Okay, okay I mean let's do a Martial Arts party, but for me the decoration came before the real kids theme. Even though he practices Tae Kwon Do, I say Asian and martial arts in order to keep it PC. My incredibly precise and correct husband expected me to keep it 100% Korean if I was going with a strict Tae Kwon Do party, but if its Martial Arts I can welcome China and Japan to the party. So Martial Arts it is!
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| The backdrop. For me the backdrop to the cake is EVERYTHING! I bought about 10 yards of very cheap black fabric at Joann fabrics. It was $2.00 a yard and approximately 24 inches wide. I cut the width in half and ended up with 20 yards that I used for the backdrop and also streaming in and out of the pergola. On top of the fabric I taped/fabric-glued fans that I purchased from Oriental Trading. The two strips of paper came from one of those drawing kids table...I had an extra roll of paper from that. I thought it would be neat to write happy birthday Patrick in Korean, so I went to Google Translate and did my very best to write this with an extra large sharpie. Does it really say Happy Birthday Patrick? Well, only Google Translate and Korean speakers will ever know that! |
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| Having a pergola makes it super easy to decorate for a party. I used the remainder of the black fabric and streamed it through the pergola. I bought the lanterns at Party City and hung it up with fishing line. The table is a regular-sized table propped up with paint cans. That way the kids could sit on the floor "Japanese" style, courtesy of "el talented husband". When I get into party mode he's forced into it. Can I say that there were NO fights and it only took 10 years???? |
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| Goodie bags. I found this idea on Pinterest. I bought white lunch bags and drew the lines to mimic the lines of the uniform. I cut black strips to do the belt, and for the sleeves white poster board. I used "Chinese Takeaway"font from dafont.com for the names. For the bandanas I bought customizable bandanas from Walmart that were 10 for $8.99. I printed each name on a sheet of paper and then used a special fabric marker that I purchased at Michaels to trace the names. At first I tried to use a sharpie, but the material bled a lot and it looked very messy. So I splurged with the fancy marker. |
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| Faux Sushi. Yes! Ever since I saw this on Pinterest I have been dying to have to have the right opportunity to use it. So here you have it. Easy peasy. Rice Crispy treats with Swedish Fish gummies and Fruit-by-the Foot. |
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| The cake. I don't have these kinds of talents so I go to work finding someone that does. This beautiful cake was done by Penny. You can find her work here http://customcakesbypenny.com/tag/raleigh/. I couldn't put the cake on a traditional cake stand...it just didn't feel right. So I wrapped a box that I had and then wrapped Patrick's belt around it. That strange wirey looking thing is a "sparkler candle". The kids love it but not more than my 49 year old big child, aka dad, aka husband. |
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| The Table. I like to keep the table simple in terms of the amount of food I put on there. I also like to mix food with decor like the goodie bags. I think it makes it look more interesting. I typically will use another table to put all the additional food. |
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| The Ninja birthday boy with his BFF, his sister :) |
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| The whole family. If I look a little nervous, I am about to have 24 kids at my house. Yikes!! |
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| Entertainment. Last but certainly not least (although I do like the pretty stuff better) entertainment. I hired an instructor, Master Brandon and his assistant to do a 45 minute class in which all the kids got to break a board with their bare hands. It didn't hurt that P got to show off all his mad TKD skills in front of his friends. That made for a very happy birthday boy. Here's P about to karate chop the board! |
