The Ninja Turtles are back & ready to party! This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Birthday Party was perfectly styled & “turtlized” by Stephanie of Fourth + Hazel Photography to celebrate her son’s 3rd birthday! With homemade TMNT costumes, cute Ninja Turtle illustrations, and a whole lot of PIZZA, this party was definitely a hit with these little Ninja Turtles!

 PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• TNMT mask-colored, striped table runners for each place setting
• Adorable (painted frisbee) turtle shells & masks for each guest
• NYC Skyline dessert table backdrop + “Ninja Smoke Bomb” Cake Pops and “Krang” Oreo Cookies
• Pizza box invitations with Ninja Turtle t-shirts inside!

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Stephanie…

“BOOYAKASHA!” is the new “Cowabunga Dude!” I have to admit I was a little nervous when my soon to be 3 year old son asked for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party. The turtles made a huge comeback in 2012 with a new cartoon, but there is limited inspiration available for an updated take on a TMNT birthday party…. So I started from scratch.

As a parent I really enjoy the new TMNT cartoon. The characters are cute and even though the episodes are dark (NYC at night) the feel of the show is light. As my son is just turning 3 I wanted to take a lighter approach to the TMNT theme and stay away from the commercial part of the brand (which can be really hard to do).

For the invites, my local Famoso was generous in giving me some to go pizza boxes to use for the invitations. I hunted down enough TMNT t shirts for each of our little guests and tucked them inside. I absolutely fell in LOVE with the turtle illustrations by Jess Bradley and was over the moon excited when she was kind enough to allow me permission to use them for my son’s birthday.

I found a cartoon NYC skyline online that I liked and printed it as the backdrop for the dessert table. Desserts were hard for this theme as ninja turtles only dine on pizza (which we served for lunch). So we served Ninja Smoke Bomb (cake pops), Krang Cookies and Sewer Rat Gummies which were a big hit with kids of all ages.

To decorate the table I purchased some fabric in TMNT mask colors and used them as table runners. This was perfect for this party and would also work well with an art or rainbow party and so, so easy to do.

I also incorporated Jess Bradley’s turtle illustrations for labeling the drinks at the table. This was my favorite and was reserved for the over 18 guests ;)

After the kids had eaten, they had to go through the sewer cover (and tunnel) to get “Turtle-fied.” Each guest got to choose their favorite color of mask and put on their turtle shell. I picked up the “shell” (frisbees) at Dollarama (love that place) and used brown grosgrain ribbon and D Rings to keep the shells on while the kids enjoyed the rest of the party. I used fleece fabric blankets I found at Ikea and used a mask we already had as a guide to make the TMNT masks.

So many plans and ended up with so little time. I had planned a few games for the kids including Fruit Ninja, Kung Fu Hi Impact and a Ninja Throwing Star Game. I came across these super awesome pots from Ginger Pots and was inspired to create my own version for the party. I am no painter but I think they turned out great even if they didn’t get used.