Superhero birthday party!!

Jedi had a superhero birthday party for his 5th birthday  several years ago.

We started with an evite invitation that said this:

Superhero Headquarters is now recruiting new candidates for their Superhero Program. One of our top secret superheroes in training has named you as a friend with special powers that make you a perfect choice for our program. You know him by his code name: "Jedi".

Join us at our Superhero headquarters for your superhero training.
Everything you need will be provided to you, no need to dress up.

Please RSVP and tell us the following information about you:

Super power
Favorite color
Your Super Hero name

We will be having some super hero snacks and treats during our training, so please notify us of any "weaknesses" you may have- Kryptonite, Brussels sprouts, peanuts (other allergies).

WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU HERE!

I think one of my favorite parts of this party was seeing what all the kids/parents came up with for their name and power. We had Lavender Lightning- with super speed, Bubblegum girl- could make giant bubbles, Fire Laser man...you guessed it- can shoot fire and laser.

Jedi was "FREEZE-OR-BURN"  and could do just that.

I made capes and masks for all the kids. The capes were made with pieces of felt and I added a logo to it depending on their superhero name. I made the masks out of silly foam. I googled superhero mask templates. I don't remember where I found them.

 Lavender Lighting

 Bubblegum girl

Freeze-or-burn

 The superhero crew

Demonstrating their powers. (notice the girl in the left front corner and the boy in the left rear in red "turned invisible")

While we waited for all the kids to arrive, we had the kids color superhero pictures I printed from the Internet, or they could color on the butcher paper we put on the table.

 Then came the training...

Get them limber!!

 Then an obstacle course. They had to walk a wobbly blank, run on tiles without getting hit by balls that were flying by,

 Climb through a tunnel,

 then leap over a ottoman. They could "fly" over it if they felt they had harnessed that power already.

Then each superhero received their cape and mask. They were SO excited!

We then played pin the cape on Superman, and some of the kids seemed to have x-ray vision and could see through the blindfold.

And had lunch. Hero sandwiches with fresh fruits and veggies.

After lunch, they learned that an evil villain had found the location of their training and threw a bunch of kryptonite in the room hoping to make them lose their powers.

They each took turns picking up the kryptonite and putting them in a "lead" storage chamber.

Next was a team building exercises where we broke them into two teams and races to get giant floor puzzles done before the other team. It was a tie!! We were so happy to hear it because we knew that the evil villain would be back and it would take the whole superhero team working together to defeat him!!

 They lifted "100lb" weights with ease as they built up their superhero muscles! (wrapping paper tubes with balloons on each end)

We heard the villain telling the superheroes he planned to defeat them. They all gathered in the superhero clubhouse to come up with a plan.

They tickled him until he promised to be good!!

I made a volcano cake with superman saving a lumberjack. Looking back at it, I would have done it so differently if I was making it today. BUT, the kids loved it. I used jolly ranchers melted and poured to look like lava.

 The top of the cake had a hole in it with a small dixie cup inside. It had a bit of water in it. We put a few small pieces of dry ice in it so the volcano would smoke.

Hurray for superheroes!!

TUTU and TUNIC second birthday party

Love Bug turns two this month, and we celebrated with a TUTU and TUNIC party. I saw some ideas on the Internet that were absolutely adorable, and of course did my own spin on it. Some people have done at Tutu and ties party, but I like the idea of tunics better. Each guest was given either a tutu or a tunic to wear.

The cake. It wasn't what I set out to do, but this is what I had time for. A two wearing a tutu.

 All the guests had cupcakes with these cute tutus on them. It's fondant skirts and straps, and candy hearts from the Wilton bracelet making set out for Valentines Day. I used pink pearl powder with clear vanilla to paint them shimmery. I also made them earlier in the week, so they were har-ard!

 We did photo mobiles of Love Bug "growing up" (ha! all two years of it)

 This was the spread. I tried to think of foods that reminded me of Tutu's, and then threw a little nutrition in there too. Do you know how many sweet treats qualify as tutu-like?? I had to cut waaaay back on my planning list!

 Cotton candy....of course! It's fluffy and delightful.

 In the left corner there you can see where I hung up the tutus and tunics for the guests as they arrived. I made them to size, so I had little labels on them to keep track of who they were for.

 We also had cupcakes for the parents.

 These are lemon and strawberry swirl cookies (from Safeway). Very tutu looking if you ask me.

Mini sandwiches, cut in a flower shape (that qualifies as a tutu shape...doesn't it??) 

Pink fluffy marshmallow pops!! I had grandeur plans for these, but time got the best of me. 

Tutu tacos for the grown-ups. I just pushed warm tortillas into large muffin tins and cooked at 350 for 10 minutes. Then pull them out at carefully put a child size cup inside them to open them up more. Remove them when cool.

And the banner.

 Tutus!! I did the easy version of tying tulle onto elastic.

 The tunics. Again, as easy as you can get. It's fleece, cut down to approximately 18 inches wide by 40 inches long. Fold in half. Cut out a circle. Then I used adhesive felt for the emblem. The name tags were made with my nifty new Silhouette SD :)

 We played tutu bowling.

 And tutu basketball.

 I made tutu purses for the girls and had foam swords (Target $ zone) for the boys. I used satin and medium weight interfacing for the tutus. Rectangle shape big enough around for the circle I happened to have. If you really want to know how to make them, leave me a comment.

That was the party!!

A Royal First Birthday

My Little Miss turned one this month and we threw her a Royal Ball!

Before you give me too much credit for creativity, you must know that most of my creative genius lies in my ability to scour the Internet for ideas, and put them together in a cohesive fashion.

I sent out Royal invitations asking all the little Lord's and Ladies to arrive in style. (and had fun using my wax seal) I couldn't find printed paper that I was in love with, so I used some pretty paper with crowns on it, and added vellum. I hand delivered the invitations.

I also included a note for the parents that was written from their child's "Fairy Godmother". It included more information on the party, including what they needed to bring, how they should dress, etc.

I borrowed an idea for a birthday banner from http://paperflowers1.blogspot.com/2009/01/homemade-birthday-banner.html. It reminded me of royal banners. I printed the letters on regular paper in the color I wanted and cut them out. I used 12x12 paper for the pink- cut into fourths. The green printed paper is also 12x12, and cut into an 8x12 size. I folded the top back about 1 1/2 inches and used double stick tape to attach it to a 1 inch ribbon. I didn't cut the ribbon to begin with. I attached it to a few chairs as I taped each piece onto it, then spread them out how I liked them and then adjusted the length of the ribbon. The banner pieces stayed in place just fine.

I wanted a personalized cake topper- and not just a candle. So I spend a few days making this cutie patootie topper. I borrowed ideas from here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31584205 and here http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/10/all-partied-out.html. (I frequent Jill's site. Love her!)

The finishing touches!!

I absolutely loved these tissue paper pom poms....inspired of course by Martha Stewart http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/pom-poms-and-luminarias. I made mine with 10 sheets of tissue paper to make them more full.

To add more whimsy...I thought paper pinwheels would be fun. We made these a few years back for an activity, and I immediately thought of them for our buffet table.

I borrowed two tables from our church nursery, along with little chairs for the little ones to sit at. There was enough room that mom's or dad's could sit with them. Each guest was also given a sippy cup with apple juice in it, which they took home.

That covers the decorations!

~On to the party~

Most baby's take a morning and afternoon nap, so I decided to have our party be a luncheon and held it at noon, a time when most baby's would normally be awake.
Because I would be hosting a lot of little ones that were under the age of two, as well as adults, I wanted to be sure there would be food that all ages and stages could eat. One way to guarantee that there would be something for everyone was to offer normal baby snacks, such as Cheerios.
I wanted a way to serve them that was fun and creative. I ran across this site http://theparteaplanner.blogspot.com/2007/10/isabelles-first-birthday-party.html and thought she had a great idea! This is my version of it.

I served fresh fruit, including bananas cut in half in their skin, all natural apple sauce, and Colby-jack cheese cut into little flower shapes a little bigger than Cherrios.


I also offered turkey and cheese sandwiches for the toddlers. We cut them out into flower shapes as well.

For the adults, we had a veggie tray, chicken salad sandwiches, and Chinese chicken salad served on mini croissants.



And M&M's. I bought the Valentine bags after Valentines day when they were clearanced, and had my boys separate all the red ones from the pinks and white.

Little Miss had her own cake. I used whipped cream frosting and strawberry cake- since I didn't want her to slip in to a chocolate coma with her first taste of REAL sugar.

I made banana bread mini muffins for the under one set, with a low-sugar cream cheese frosting.

I saw these on Bakerella's website and just couldn't resist!

http://www.bakerella.com/make-your-cupcakes-pop/



I hesitated at first with the idea of serving them to the rest of the guests, who would be adults. But they were a hit. I made 60 of them, and there were only about 26 adults there. Most of them had two each.

They are very time consuming to make, but I think they are well worth it. You can make them several days before your event, because the candy coating keeps the cake moist. I made mine the day before, but did a practice run a few weeks before the party- and a week went by before one of the cupcakes were eaten (weird..in MY household??) and it was really moist and fresh.

As the guests arrived, they were invited to play with toys in the family room. We set up our little tea party table and two chairs off in our morning room where we took individual pictures of each child with Krisha. Those will be included in the thank you cards.

We ate lunch about 15 minutes into the party- allowing a little time for guests to arrive. Little tummy's were growling already
The baby's all finished eating at different times (and some never left the table), so they went back to play for a while. Meanwhile, we finished up the pictures with Little Miss, and all the adults just visited with each other.

We then gathered back at the table to sing happy birthday and eat dessert! While everyone was busy eating cake, the family room was turned into a Ball Room!

We filled it with 18 inch balls from Target. Each guest took one home with them.
We did a group photo of all the little lords and ladies...which was a feat! There were eleven in all.
It turned out quite precious!
We don't open gifts at birthday parties at our house to avoid issues with sharing and reclaiming brought gifts. But Little Miss had a great time opening them later.


Happy Birthday Little Miss!