Ninja Party: Putting it All Together

Ninja madness struck our home this year as our soon-to-be 7 year old decided that this was his theme of choice for birthday celebration this year.  Lego Ninjago was obviously behind this fascination! After spending some time on the Lego Ninja homepage, I realized that the story line would be a bit complicated unless all the guests were Ninjago fanatics. By broadening the theme to NINJA we could have fun that appealed to everyone.  We found some great books and even a documentary on Ninjas at our library to get us in the Ninja mood!  We created a knife ninja-tation to invite our guests and whet their appetites for fun...

We decorated the house with plenty of red ribbon, Asian style tassels, ninja throwing stars, and ninja faces...

We started the party by giving everyone homemade ninja masks and a belt.   I looped the belts through a small dragon bag from Oriental Trading  so the Ninjas could store their masks when they weren't wearing them. 

I shared the "story" of the party with each of them while we were getting settled, that first we would learn about traits of a Ninja with a craft project, then we'd practice using our minds like a sensei, and once we'd mastered using our body strength like a ninja, we'd move on to weapons practice.

  

PART ONE:  Asian Scroll Craft Project

We turned our garage into an art studio and made Asian style calligraphy scrolls, because the pen is the ultimate ninja weapon!  I wasn't too sure if the weapon-wrestling crowd would be interested in this activity at all, but the boys really had fun with this, especially showing their creations to their parents at the end of the party.

PART TWO:  Think Like a Sensei Games

We played two games based on the mental powers of a ninja master. One, "tip the hat off the blindfolded sensei," didn't work very well indoors... it was raining so we had to cram into a small room.  There wasn't enough space between the blindfolded person and his attackers for the sensei to ever develop a baseline sense of peace before the onslaught began.

Luckily, the other sensei game was a big hit...   I dispersed four Chinese coins (Oriental Trading) to the kids while Sensei was in the middle with his eyes closed. Once he opened his eyes, the kids had to "switch", pretending to hand the coin to another boy if they didn't really have one or actually transferring the coin if they did. The sensei got four guesses (switches) to find the coins.  Everyone wanted a turn!

PART THREE  Body Strength Games

We used our bodies, martial arts style... first, cracking foam boards with hands,

then another board with feet (thanks to Target for the foam pieces).  The ninjas were good sports about picking up the styrofoam pieces before we moved on to the next game!

 Lastly, the ninjas smashed a kick bag pinata. 

Inside the pinata were starburst candies and stuffed ninja throwing stars.

PART FOUR  Ninja Weapons Games

We divided the boys into two groups, one played skeleton bowling (an obviously Ninjago inspired game here!) with foam nunchucks in our hallway. 

The other group played Pagoda Towers, where teams built towers out of boxes that I had covered in red or black wrapping paper and then tried to knock each other's down with the stuffed ninja throwing stars. 

Next, we knocked down lollipops with foam launching missiles (this was supposed to be a dragon game but I didn't get that part figured out....) The lollis were stuck in a thin foam board.  More fun than that was using skeleton boxing pens to knock ping pong balls into the (lego) pagoda. 

Lastly, the ninjas crawled under a hallway of flames (we were supposed to knock the flames down outside with the nunchucks but the rain! I already had the flames made, thought they might be able to battle them in the hallway, but then when I saw how wild the boys were, we just had them crawl under!).  The "flames" are paper tubes hung from 3 expandable curtain rods that criss-crossed the hallway.

PART FIVE  Cake and Presents

No explanation needed here! A simple ninja mask cake was tasty rather than fancy: homemade triple layer chocolate cake with lemon buttercream frosting in the middle and chocolate on the outside... Yum!

PART SIX  Sword Fight & Take Homes

We were supposed to have a sword battle outside (with balloons) while we waited for parents, but we ran out of time... the boys took their swords home. However, ninja battles are a common scene in the neighborhood!  The swords attach to the belts through a loop.

Party favors included costumes and props from the games as well as a handful of sensei and ninja finger puppets.

Ninja Party Game: Calligraphy Scrolls

The ultimate weapon is a pen, I instructed the Ninjas. I don't think anyone was listening at that point, but we sure had fun with our scroll writing project...

We held this activity in our garage... not a beautiful party setting but perfect for messy projects.  We made it work by spreading two plastic tablecloths on the floor.  In the center, I placed an upside down, gold painted box as a little table.  I purchased the brushes and made ink pots, scrolls, and character ribbons (hung from ceiling as examples), details below.

First the decorations!  I wanted to focus the kids attention to the center and away from all the stuff in the garage AND have examples of Asian writing for them to copy if they wish. I thought about putting examples on the floor, but then realized if I hung them, they would be more visible to the group.  I found printable examples of Chinese characters on Activity Village.   All I had to do was print, cut, and glue them onto black backing and then have the kids staple them to some red, black, and gold clearance Christmas ribbon I had hanging from the garage ceiling.  The characters were stapled to both sides of the ribbon. 

I was surprised by how much the kids liked the characters and trying to copy them. I set out water colors, too, in case someone wanted to add color pictures, but they stuck with the ink.  Ideally, we should have used Japanese characters that represented Ninja traits. Check out this cool site about the characteristics of Ninjas.  As the party date drew near, however, the printable  Chinese characters were oh so handy, already made into card shapes!

Recognize these Yoplait yogurt cups?  Being bigger at the bottom, their shape is ideal for a tip-resistant ink pot.  I covered them in wrapping paper for a festive look. Took me a few tries to get the pattern right so I'm posting it below in case anyone else wants to try this.  I did look for ink at a craft store but couldn't find any.  Good thing because black tempera paint worked just fine.  I used a ratio of about 1/3 paint to 2/3 water.  I started searching for big paintbrushes for the project but then found these cool, authentic-looking bamboo brushes on ebay for a cheaper price ($1 per brush, free shipping).  Fun!

  Making the scrolls was harder in my mind than it turned out to be once I got started.  The supplies are simply wooden dowels (12" long, 3/8" diameter), paper, and yarn. Hardware stores are thrifty places to purchase dowels, and they'll even cut them for you!  :)  I painted them black.  As for paper, I used three sheets of banner paper per scroll that I already had on hand. Target has rolled paper available in their art section, probably a better choice because it won't have creases. 

To assemble the scrolls, I folded one end of the paper over the dowel and creased it.  Then, I applied two lines of hot glue, centered the dowel, waited a few seconds for the glue to cool, and smoothed it flat.  At the opposite end, I did the same thing except included a loop of red and silver yarn for hanging. 

When the kids were satisfied with their artwork, we had them create their own wax seal, of sorts. :)  An adult dripped red wax from a candle onto their paper. After the wax dried a bit, they were able to carve their initials in the wax using a bamboo skewer (point cut off).  The seal gave the projects an authentic-looking final touch!

Overall,. this was a really fun project enjoyed by the kids AND their parents! 

Yogurt Cup Cover Pattern

Ninja Party Skeleton Bowling Game

Go ahead, make our day!

Due to some issues with weather (predicted thunderstorms!), our ninja party had to be moved from mostly outdoors to mostly indoors.  So, we needed an indoor nunchuck game.  Alas was born the Ninja skeleton nunchuck bowling game:  set the skeletons up in the hallway and have the boys slide their nunchucks across the floor to knock them down.  Fun! 

First, I collected a dozen paper tubes (thanks to bus stop parents!) and sprayed them gold. The shiny gold was a really nice touch- can't quite capture it with my amature photography skills.

I made a template of the skeleton (below) and copied it onto white tagboard (a package of christmas gift boxes on clearance for 99 cents). It took quite a while to copy, cut out, draw on faces (Sharpie), and assemble them!  Recognize the Ninjago skeletons that I used for design inspiration?  The boys sure did.  Shrieks of jubilation!

I hot glued each skeleton to a golden tube to help the skeletons stand straight and also so I could stash a prize inside, loosely wrapped in white tissue...

 

 

These skeleton boxing pens were an ebay find.  They are still listed!  Discounted to 50 cents a piece, they really work well.  We used them in the next game to box ping pong balls into a lego pagoda on our train table (more on that later).  The nunchucks, pens, bowling, and skeletons were all a big hit.

Ninja Skeleton Pattern

Ninja Party Decorations

Transforming your home into a Dojo....

There are some truly inspiring ninja parties out in blog land!  If you are just starting your search, be sure to check out Geminye Concierge's Hi-Ya party, ninja party by Modern Hostess, Under a Cherry Tree, and Table Tops for Tots.  These ladies have put together gorgeous parties and or decorations, pure inspiration!  Check out the ninja party page on pinterest for more inspiration... But meanwhile, what can us regular folks do?

Luckily, an Asian theme is pretty easy to accomplish in the month around Chinese New Year. I do realize that Ninja's are a Japanese tradition, but practicality plays a part here...  I kept decorations simple by purchasing a a couple of items and making others. 

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I loved the simple ninja face appearing in many of the parties. Even though I knew I could probably handle making my own, I was hoping someone would have shared a template.  Not so!  So, I am sharing my template with you (below).  That just might leave you with a tad extra time to do some other marvelous thing!  BTW, I was able to cut two at a time on regular cardstock

Some of the super parties above had the faces on napkin rings... cute idea, but not practical for a boy party (a rolled up napkin would surely become a plaything and prevent their intended use!).  I turned the faces into hanging decorations instead.  I made 24 and hung them everywhere... from string lights, Christmas garlands, our table lamp and ribbons above door ways.

In between the faces I hung paper Chinese lanterns that I got as a kit from Oriental Trading.  These lanterns are a snap to make yourself (see here for example), but I didn't think I could make them myself for the $6 that a dozen of them cost.  It did take some time to put them together (use double sided sticky tape instead of glue!) but still faster than gathering and cutting all the pieces myself, especially with shiny gold parts. 

I also made a half dozen paper ninja stars to hang between ninja faces.  Glue the ribbon or string between paper folds as it is nearly impossible to get a hole punch through the thick layers of folded paper.  I would have liked to keep the colors in red, black, and white but couldn't find a timely source for that.  Probably could have found it online if I had not left this part to the last minute!

I also found some Asian red tassells on clearance ($3.98 for 12) at US TOY, the company where I purchased ninja swords (best price, friendly service, free shipping). I hung a bunch of tassells outside to welcome guests and put the rest above a doorway between ninja faces.

Lastly, I decorated our mantle piece with some lighted twigs, skeletons from our nunchuck bowling game, and art samples from our calligraphy project.... More on those in another post, soon!

Luckily for me, none of the guests had seen the super-party posts so these simple decorations were enough to set the mood and inspire festivity!  I love working with kids... so darn easy to please!

Ninja Face Party Decoration Pattern

Ninja Party Toy Nunchucks

If someone would have told me that the sweet little bundle of baby love that was blessed to me 7 years ago would someday ask me to make him nunchucks, I would have been speechless in disbelief. Yet here I am, doing that very thing! 


How To's

The first thing I had to learn was that nunchucks aren't really called "numchucks." I decided to stop reading after that, deciding that I'd stick with a seven year old's interpretation of their use-- for "banging each other and stuff."  I found inspiration on the web (check out Empire of Mayhem's nunchucks here (no directions) or these firecrackers but similar design here).

I still had the foam pipe insulation from last year's joust party. And hey, if we didn't get around to putting them to their proper purpose in a year, I might as well put them to another use!  I cut the pipe into 7.5" sections (or so). 

Poke a bamboo skewer through the pipe to make holes.  Keep the skewer in until you are ready to push the string through because it can be hard to find the holes once the skewer is out!

To connect the pipes, I settled on pony bead string from the craft store. It had fun elasticity and a bit of sturdy thickness.  I used lengths of 12 inches.

Poke the string  all the way through one of the tubes.

On the second tube, poke the strings from outside to center so that the two ends are "inside" the pipe.

Knot the two ends together.  The knot will stay inside the pipes.  Now, add some tape around the ends for decoration.  Whala!

UPDATE: it has been 36 hours since the nunchucks were "in use" and I am adding a small bit of duct tape to the design as needed, folding it over the tube so that you poke the skewer through them and then run the thread through.  Some nunchuck strings have been ripping through the pipe insulation. Hopefully, the duct tape will extend their life a bit.

Party Games with Nunchucks

My first plan was to have the boys hit/battle torches.  I practiced setting them up on metal skewers that I had poked into the ground. I liked the idea of how you had to hit it right (towards the top) to knock it off balance.  A perfect situation for teaching about center of gravity!  The torch idea was aligned with a Ninjago-based story line I had going for the party (we were going to slide dragons into the underworld).  Then came the weather forecast.  Thunder and rain and lots of it!  This would have to be an inside party!  But I already had the nunchucks and torches made...  So, we ended up with nunchuck bowling and stealthy walking through the hall of flames.... More posts to follow! 

Please let me know if you use these and what great ideas you come up with!  I'm here to share and learn with you!  Your comments keep me inspired!  

Make Your Own Ninja Costume Masks

The mask makes the Ninja...

(those of you who've been to this site before may recognize other costume elements... the spy belt and knight party favor bag... I so love seeing party items take on their own afterlife!)

How hard could it be to make a set of ninja masks for a ninja birthday party?  No problem!  Just rummage through the remnants section of the fabric store for shiny black fabric, measure a piece to fit your kid's head, sew it up, and cut an eye hole, right?  An hour or two, tops!  Egads. I don't want to admit how long this simple project took. I don't want to tell you that I went to the fabric store THREE times because I was having so much trouble fun.  Let's just say this post is all about trying to help you avoid the same mistakes if you should get a similar nutty idea about making party masks.

Did you see the post by Secret Agent Josephine on making a ninja costume?    I saw it on pinterest and loved her diagram so much... it fed my I CAN DO THIS attitude.  She drew the tongue sticking out of the little girl cartoon model.  Love it!  However, she used fleece, which is a fabric that wouldn't work with my highly active (sweaty) boys in a usually very warm Virginia climate.  Static, too!  I needed something thin and silky.  More on that later.

STEP ONE:  MAKE THE HOOD PATTERN

In my first attempt, I used Josephine's idea of tracing my kid's head.  I guess it wasn't a total failure in that the boys loved me shining a light at them to draw their silhouette.  However, it is clearly way too much fuss. The neck was too tight even with the recommended wiggle room.  Lesson number one learned:  the best pattern is a rounded pillowcase shape.  With the silky fabric, you get a draped look anyway. The wide neck makes it easy for the guys to flip the hat on and off in their usual hurry. 

I had hoped to put a pattern up for you but after a couple of attempts (oh no!) I realized that the pattern needs to be bigger than I can scan.  The width is about 12.5 inches (32cm), about the width of a newspaper sheet plus 1.5" over the edge.  My guys have big heads, so this is probably really generously sized for the average kid.  The length is about 15.5 inches (42cm). I used my favorite silver sharpie to mark the patterns (works great on dark fabric).  Remember that the large size includes room for the seam, the "shrinking" when you turn it right side out again, and extra fabric to give that draping hood look around the shoulders.

STEP TWO:  SEW THE PIECES TOGETHER

Of the three remnants I tried, my favorite was a Lycra swimwear fabric. Only problem was that I only found one remnant piece of it and it is otherwise $14 per yard (and I ruined most of it with all my mistakes).  I found some shiny polyester blends as a second favorite. The problem I ran into was that I couldn't sew it.  I spent an entire afternoon changing sewing machine needles, ripping out seams, ruining fabric, cleaning my machine, uttering nonsense, and calling my mother.  Turns out that I should have googled the problem immediately.  I had the wrong needle type!  Lesson two learned:  ball point needles and thinner thread are what you need to sew silky fabrics.  Once I had that figured out, sewing up these masks really was as easy as I had imagined. Strike two.

STEP THREE:  CUT OUT THE EYE HOLE

For the eye hole design I again turned to the very encouraging site by Josephine. However, I ruined three (!!!) masks before I figured the essence of ninja mask making.  LESSON THREE:  start the eye hole as a single slit, and cut out more in small increments as needed.   I put the hood on my son (inside out) and marked approximately where the eye slit should be.  That was about 13cm (5.25 inches) down from the top and 6 inches (15cm) wide.  I enlarged the opening for some fabrics, but for the silkiest one, just the slit was enough because the fabric drooped open on its own.  My favorite method was to make the single slit, then roll it over slightly and hem it.  However, I ran out of time for the party so most of the masks were just hoods with eye slits cut into them.

The ironic part is that at least one of the ninjas preferred to wear his mask backwards. He didn't need an eye slit at all!  The fabric was slightly see-through... 


Was all the fuss worth it?  You betcha.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  :)