16392

Ninja Party -7yr- Smith Family Ninjas

August 2007

Kim in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Special Mention

My son takes Karate and has a great time at lessons.  He wanted to do a Ninja party that had some of his moves" in it and allowed him to dress up like a Ninja as he does at Halloween every year. 

INVITATIONS:  The invitations consisted of a regular sheet of copy paper.  We created a stencil from our favorite Ninja picture off the internet and then spraypainted the stencil with red Krylon spraypaint (just enough to give a background in red but not too little to make it look pink).  We then copied the following right over the image:  "Deep in the forest the Smith Family had a secret meeting.  Neighboring villages were sending spies at night or NINJAS to gather information about them and use it to their advantage. 

The Smith Family has decided to train their own NINJAS and send them out.  We have sent messages to only a select few of the most talented stealth and clever warriors that we know.  Please join us for NINJA training to save the family honor.  Date Time Place RSVP by ... *The NINJAS will very likely get wet.  Wear appropriate clothing for training and wet play."  After printing we took 5/8 inch dowel rods and cut them to 10 inch lengths.  We glued a rod to each end rolled up the invitation from both ends into the center and tied a piece of red ribbon around it making it look like a scroll.  All the kids loved the invite.  All 7 invitees attended. 

PARTY:  To start everything off as the kids arrived we applied temporary dragon tattoos to each one and made foam swords.  To make the swords we used 3/4 inch foam pipe insulation cut to 3 foot lengths.  They were then wrapped in colored duct tape (black/hot pink/red/blue) of their choice.  Each child received a Ninja headband (purchased through www.kickNscrap.com) and we told our story again as in the invite. 

After everyone was outfitted we took a picture of all the kids together and the trainees warmed up.  My husband had the kids do jumping-jacks push-ups sit-ups and donkey kicks for about 10 minutes.  This took the edge off of each Ninja and made them serious. We then went outside to break water balloons with a plastic sword or wiffle ball bat their choice.  We made 3 balloons for each child and pitched them from about 10 feet away. 

They then broke boards with their bare feet.  Use a 1 x 12 board cut into 6 inch lengths.  The grain must be going parallel on the board and be sure there are no knots in the board.  You then put two of the boards next to each other with a gap in between for the third board to sit on top with about one inch on each side on top of the other two boards on the ground.  (We do this in karate class with specific instructions.  I suggest finding someone who has done this before to help if you are unsure)  The kids strike straight down with their heel to break it.  We let each child keep a piece of broken board with their name and date on it. 

We then moved onto a dragon pinata.  Each child lined up behind the birthday boy.  The first time around the kids each got one kick and one punch to the pinata.  Then we broke out the bat and each got a turn.  I had bags for each of them to gather candy.  After the pinata we gave out medals to each child for completing their training.  The medals are red white and blue around the edges with a karate pose in the middle (www.kickNscrap.com). 

CAKE:  The cake was a 13x9 sheet cake covered in white icing.  I used red cake decorating spray all over the cake and then overlayed the same stencil used on the invitations.  I used black sugar crystals (cake decorating store) to make the Ninja stencil black.  We hid the cake under the kitchen sink and had the kids decipher a code to find it.  First I wrote out the alphabet in English.  I then used Japanese symbols next to each letter (out of a book and I chose symbols that all looked different).  I took a piece of poster board and wrote out a message for them to "decode" to find the cake.  It read "The cake is under the kitchen sink".  It took them about 10 minutes to work together and find it. 

GIFTS:  After cake and drinks we took the kids into another room and had them sit in a circle.  Each child started with their gift in hand.  We played music and each child passed the presents around until the music stopped.  Once it stopped the birthday boy opened the gift he had when the music stopped.  Whoever gave him the gift sat out the next turn until we were down to the last gift.  The last child won a gift card. 

GOODIE BAGS:  Each bag was of clear cellophane tied with a silver twist-tie.  It included a Ninja rubber duck (Ebay) Zotz candy sticky Ninja throwing stars (www.kickNscrap.com) stick candy two dragon temporary tattoos and some karate chocolate coins.  After we were finished the kids went outside in bathing suits and played on the slip-n-slide until their parents came to pick them up.  It was a great time had by all.   "

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