He has been obsessed with superheros for the last few months now and I thought I would run with his current obsession and make a party out of it. Everything from the invitations to the presents were all focused around superheros. He had a blast and I thought I would share some of the ideas I came up with (and some I borrowed, thank you world wide web).
Invitations
It all started with the invitations. These helped everyone else know what the theme would be.
I bought these acrylic stamps at Micheal's a few years ago, I don't even remember who makes them and I don't if they are available anymore. I use them all the time for boy's birthday cards. The quality isn't as nice as Papertrey Ink but I just love the design of the set for its versatility.
Party Decorations
I wanted to use bold bright primary colors and I wanted to avoid as much characterized supplies as possible (sorry Marvel). Enter Target's party supply isle. They had exactly everything I was looking for; from plates, plastic forks, tablecloths, and paper comb decorations, they had it all. It was all pretty cheap too. I cut a couple of table clothes in half and paired them together for more color. My husband can attest to the fact that I spend more time than any one person should in this isle looking for just the combinations of colors....he would have picked them in about five seconds flat.
The buildings sitting on my free standing buffet were made using cardboard boxes that I dug out of the dumpsters. YEP, I. went. dumpster. diving. My son will never fully understand my love for him. Haha. I spray painted them with a couple coats of spray paint (the color name was "stone"), and used packing tape to adhere black card stock on the fronts to look like windows. The building on my built in buffet was made similarly using a roll of plain white wrapping paper.
The banner was made using old comic books from a used bookstore, yellow and red card stock, and Papertrey Ink's Boxy Dies. This is so cute and comes together fairly quickly. Word of caution, there are LOTS of inappropriate language and pictures in comic books (at least for 4 year olds) so be conscientious of what images you cut out!
This all came together pretty fast thanks to some girl power (thanks Polina). I love this banner, if you like it too, head over to my etsy shop, I have it up for sale here: Superhero Banner
Games
What superhero party would be complete without superhero games? None, of course. The kids had to walk over "hot lava" to earn their superhero masks. This was done using two large pots, a 2-by-4 piece of wood, and a red blanket on the ground. They had to walk across the beam without landing in the hot lava to earn their reward for their heroism.
I made the masks with a simple mask template that I found on Living Locurto.
These come together pretty fast. I cut out the top color using the template and then traced out a larger one behind it in a coordinating color of felt. I sewed the two pieces together using a decorative zig zag stitch on the outside and around the eyes. Finally, I hole punched two holes on each side and strung elastic through the holes and sewed the elastic together (I'm sure you could knot them too). The kids really liked wearing these (even the little ones).
To earn their capes, the kids had to defuse "bombs" before the bad guys destroyed the birthday party. The bombs were just little black balloons blown up and thrown all over the yard. Thank goodness we have a fenced in yard because these suckers blew everywhere. The kids loved this game. I had the parents following behind and picking up all the broken balloon pieces so the kids (and our dog) wouldn't eat them.
We also tied up the bad guys with toilet paper. All the adult males in attendance were good sports. Apparently Grandpa (my dad, doesn't he look just like me) didn't get the memo about wearing a blue t-shirt (just kidding, the other guys coordinated by pure luck).
We also caught these same bad guys with "Spiderman's web" (aka silly string). The kids had a hard time getting the web to come out of the cans with their little fingers but they sure had fun trying! Oh yeah, I helped too, you can see what bad guy I wanted to catch.
Food
After the games were over (and the candy was hidden), we went inside to EAT! We had sloppy Joe's (they are called sloppy Johnathan's in this house), mac & cheese, veggies, fruit salad, punch, and lots of cake!
See my shirt in the picture (in the lower left corner)? It is the aVEGers (haha), yes, even I dressed in theme.
The cake was delicious. I have definitely found my go to chocolate cake recipe. I found it at Mel's Kitchen Cafe: Unbelievable Chocolate Cake. You all already know how much I love her site. I covered it in rich delicious vanilla buttercream frosting. I always use Martha Stewart's recipe for Buttercream Frosting. The decorations were made using the same stamps from his invitations and we just used toothpicks for the small cupcakes and candy sticks for the big cakes.
Gifts
After gift opening, the kids walked away with a gift bag filled with superhero toys (thank you Target dollar spot). I used some more of those comic books and taped them onto the bags (girl power again, thank you Polina).
A good time was had by all but I'm glad it is all over. This party took me more time to plan and prepare for than I would care to admit here but I'd do it all over again. My little guy had a great time and that is all that really matters at the end of the day.
We were all pretty pooped the rest of the day. Even the dog needed a nap!
My next post will be all about the gift that I made for him, of course it was superhero related. Here is a little sneak peak. I'll keep you in suspense as to what this could be.
Till next time. Peace.
Sooo cute!! :)) Glad i was able to help with some "girl power"!
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