For those who haven't figured it out yet, I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!! I believe that it's important to celebrate your loved one's special day. Some people might say I go overboard or a little crazy when it comes to my son, Brayden's, birthdays. I tend to disagree; I say "go big or go home!" So when it came time to start planning Brayden's 6th birthday party we decided on a Superhero theme. This was by far the easiest themed birthday he's had yet! I was amazed at how many cute ideas I found on Pinterest and other crafty sites.
I think the best thing I found were superhero masks and capes at Target for only $1 each!!! Before this amazing find, I was contemplating how I could use my sewing skills (or lack there of) to make my own masks and capes. Thank goodness I was lucky enough to come across the goodies. I spared myself the embarrassment of trying to sew and many frustrated hours!
The other thing you see in this picture is the awesome telephone booth my very talented husband made! This was a completely last minute detail that he threw together. I called for weeks to many home improvement stores and appliance stores looking for a refrigerator box but always came up empty handed. It wasn't until two days before the party that I thought we might be able to somehow tape together 2 XL moving boxes. I gave the hubby the boxes, extra strength tape, red primer and red spray paint and told him to work his magic! Of course we had to explain to the kids what a telephone booth was and why it was there but once they understood they got a kick out of it! The adults loved it too, many of them were taking their pictures in it!
I am also very picky when it comes to pinatas! All the pinatas that I found in the party stores were super lame and all the ones I found in downtown were very tacky. I found a couple of pinatas on Etsy that I liked but they were very pricey! I figured since I had all the time in the world (currently unemployed and looking for work if anybody wants to hire me. haha!) that I could probably make my own pinata! A few, more like 15, popped balloons and gallons of paper mache later, I gave up! I decided to try and use cardboard, cut up pieces of tissue paper and spray glue. The design turned out flawless and was almost indestructible. Okay, so paper mache probably would have been better since it took about 30 minutes to break the pinata, now I know, but it looked awesome ;)
I also created my own games. All the games that the party supply stores sell are very generic and kind of boring. So since the hubby works at a lumber yard I had him bring home sheets of plywood. He made the circle cut outs for me and I hand painted the bean bag game and Pin the Star on Captain America's sheild. I also made star shaped stickers out of some Avery shipping labels for the Captain America game. And since we had a lot of leftover wood the hubby cut out a Superman shape and painted the B for Super Brayden!
Speaking of my talented husband, he has his own photography business, www.ZSimages.com (my shameless plug) so he knows LOTS about photoshop...way more than I ever will! I told him I wanted a few signs designed that I was then going to paste onto some wood and stakes. He made these beauties for me!
Along with the games, I also had a superhero bounce house and a craft station. I found Superman magnets that came with their own individual paints, superman & batman sand art, superman felt coloring pictures, foam explosions and foam superhero assorted stickers!
I also wanted to utilize all the apothecary jars that I had left over from our wedding last year. I decided Brayden's party was the perfect opportunity, especially with the awesome primary colors I was using. I found a cool gumball machine on craigslist that I used as the center piece then just found the other candy as I was out and about at stores. I cut the buildings from black wrapping paper that I found at Michaels and used a yellow table cover as my backdrop.
Since I had been planning this party for soooo long, I had lots of time to find awesome deals for party favors. Over a 6-9 month span I was able to put together some pretty cool party favor buckets. I created a sticker that says "Thanks for being a SUPER friend!" for the front of the buckets. And the hubs created a sign that looks like a comic book cover to remind the kids to take their buckets!!
Speaking of people who are amazing at Photoshop, creativity really runs in my husband's family! His twin brothers are both Architectural Graphic Designers and photographers as well! I knew I wanted a photo cut out where the kids could put their faces in the hole and become Superman. I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it! Thankfully my brother in law came to the rescue and created this beauty!
Another fun thing I made was a cupcake wreath! It's basically just what it sounds like. I bought a 14" foam circle wreath, 300 red/blue/yellow cupcake liners and straight pins. All there is to it is folding up the liners and pinning them to the wreath. Then I created the word explosions and glued them on and hung it on our front door for the party!
I also made little details like a superhero sticker for the recycling trash can, "Be a Superhero and Recycle". And bought some red and blue paper hanging balls (no idea what they're really called) at our local 99 cent store and glued superhero action words to them!
Last but certainly not least is the cake I made! This was definitely a time consuming cake with cutting out all the buildings and little windows but it was worth it for my little superhero!!! In the background you can also see the cute photo my husband took of Brayden pretending to be Clark Kent!
