Superhero Bash!

Where do I begin?

With the birthday guy, of course!

This is the photo that went on the birthday event invite on facebook.. as well as the one that was (I'm still working on this) sent to family for his "5 year old" photo. He rocked it, and I am very happy with how the picture came out!

As I said, this was his 5th birthday! Where does the time go? It feels like it's gone slowly, but at the same time I can remember when he was a teeny, tiny newborn like it was yesterday. The things that have gone in between sometimes fly like a film-strip. The first time he crawled, his first steps, the first time he actully tried to eat dog poo (The ONLY time, Thank God. blech), being there when his sister was born, helping and being such a great brother...developing his own personality. He is so funny and so sweet and so protective. And in 2 1/2 months he will be going off to kindergarten. I'll say it again, where does the time go? In those 5 years, I've never actually MADE his cake for his birthday party, I'd made him cakes before... but only for the 4 of us and half always went in the trash. I don't like frosting, hubby's not a cake eater and we try to keep it healthy with the kids. This year, I saw something I kind of liked, had an idea and ended up with the picture above. :) K-man loved the Captain America cake mommy MADE him (he emphasized) and insisted that I make one for his party also. Hubby took some to work and agreed, so I made another for the party day.

Started off with simple decor for his actual birthday... we haven't been able to use latex balloons, it was a possibility this year and I just went with it. Cheap, makes everything decorated and my kids have had hours of entertainment with them for over a week. I just used a little bit of ribbon and tied them to the light hanging from the kitchen.

I saw a version of this on pinterest, but doing it the night before when I was still preparing for the party was a bit mch for me... so I just hung some streamers and balloons from his doorway after he went to bed the night before his birthday.. from the look on his face, that will be a permanent birthday "thing" in our family from here on out. Made him feel special as soon as he opened his eyes on his day.

Blowing out his candles on his birthday morning. :)

These are the certificates we sent home with each kiddo after the birthday party. Once they completed the obstacle course, defeated the villians, learned to mask their identity in the phonebooth and created their own heroes in color-it-yourself comic strips, they were certified SuperHero Academy Grads!

Spot at the head of the table for the guest of honor.

Hero H20 with printables from here! When I started planning this party, I obviously knew it got hot in Texas and usually is on K's birthday. I did NOT know that it would be 99 degrees and that I would be VERY glad I made extras to keep our little heroes hydrated throughout the party.

The party favor bags say "Thanks for making my birthday SUPER!" Inside were various superhero candies, mini-bottles of spiderman (or dora for the girls) bubble bath that I got on clearance at walmart for a whopping .37 cents.

For the food displays and table decor I used Melissa & Doug blocks to add a "superhero" feel to it. I bought them from a garage sale website on post here for half the price the go for online. I think it added quite a bit to the theme, and my kiddos enjoy building them and then knocking down the "skyscapers" with their Hulk SMASH!

Only the best for my little man... I've been a superman fan since I became a teenager. I have other superman shirts, but when we randomly came across this shirt (with a cape) in the back corner of a party store, I just kind of knew it was meant to be.

Printable comic strips for the kids to play with. The boys were content to chase each other around and go after "villians", the girls needed something a little different, so these were perfect transition activities from the welcome/photobooth to the obstacle course.

Table set-up with the phonebooth AND photobooth!

My hero.

I think this might be one of my very favorite uposed pictures of her, ever. Okay, unplanned. I was posng her with the "Happy 5th birthday , Kegan" sign and then I told her she could set it down. I asked for one more picture, said "Show me what supergirl does" and snapped without thinking. THIS is the product of that 25 second interaction. Love my girl... and this photo!

I'll say it again, when planning a superhero party, Hero H20 is a MUST.

The day before the party, I was in a state of chaos tryin to get everything pulled together in time. I'd shown hubby some of what I was working on and some of the ideas I had, and there were some that just didn't happen because I procrastinated and did everthing the last 2 weeks before. Friday (day before party day) hubby comes home with a freezer box and tells me he WILL make the phonebooth happen. In the weeks before, I kept looking at different blogs and the different ones people had done and telling myself there was no way I would have time or patience. In ONE night, he totally pulled it off. It added so much to the photos and the party ambiance. Some might think it's silly to add money to something so silly (paint isn't cheap), but my kids are STILL enjoying this and playing with it as often as we'll let them. Great job and big kudos to my awesome husband!

 

Hero-ing up!

In hindsight,  should have chosen a background for the "photobooth" with bigger, darker polka dots. And I should've considered that some were taller than my 3-4 ft tall offspring. It was enough for the targeted age participants, not for the older kids, who ended up being the most creative shots. Next time: Buy 2 yards of fabric.

                                                     

I didn't put a lot of thought or effort into the obstacle course, but every party suggestion site, blog and pin I found relating to superhero party throwing insisted that an obstacle course was the way to go. I didn't get around to some of the things I wanted to do (a large bar-bell made from foam balls) for them to "lift" or a few other things... but the double slide, 2x4, tunnel and villian webbing was enough. Everything but the "web" (Silly string) came from what we just had lying around the garage/playroom. I would definitely recommend getting extra silly string as well. Or perhaps getting larger cans than what Dollar Tree provides.

Taking down villians is serious stuff!

Good daddy!

These are probably one of my most favorite projects in preparation for this day. They are tedious, my hands were cramping... and they are MORE than worth it! I found them on a holiday blog as an idea to give out at valentines day! These were a HUGE hit and all the kids thought they were the coolest thing.. even the big kids!

The smile on his face made everything worth it.

There's not much more I can say.. but pictures are worth 1,000 words.

Me with my supergirl! :)

He got a Hulk mask AND hands for his birthday. Conflicting heroes/comic companies? Maybe. But he is adorable.

More of the hero photobooth/sign thing.

Cake number 2. Learned from the first, and this was 3 layers, also blue and red on the inside!

Set-up of the cake. Made the backdrop out of heavy duty project cardboard.

Close-up of the kids table!

All the (little) kiddos. I was very pleased with how everything came out. Probably the best party I've done to date. Love it!

We've done this every birthday since his first. :)

You can't have enough pictures of these little guys! :)

If I had an i-phone 4, this would've been a MAJOR staple in the party. Walmart carries posters, you download (for free) the superhero Augmented reality app and when you snap the picture, a plain old poster ends up like THIS! Would love to have been abe to print these out with each kid and send them home. You can choose any Avenger, K-man didn't have a Hulk poster yet. This was just hubs, his friend and I playing around with the app after everyone went home. When I upgrade in a few months, it's on! :)

That's all, folks!