Like any birthday, there was plenty of fun and games. Charlie is really into playing any kind of game right now. When I asked him what kind of games he wanted to play at his party, he said “racing game”. So we had a piñata, a “racing game”, a decorate your own ninja headband, decorate a ninja cookie, and “Sensei Says”.
Piñata
I received this dragon piñata from Oriental Trading for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.
The Dragon Piñata from Oriental Trading was a hit, of course! The kids loved it and everyone loved watching them take a whack at it. I had read a few reviews that people said they couldn’t fit much candy in this dragon piñata, but I have no idea what they’re talking about. We fit PLENTY of candy in this; you just need to shake it around so it spreads out throughout the dragon’s body. I will say this is not an easy piñata to break. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. I think it’s somewhere in-between: I hate a piñata that can’t take a whack, but even when the 11 year old got ahold of it to knock it open, we still needed to tear it apart to really open it up.
If your child’s birthday is anywhere near a holiday (Christmas, Easter, Halloween) that has a ton of candy, be on the lookout for candy coupons and then after-holiday clearance sales! Sure, the packages may be holiday designs, but let’s be honest: the kids just want candy!
This year, Easter was exactly one week before Charlie’s birthday. That meant lots of Easter candy clearance. I was able to snag bags of Snickers, Skittles, Starburst, and M&M’s for 50% off. Had I waited a few days longer, they would’ve been cheaper or I might not have found them at all.
Ninjas Take-Out “Racing Game”
I received some of the products below from Oriental Trading for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Ninja Warriors – Oriental Trading: You get 48 of these awesome little guys for $8.00! They’re kind of gummy, so make sure they kids know that they’re not candy, but toys. They are also small, so a choking hazard for children under 3. We’ll be making sure Charlie keeps his up where Owen can’t get them.
Ninja Chopsticks – Oriental Trading: These come in packs of 12 for $5.25. When you receive them, they’re actually in 2 packs of 6, so if you don’t need all 12 at once, you can keep the others in the packaging. These are adorable and I want some for myself! I can’t use chopsticks, but these are kid-friendly, and I could use them.
- Split kids into 2 even teams
- Put 1 ninja in a take-out container for each person on the team (4 people per team = 4 ninjas in that team’s take-out container)
- Fill take-out container with rice
- Pass out ninja chopsticks- 1 per person
- Set up empty take-out containers a reasonable distance away from where the kids will start
- Have 1 person from each team dig through the rice (using chopsticks) to find a ninja
- Run (carrying the ninja with the chopsticks) to the other take-out container and drop ninja inside
- Once the ninja is dropped in, the next person on the team can start
- Team that has transferred all of their ninjas to the empty take-out container first wins
Sensei Says
This is played just like Simon Says, but with Sensei instead. The kids thought this was great, but the audience enjoyed watching just as much!
Decorate Your Own Ninja Headband
To do this, I just bought 2 yards of white fabric from Walmart and a 10-Pack of Crayola Fabric Markers. I cut the fabric into about 3-4 inch wide strips and left it at 1 yd long. The kids colored all over them, we folded them around and tied them to their heads. A few, Charlie being one, left them on the majority of the time!
Decorate a Ninja Cookie
We had a Ninjabread cookie set this past Christmas. It came in handy for Charlie’s Ninja Birthday Party! Charlie and I made some cookies this week and everyone had fun decorating (and eating) them.
You can find the Dragon Piñata, Ninja Chopsticks, and Ninja Warriors at Oriental Trading.
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That piñata is too cute!
What fun party ideas. I can see in the pictures that the kids love it.
What great ideas for a birthday party! What child doesn’t want to be a Ninja and beat up on a pinata!!
I love this! So many cute things!
OH MY GOSH!! My son would LOVE everything about this party! How fun!!
It looks like the boys had such a fun time at this ninja party! I love the different activites you did – especially the design your own ninja headband!
A ninja party sounds FUN! My boys have a joint party coming up in August and I have been debating between Pokemon and Minecraft, but now you have me thinking about ninjas instead.
I hear Oriental Trading has some great party ideas…these look like some great ideas!
Easter candy clearance right before a birthday party is a huge score! The party looks fun. 🙂
That’s awesome! Looks like a fun time for all in attendance!
How fun is this?! I have fond memories of my mom ordering birthday party supplies from Oriental Trading. Love them!
Cute party theme! I love Oriental Trading – I find the most awesome, random things there! They are one of my fav spots to look for craft inspiration!
A ninja party sounds so cool, I can imagine it would be lots of fun with all the ‘ninja’ games you could play 🙂 x
Looks like a great party! So many fun ninja activities.
Love this theme! My girl’s are crushing on ninjas lately, thanks for all the fun ideas!
So cute! I miss having little ones until it hits me that I’d have to clean up all the mess.
OMGosh what a cute theme party! I am planning my soon to be 8 Y/O coming up in a few weeks, but she wants My Little Pony everything, which I am planning to get from Oriental Trading. They have a bunch of great stuff!
I’ve ordered from the OTC for my past two parties and used to order from them tons for company events…
a dragon pinata is a great addition to a ninja theme. It adds to, but doesn’t repeat.
Loved the theme of this party! Even my girls are asking to do something similar.
I never ordered from OTC before and it looks like I’m missing out on some great party supplies. What a great theme to have a ninja party- I would’ve thought of that.
So very creative! I love the ninja headbands!
Love the chopsticks! Those are awesome!
What a fun theme idea!! Looks like OTC has everything you need to make it really perfect!!
My kids both love ninjas! I love the chopsticks, they are so cute!
It looks like the Ninja party was a great success. I love the dragon pinata.
The pinata is super cool. Will definitely keep these ideas in mind if my boy decides he wants a ninja party one day. 🙂
This is such a great party! I love that they got to decorate their own masks.
I never thought to throw a ninja party but this looks so cool! This kids look like they were having a blast. Very unique idea!
I especially love your ninjas in the rice hiding race game. That sounds like a total blast!
What clever ideas! I’m giggling over Sensei says!
That pinata looks awesome!!
Coolness! That looks like an awesome theme for a party! My son who probably still love this at 12
Wow, seems like a fun party! And unique theme as well. Awesome idea!
What a fun party theme! Looks like everyone had a blast.
Such a clever theme! So creative and it looks like everyone had a blast.
Haha…Sensai Says is hilarious! Looks like everyone had a great time at your AWESOME party!
How fun! I can almost hear my youngest growling now like he would if he saw that dragon pinata!
I love this idea for a party theme! so colorful and fun! And Oriental trading has some great pricing so that doesn’t hurt either.
What a fun party! My oldest is thinking about this theme for his party in the winter, I will have to check out Oriental Trading
What a great party! I am sure that my boys would love a ninja party!
This looks like such a fun party! I love your creative ideas – the ninja take-out game sounds so fun. Oriental Trading offers so many neat products at affordable prices!
we had a pinata at our last party and it was SO fun, thanks for sharing this one!
I love the dragon pinata. The ninja themed games look fun. Love sensai says!
That looks like so much fun!! Great job!
What a cute party theme. my son would love this.
What a fun party theme, the dragon is awesome! My daughter would love a ninja party.
This is such a fun, unique theme! I love the dragon pinata.
That looks like such a fun party! I love that you strung the pinata up on the basketball goal lol.
That pinata is awesome! We had a pinata at one of my daughter’s birthday parties and it was so fun!
The DIY ninja headband looked like so much fun for the kids! Awesome ideas!
I bet the ninja headbands were a real hit. What a cute party.
What a fun party! What kid wouldn’t love this?!