Classic Nintendo Birthday Party (Mario Bros., Zelda, Kirby, and more Nintendo-themed party fun!)

It is always a treat when the kids get into something that we loved as kids. Retro video games are cool again in all their 8-bit glory, so I was thrilled when my oldest decided he wanted a Nintendo-themed birthday party… but not just Nintendo, he wanted a Classic Nintendo birthday! He couldn’t decide on just Mario Brothers, Kirby, or The Legend of Zelda, so our theme was Classic Nintendo overall. Read on for all the details, including party décor, party food, activities and game ideas, party favors, and free printables that would work for either a Nintendo or Mario Bros. birthday party. You can also follow my Classic Nintendo Birthday Party planning board on Pinterest to see more inspiration on how to plan the perfect Classic NES kid’s party.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I may receive a commission.  This does not cost you anything additional, and helps me to keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!

All printables for the party are available in this post here. The printables I created are free, but would appreciate a follow for @fabeveryday on social media (you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram) in return.  If you post pictures of your parties, tag @fabeveryday in them so we can see what you do! I’d love to retweet or share the fabulousness on my social media sites! Finally, if you blog about your party, please link back to fabeveryday.com in your blog posts to credit the printables and inspiration.

Classic Nintendo Birthday Party Décor

These star Mylar balloons from Amazon got a Mario-makeover by drawing eyes on them with a black Sharpie.

We used Sharpies and white paper cutouts to decorate latex balloons in the theme as well. Pink balloons made Kirby and black balloons became Bob-ombs.

Plates were yellow, and we used red and green polka-dot napkins (the spots are reminiscent of the mushrooms in Super Mario Brothers). As a reference to Link, we used plastic sword picks instead of toothpicks.

Utensil holders are rupee bags from The Legend of Zelda. They were made with gold tissue paper wrapped around mason jars.

Classic Nintendo Birthday Party Food

I got this Fire Flower vegetable tray idea from Pinterest. For a shortcut, use pre-cut carrots and even peppers (or DIY if you want to save money).

I made this stuffed mushroom recipe from Allrecipes to continue the mushroom theme. Everyone loved them! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

We served pizza because kids love it, and I’d assume Mario and Luigi would like pizza too…?

An easy dessert was to make Star Power sugar cookies with yellow frosting and black eyes. I used my go-to classic sugar cookies recipe from Betty Crocker (I’ve been making this since I was a kid using my mom’s Betty Crocker cookbook).

For another cookie variety I used the same classic sugar cookies recipe but cut the cookies into circles and decorated them as Kirby using pink frosting, pink sixlets candies for cheeks, and black, white, and blue icing for the details.

Cupcakes can be easily decorated to look like toadstool mushrooms with red and green frosting with white spots. For the spots I rolled out some ready-made fondant and cut circles with a small measuring spoon.

Similarly, I made chocolate cupcakes into Goombas with white and black decorating icing for the face and chocolate-covered almonds for the feet. I secured the feet to the cupcake using some icing. We used a little Goomba plush as a decoration.

The dessert buffet included sweet treats of Kirby gumballs (pink pearl gumballs) and Yoshi eggs (jelly beans). The Kirby plush doubled as party décor and a gift for the birthday boy.

More candy in the form of Hershey’s chocolate bars wrapped as Classic NES controllers (does this take you back to the 80’s like it does me?). Get details on my printables page.

Red and Blue Kool-Aid Health Potion and Mana Potion from The Legend of Zelda.

Classic Nintendo Birthday Party Favors

We stuffed a mix of candies and little toys like bubbles and Mario Bros. pop-up toys in gift boxes.

I used printable question blocks from Say Not Sweet Anne as the treat boxes. I printed mine on Tabloid size paper so they would be a little bigger. Get the Spiny plush on Amazon here.

Chocolate coins and Ring Pop rupees.

Classic Nintendo controllers wrapped Hershey bars. I purchased the template from Etsy. Get details and the link on my printables page.

Classic Nintendo Birthday Party Games and Activities

We had our NES Classic Edition console and Wii out for kids to play, but we knew that wouldn’t be enough to entertain a group of kids, so we put together a few more ideas.

Get the details for this easy Mario Bros. pipe craft in my blog post here.

Pin the Mustache on Mario was another fun game. Get the links to download the printables on my party printables page here.

Classic Nintendo Birthday Party Printables

All printables for the party are available in this post here. Some I ordered from Etsy and linked for you, some I created and have links to download them. The printables I created are free, but would appreciate a follow for @fabeveryday on social media (you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram) in return. If you post pictures of your parties, tag @fabeveryday in them so we can see what you do! I’d love to retweet or share the fabulousness on my social media sites! Finally, if you blog about your party, please link back to fabeveryday.com in your blog posts to credit the printables and inspiration.

Thanks for visiting, and don’t forget to pin and share if you are inspired!

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