huge ball pit in the yard where the kids can search for stars, most stars wins a prize.

    I will be making a huge Mario cut out of thick cardboard and painting it. The face will be cut out for kids photo’s as Mario. I will send these along in Thank You cards.

    I have TONS of large white caste building blocks (just like Mario) that we purchased on clearance on Lillian Vernon site a while back that we will hide 1UP (made of cardstock) for the kids to find.

    We will attenpt our own pinata,or purchase one probably of a star.

    We will be making huge fire flowers with 5 gallon buckets plastic pipe and huge styrofoam balls.

    We will be dressing up our dogs with costumes made as Kuppa, toad and yoshi. I will be dressed as a princess. My son was Mario for Halloween and will be dressed as Mario.

    We will have 1/2 of the yard decorated in a italian restauraunt theme for pizza, pasta, salad, and cheese sticks.

    Since it is in the middle of summer and scorching outside we will also have tons set up inside for the kids.

    Mario VS Sonic olympics tourniment, Mario Brothers movies/cartoons playing for the smaller kids.

    That’s all I’ve come up with so far. All of your ideas are super awesome, hope you don’t mind if I slide them into our planning also.

    Like

  40. Wowsers Tonya! Yeah feel free to use all the ideas you’d like. And if you want to send along any photos (I’m loving the fire flower idea!) let me know – I’d love to post them!

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  41. Wowsers Tonya! Yeah feel free to use all the ideas you’d like. And if you want to send along any photos (I’m loving the fire flower idea!) let me know – I’d love to post them!

    Like

  42. Well it never fails…EVERY year one of my kiddos wants a themed party which is non existent in our local party store…a few years ago my 7 year old wanted a "Tron" party, then another child wanted "The Wiggles" when they first came out and were no where to be found…this year my 6 year old wants Mario. Thank you so much for the ideas! I will use lots of them!

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  43. Well it never fails…EVERY year one of my kiddos wants a themed party which is non existent in our local party store…a few years ago my 7 year old wanted a "Tron" party, then another child wanted "The Wiggles" when they first came out and were no where to be found…this year my 6 year old wants Mario. Thank you so much for the ideas! I will use lots of them!

    Like

  44. You’re very welcome! I’m loving all the input from other moms too.

    If your kids are into sponge bob, I just posted ideas for a quick and inexpensive spongebob party too, complete with a really simple sponge-bob pinata, under the Crazy Ideas category here:
    http://novapages.com/index….

    And hey, the giftbag idea I used for the spongebob piniata could very easily be applied to a mario party too – just decorate it with a big question mark instead. Fill it with chocolate gold coins, atomic fireballs, feathers, etc. 😀

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  45. You’re very welcome! I’m loving all the input from other moms too.

    If your kids are into sponge bob, I just posted ideas for a quick and inexpensive spongebob party too, complete with a really simple sponge-bob pinata, under the Crazy Ideas category here:
    http://novapages.com/index….

    And hey, the giftbag idea I used for the spongebob piniata could very easily be applied to a mario party too – just decorate it with a big question mark instead. Fill it with chocolate gold coins, atomic fireballs, feathers, etc. 😀

    Like

  46. Bryceton-turning 9 Avatar
    Bryceton-turning 9

    For an awesome cupcake do the Mario Brother’s Mushroom!

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  47. Bryceton-turning 9 Avatar
    Bryceton-turning 9

    For an awesome cupcake do the Mario Brother’s Mushroom!

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  48. Hi all! I too am having the same problem with not being able to find anything in mario. I order invites off ebay. My son is turning 5 in July and loves Mario. I found a handmade mario pinata off ebay too that is totally adorable. The picture does not do it justice. I think I am going to put some gold coins in it and something else. I am going to use it on one of the tables until it is time to play. He got a trampoline for his birthday and I thought maybe an individual bouncing game where they catch something too might be fun. A lot of the kids are quite a bit older so I just don’t know what to do. Have fun and good luck to all! Karen

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