Henry's Zelda Breath of the Wild 8th Birthday Quest

Henry and Nick are both pretty huge Zelda fans, and they are loving the new Breath of the Wild Zelda game on the Nintendo Switch.  So when it came time to plan his 8th birthday party the theme was pretty obvious...

Last year, with his Harry Potter party, I got to live my dream of having his party center on something we love together.  That was this party for Nick.  It was an absolute labor of love, and it came out so amazing!  So let's walk through the madness that was this party...

But first, the birthday boy :) Can you even believe he is EIGHT already?  I CANNOT.

And the birthday boy with Mama and Papa :)

And most of the members of the Birthday Quest :)

Oh, and these two.  They love each other so much.  It absolutely warms my heart.

Lots more pictures of family and friends to share, but I am going to tell you about the party details first...Henry and his Papa wanted to be as authentic to the game as possible, and as you may or may not know, Zelda is a rather detailed game, so this party had a LOT of pieces. It was all rather complicated, but the kids TOTALLY followed along and were SO into it. Seriously, it was AMAZING! I mean, look at the boss level...

To start off, each kid got a bag that included a Sheikah Slate.  On one side of the slate were food/bug items the kids had to find all around the yard.

 On the other side was a list of 12 Koroks the had to hunt down.  

The food/bug items was one of the actual quests the but koroks was just a filler item/side quest because some of the games lasted way longer than others. (HELLO ARCHERY)  Turned out it they LOVED the Koroks hunt!

Here are the bags with the Zelda symbol ironed on... I know we are insane with these birthday parties... I can't even apologize.  Just go with it.

So the best way to describe this party was to explain that there were four phases.  The first phase involved three Quest stations. Each station earned the members of the quest things they will need for levels 2-4. (Yes. FOUR levels. I know, but we were TRUE TO THE GAME!).  So level one included (1) hunting for food items and bugs, (2) completing a puzzle shrine, and (3) shooting food/monsters. We split the party into three groups so nobody had to wait too long for each quest.

For the gathering quest, the items on the sheikah slate were hidden all around the yard for them to hunt down and collect in their bags

On the hunt

Working hard on their check list

Looking, looking...

After they thought they had all items found, they had to check in

Next up is the Shrine Quest

 Two kids had to work together to complete a maze using magnets, which is something that happens in the actual game

This was one of those things I could not picture when Nick described it, and even when it was done I was not positive how it would work, but the kids LOVED it! Once both kids got their metal ball to the center of the maze they triggered a light to go off to show they won.

Once they beat the maze, each kid would earn a hat. Earning clothes is a big part of the Breath of the Wild game, and I was so excited to get to include it in the party. A HUGE thanks to my mom for making the hats! After the first round the difficulty level increased by doing it with hats over their eyes and having a different kid tell them what moves to make to get through the maze.

Next up, Archery Quest!

That's right. We gave eight year old kids weapons.  What? At least it isn't a cannon

We made targets of characters in the game. When the kids hit the targets they collected meat and monster parts.  This becomes important in phase two of the games.

I have a lot of pictures of kids shooting...

I will put the rest down at the bottom of the post...

On to Level Two!  Now, the kids have been collecting food and monster/bug items.  In the game, Link does a lot of cooking of both food and elixirs.  So... Level Two, Cooking and Elixir Stations!

Up first, cooking. The party was split into two groups for this. Half went to cooking, half went to Elixirs, then we switched.  In order to cook, kids had to choose two food items (meat, eggs, mushrooms, peppers, etc) and a seasoning (Salt, herbs). Nick made recipe cards so he had it all planned out what different combinations would make.  He had a screen put up, and would them make a food the kids had to eat. It was HILARIOUS.  And the pressure to eat things, even when the combination was gross... was so funny.  They had so much fun.

At the same time half the party was avoiding making Dubious Food, the other half was at the Elixir station! 

They had to mix something alive (frog, cricket, lizard) with a monster part (eye ball, horn, guts) to make one of three elixirs.

On to Level Three: BOSS LEVEL!  After all of this, they are ready to fight the boss....

So Nick built a Guardian. Because of course he did.  I do not even know how he got this thing done. We walked out of the house for Henry's baseball game three hours before the party and there were only legs. We came back after the game to this. My husband is amazing.

 And he also made a Master Sword... which the kids used to battle

When they busted open the Guardian, springs, gears and bolts came out.  Because... WE WERE AUTHENTIC.

 On to Level Four!  Once all kids collected springs, gears, and bolts, they traded them in for rupees...

And then headed to Beetle's Shop to spend their Rupees!  (in other words, to build their own gift bags)




 And with that, the birthday quest was complete!

Time for some awesome Triforce brownies :)

The singing of Happy Birthday was epic... and was likely heard several blocks away!

All in all, it was one of the very best parties we have ever had.  I am not gonna lie, it was a lot of work, and more than once we thought we were going to run out of time on getting it pulled together, but in the end, it was so so worth it. Lifelong memories were made both for our boy, and all of his friends.  It was an epic birthday quest.

Now, for MORE pictures, because seriously, there are so so many more worth sharing.  First a few decorations, then last but not least, FAMILY! FRIENDS! PEOPLE WE LOVE!