My Son’s Lego Ninjago 7th Birthday Party

We had my second child’s 7th birthday party last Sunday. It fell on probably the most hectic week of my life so far.

I had three big events and one big deliverable on top of the usual mompreneur and homeschool stuff!

1. On Monday, I had a major deliverable for a big client.
2. On Wednesday, I needed to attend the CMMA with my family for the first time.
3. On Saturday morning, I have a talk at the first Global Authors Summit on How to Make Your Book an Amazon Bestseller.
4. On Sunday, I needed to organize, coordinate, help set up and host Mateo’s 7th birthday party.

I was running on GRACE. I kept praying to God to grant me the grace and strength to do ALL that I needed to do that week. I prayed for sustenance. I prayed for wisdom and inspiration. I prayed that God would put the right words in my mouth. I prayed for God’s favors. I prayed that God would send His angels to help me.

I hoped in God and I did not hope in vain! I really have an awesome and merciful God!

I met my deadline for my client.
I got to attend the CMMA with my immediate family and my mom. I won an award for this blog! You can read more about that here in my previous post.
I had a successful talk. I thank God that He used me to inspire and empower fellow authors and aspiring authors.
Mateo had a fun and successful 7th birthday party!

I was really exhausted already by Saturday afternoon. But, when you love someone, go the extra mile to show your love and to make that person feel special. That’s what I did for my second child. I did my best to give him the 7th birthday celebration that will surely make him happy.

Let me tell more about Mateo’s birthday party.

Months before his birthday, he already told me what party theme he would like to have this year. Lego Ninjago is one of my son’s favorite shows. he likes watching it with his brothers. Thus, I started gathering inspiration and pegs through Pinterest.

Around three months before the party, I already booked the venue. I finalized some of the suppliers and as the month of November approached, I slowly finalized the details of the party.

To make my work easier, I have decided to get most of the same suppliers that we had for my eldest son’s 7th birthday party 3 years ago, which was a piano concert theme party. (You may read the details of that party here.)

There’s so much going on in my life in the past months. But I made sure to make time for this important milestone in my child’s life. I may be home most of the time and spending a lot of time with him but it still feels like time flies. Where did all those years go?

So, I did my best to squeeze into my tight schedule the party planning, preparations and coordination for his party. I even DIYed some of the party details. Actually, arts and crafts are therapeutic. They somehow help me destress. I miss doing artsy things. My children’s parties are my creative outlet.

Invitation

I DIYed the invitation as usual. It was not really a big party. Most of our guests were friends from our parish (kids’ choir and co-servants from the different ministries), our family and close relatives, some neighbors and the godparents of my son.

I made an event page again on Facebook months ahead for faster coordination. Then, I gave out invitations per family or group almost two weeks before the party.

I got this idea from Pinterest also. I just tweaked it a bit to make it easy for me to do given that I have a terribly busy schedule.

Party Decors and Details

I love Pinterest! I got a ton of inspiration from it for my kids’ parties. Sometimes, the challenge is to set a boundary on what is feasible based on my time, energy and budget.

It was a good thing that the theme my son chose is quite popular. Many other kids had the same theme.

I immediately booked my favorite decorator Jhoy of Jhoy’s Party Needs and Events Management. She also helped me implement my ideas in the past birthday parties of my sons. I love working with her. She is easy to talk to and accommodating. Her fees are also within my budget.

I just tell her my concept. I show her our pegs. Then, I delegate to her the party decors and details I could no longer make myself.

At the clubhouse entrance

For this party, she did the balloons decors (ceiling, table centerpieces and balloon pillars), the backdrop and stage decors, the door decors and standees.

Stage backdrop

I also asked her to make ninja eyes for the kiddie tables, registration table, gifts and giveaways table and the LCD projector table.

Cake and Sweets Buffet

I got the same cake, cupcake and cookies supplier as in our past birthday parties. But I had to source a different supplier for the cake pops because Leslie of SID’s Party Supplies said that she could not make the customized cake pops that my son wants.

Another labor of love from me for my dear Mateo. He was very happy to see his cake and the sweet treats in this sweets buffet table.

I bought some popcorns and Stick-o for additional sweet treats. I came up with witty and funny names for the food and designed food labels for them.

I instructed the caterer what colors to use for the table cover and skirting.

Jhoy did the backdrop for the cake and sweets buffet and the happy birthday bunting. Initially, I thought that designing and printing a tarpaulin would be easier to do. But I saw a really nice backdrop and I thought that it was more earth-friendly since it can be made with paper (cartolina). I shared the peg with Jhoy and she agreed to do it for me.

I arranged the sweet treats and the result was a colorful and lovely spread!

Party Food/Caterer

I chose the same caterer that we got for my eldest son’s 7th birthday party. Aside from having affordable packages, we have already tried the food. I was pressed for time and I didn’t want to waste so much time going to taste tests to check out new caterers.

Again, I thought of funny and theme-related names for the food that we have chosen to be part of the menu. Then, I printed matching food labels.

Again, I instructed the caterer on what colors to use for the linens and what the buffet centerpieces should be.

Party Activities

I designed the name tags for the kids and printed a registration form for easy monitoring of how many kids came and who among them will be served at the kiddie tables and who will be sitting at the adult tables.

I also prepared some materials that can keep both kids and adults occupied while waiting for most of the guests to arrive. These included coloring pages for the kids, finding out what their Ninja name is, guessing how many Legos are in the bottle and making origami ninja stars.

The guests trying to guess how many Legos in the bottle.

Adults and kids alike were challenged to make origami ninja stars. 😉

Party Favors

My mom and I made the loot bags and packed them. Our birthday boy also helped cut the ninja eyes of different sizes. The other two boys helped sort the treats to be put inside the loot bags. My kids love to help in packing loot bags.

Ninja lollipops

Ninja small notebooks

Ninja bubbles for game prizes

It was exhausting but worth it! It was a different kind of bonding for all of us.

Table for loot bags and game prizes

Program

We had a simple program.

After registering, the guests did the activities with their kids while waiting for most of the guests to arrive.

My husband welcomed the guests.

I led the pray over session for the birthday boy and we blessed the food.

Then, we had photo ops with the birthday boy per table before the guests proceed to the main buffet table.

I made the props for the picture-taking also.

With our friends from the Commission on the Family

With some of my husband’s relatives

With our neighbors and my son’s godparent and her son.

Halfway through the mealtime, we watched the AVP made by my husband for our birthday boy.

A bit later, we sang the birthday song for Mateo before he blew his candle.

The guests grabbed goodies from the cake and sweets buffet afterward.

This was followed by some games that were lego and Ninjago-inspired.

Pin the beard on Sensei Wu game.

Our Lego builders were asked to build the tallest tower they can make and the biggest letter M.

In between the games, Mateo did a demo of some ninja moves. He is currently a yellow belt in karate and has just finished their latest examination that will promote him to orange belt. The kids, boys and girls alike, enjoyed imitating the ninja/karate moves that Mateo taught them.

Mateo did a demo first before the kids imitated him.

There were 7 people who shared their wishes for Mateo. These were mostly family members and a couple of godparents.

After this, Mateo sang two songs. One is Here I am to Worship which was his recital piece last summer during his first voice lesson. Then, he also sang I Offer My Life. The piano accompaniment was done by my eldest son. The guitar accompaniment was done by my husband. They pre-recorded the music so we didn’t have to set up the piano for the party.

We got a surprise performance from our youngest son who is only 3 years old. He sang for his big brother. He sang Here I am to Worship also. He was just listening and singing along during his big brother’s practice. Sometimes, he would ask to sing solo. Two days before the party, he said that he will sing during the party. We did not take him seriously because we know him as a shy boy. So, I was really delighted and proud when I saw him sing in front! He captured many hearts that day!

Mateo distributed the loot bags to the kids after the games and special numbers.

I thanked our guests for coming and celebrating Mateo’s milestone with us.

There were more picture-taking sessions after the program.

With my current family and my family of origin.

Lastly, Mateo opened some of his gifts.

God is an expert at making the impossible possible! I believe that it was God who sustained me that week. I even got stressed because there has been a problem in the electricity in the clubhouse less than 2 weeks before the party. I prayed hard and hoped that it would be fixed. I hoped in God and I did not hope in vain. Everything went well. Although we did not get to turn on all the air conditioners, we got to turn on tow of them and we got to use the rest of the usual party facilities without experiencing a short circuit. Truly, an answered prayer!

Our family posing with my in-laws.

This fun, memorable and successful children’s party was a wonderful way to end that week of explosive blessings from God!

My energy was wiped out after this party but seeing Mateo’s smiles and how happy he was during his party and even after it made all the preparations and late night work worth it! He loved all the party details and the party as a whole. He was proud and happy to talk about his party days after it was over. This makes me one happy and fulfilled mom! #GoTheExtraSmile

My Son’s Lego Ninjago 7th Birthday Party