Luca’s mom Ina and I first connected almost a year ago, when I ordered photo booth props from her awesome business The Party Event for my hubby’s bday party.  It was a mutual love fest.  I adored her work, and she was fond of mine.  We’ve been following each others’ growth, and she’s been talking about having me photograph one of her events for a while.  It finally happened this weekend for Luca’s 7th birthday party.  When we were coordinating timing, she wanted me to get there early to photograph the decorations and party table.  She thought I would need an hour, and I was like no way, I’m fast, half hour tops!  Boy was I wrong!

I arrived to find a party table with more details than I’ve ever experienced!  I photographed wide angle of the whole set-up, of each table, of each item on each table, and some closer group shots to show how everything came together.  And it did take an hour!  I was blown away by the detail and creativity in Ina’s execution of the theme, and the time she must have spent with all the cut-out decorations!  Really, a 5-star production!

And the theme didn’t stop with the decorations.  Instead of playing video games (which we all know our kids get more than enough of), she brought the game to life with 5 challenges, which the kids would get coins for completing, just like in the real game!  The first challenge was finding “Yoshi eggs”, followed by drawing Mario, jumping on balloons like Mario jumps on the Goombas, finding coins in the sand, and a sack race like when Mario gets one of his suits.  The guests exchanged their coins for party favors, and then they sang to Luca in 3 languages!  Happy birthday dear Luca, happy birthday to you!