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For my son’s Super Mario-themed birthday party we went on a party-long quest to save Luigi who had been kidnapped by the evil King Bowser. It ended up being such a blast and I am here to share all the details with you so you can pull it off for your kiddo as well! I used the plot of the movie as inspiration to guide each step of the rescue mission, including the finale where they use the super star to finally free Luigi! Don’t worry, I’ll map this out for you step-by-step, and I even have printables to help you on your way. Stick with me girl and you’ll be throwing this Super Mario party in your sleep ;).
A Quest to Save Luigi
The quest started with the birthday invitations that mentioned that they were needed for a mission to save Luigi from King Bowser. You can check out the invitations here. But I guess it really began when King Bowser made an appearance in the middle of our lunch and kidnapped Luigi from us, right before our eyes! You can check out a little video of that here (and give me a follow while you’re over there!). Once Luigi had been kidnapped I gave all our little party guests their first clue…
Smash the Mystery Box
Step one was to smash the mystery box for a power up! I had the kids line up and take turns punch through my DIY mystery box which was filled with chocolate coins. Once they had smashed through it I just held a new piece of tissue paper up over the hole so the next kid could have a turn. Once they had all gotten their chocolate coin power up, it was time for the obstacle course! For all the details on how to make this mystery box head over to this post. And you can also see a video of how I put it together here.
I don’t have much to show you for our obstacle course. I had one set up outside that included a lot of the already existing elements of our yard like the play set and trampoline, but it was raining buckets that day so we had to make do with an indoor obstacle course last minute. Once they had all completed the obstacle course they received their next clue.
Fight Donkey Kong
Next up they have to fight (and defeat) Donkey Kong! This one was intended to take place on the trampoline, I had my older son ready to “fight” each of our party guests in turn with instructions to show a dramatic demise after a couple minutes of “fighting”. We ended up having to do it in our family room due to the rain- but I think the trampoline would be perfect if you have that option available to you. We have a pair of boxing gloves that I let the kids use when it was their turn to fight Donkey Kong just to make it a bit more fun. And my son wore this costume. (oh and don’t forget to blast that song from the movie- “DK…Donkey Kong… DK … Donkey Kong”). Once each person has defeated Donkey Kong it is time for their next clue…
Race Rainbow Road
It’s time to travel by rainbow road to King Bowser’s castle! For this I had set up a race track on our property using grass spray paint like this. Again, due to the rain we had to have a little race inside instead. I had also made some additional mystery boxes to place along the course and my plan was to line them with garbage bags and fill them with water balloons. Then the kids could throw the water balloons at each other as they race along the course similar to shooting shells in Mario Kart. Here’s a little video where I had my kids reenact what I had in mind. I also places obstacles along the course like chairs with pool noodles they had to go under (or over) and goombas to stop as they went. (More on the goombas later). I made the kids run the track 3 times in order to receive their next clue…
Stomp the Goombas!
You’ve made it to King Bowser’s castle, but it’s infested with Goombas. You must stomp them all in order to proceed! For this game I had intended on filling our tree house with Goombas and having the kids go up there and stomp them all. As I write all these fun ideas out I’m thinking I need to re-throw this party on a sunny day so it can be done properly ;). Anyhow, again we moved it to the family room.
How to Make Balloon Goombas
I made these balloon goombas out of brown balloons. First I just blew them up, then I duct taped balloon with the tie side up to an upside down paper plate. Finally I printed cut and taped the goomba face on each one. There is a goomba face printable as part of the Mario Digital Party Pack. If you want to see a little video of how I made the goombas you can check that out here. Don’t forget to hide their next clue inside one of those balloons for them to find!
Yoshi Egg Hunt
Next up is a Yoshi Egg Hunt! This was supposed to be spread out over our whole property (6 acres), but you guessed it, we had to do it in the house. It’s basically your regular easter egg hunt with some fun mario-themed prizes inside like these. The twist is that there is one golden egg which holds the clue to the location of the super star. I hid the next clue inside the golden egg and that clue told them where the super star was. I have a more generic version available in my digital party pack where you can add your own clue to the location of the super star at the bottom of the paper.
Smash the Super Star
The super star was a star shaped piñata that I just added “eyes” to by cutting out ovals from black cardstock. Once the kids found the pinata (using the clue they found in the golden egg) we hung the pinata up and let them take turns whacking it- classic pinata style. I did warn the kids that they might be surprised with what was inside. (Naturally they all assumed it would be candy, so I was trying to prepare them to not be too disappointed, also they just got fun candy and trinkets from the egg hunt). Inside was actually Luigi! The same Luigi doll that had been kidnapped by Bowser at the beginning of the quest. Once he was kidnapped I stuffed it in the piñata and hid it in the location on the clue when the kids weren’t looking.
Also inside the super star was the final note telling them they’ve completed the quest and saved Luigi. Naturally it was then time for cake & presents!
Mario Digital Party Pack
The Mario Digital Party Pack comes with all the printable clues for this scavenger hunt/quest party game. It also includes a birthday banner, cupcake toppers and invitation template. You can purchase it by adding it to cart with the button below.
If you’re looking for more details on the Mario party decorations you can check out the post on that here.