Batman Party -5yr- Batman Training

My son wanted a Batman birthday party for his 5th and I love to plan! I rented a party room with a door to the outside.  Some of the activities were indoor, some outdoor. The party was 2 hours long.  Invitations:  I copied a batman comic book cover...like many others have described.The inside of the invitation was "Batman wants you" (like the uncle sam picture) with a picture of Batman.  The uniting idea of the party was to earn your batcape and the party revolved around 5 Batman villains.   

Decorations:  I had people dress up as Penguin (tux, top hat, monacle and umbrellla), Catwoman (all black w/ears and tail), Riddler (green scrub bottoms, a green t-shirt w/a purple question mark on it and a green derby from the party store), Two-face (bought a black t-shirt and a white t-shirt, cut them both in half vertically and sewed a black and white half together. pants w/one black and one white leg, 1 black shoe and one white shoe) and Mr. Freeze (I do karate and wore my puffy sparring gear and helmet). I purposely didn't use the Joker because I thought his look and his bio/crimes were too scary. I had pictures of these same character on the walls and a skyline of Gotham City. 

Intro.   Welcomed everyone to training.  Asked kids what they knew about Batman. Key info to bring out:  1) he was a regular guy who was just really smart - no superpowers 2) master of the martial arts 3) had lots of gadgets 4) often came up against the same villains 5) summoned with the batsign in the sky 6) had a batcave & batmobile.  Introduced the villains but said we would talk more about them later.  Games: The party was divided into two parts.  The beginning was acquiring necessary training.  There were 5 stations and the kids were divided into 5 teams.  Each started at one station, were there for 5 minutes or so and then rotated:

Station 1: LEARN TO DRIVE THE BATMOBILE- I have a battery operated car that I decorated like the Batmobile. Kids got to drive it.

Station 2: VISIT THE BATCAVE - set up a tent with weird stuff in it.  Could easily have used a pop-up play-hut instead.

Station 3: LEARN TO THROW THE BATARANG -  I bought batarang favors and made each of the 5 villians standing on a piece of foam board.  The kids had to stand behind a line on the floor knock down the figures w/ the batarang.  

Station 4: Board breaking - Since Batman was a master of the martial arts, the kids had to be able to break a board with a kick and a punch.  I got the styrofoam trays that meat comes packaged on (local grocery gave them to me free). Parent held the "board" and each kid got to break 2 boards.  

Station 5: BUILD YOUR OWN GADGET - had a table with legos.   

Part 2:  Kids were told that each villain had commited a crime that they had to help solve.  Kids were again divided into 5 teams (different from the first part so they got to spend some time with other kids) 

Group 1:  SOLVE THE CRIME COMMITTED BY PENGUIN - Reintroduced The Penguin. Pertinent info to bring out:  1) Gentleman of Crime 2) Loved birds and used birds in his crimes. The Penguin had kidnapped someone and they had to figure out who. I bought 6 little red birds from the floral dept. of the arts and craft store 5 were hidden around the facility w/a clue attached. The kids had to find the 5 birds/clues and solve the crime (I used the 6th bird just to show them what they were looking for). The clues were things like  victim is someone you see on TV., yellow, lives on Sesame Street,loves to sing the alphabet song.  You guessed it - Big Bird (remember, Penguin loves birds).  I had a stuffed big bird toy that I took out and said that they'd saved him. 

Group 2:  SOLVE THE CRIME COMMITTED BY MR. FREEZE - Reintroduced Mr. Freeze. Pertinent info to bring out: 1) Commits crimes around the themes of ice/cold Mr. Freeze has stolen something we need for the party. Guess what it is: This group had to find the 5 ice cubes (those glass cubes also in the floral or wedding craft section). He stole the ice cream.      Will submit a second page with the rest of the party. 

Group 3:  SOLVE THE CRIME COMMITTED BY CATWOMAN: Reintroduced Catwoman. Pertinent info: 1) was a burglar 2) likes rare and beautiful objects with cat names and designs 3) uses cats as helpers 4) uses cat related weapons (cat-o-nine tails).  Catwoman has stolen something.  You must find it.  This group had to find the 5 little resin cat figurines.  I got a cat pin with rhinestones.  The clues led kids to the batcave where the jewelry was hidden. 

Group 4: SOLVE THE CRIME COMMITTED BY TWO FACE: Reintroduced Two-face.  Pertinent info: 1) relies on coin toss to determine whether to do good or evil 2) Commits crimes involving the number 2.  This team had to find the 5 chocolate/bubble gum coins with clues.   Two-Face is planning a robbery and you must figure out where.  Is it: 1) Two Cousins Pizzaria 2) 2nd National Bank 3)2nd Street Music Store 4) Double Arches (McDonalds) or 5) Twin Pines Movie Theater.  Clues all point to Two Cousins Pizzaria.  He's stolen pizza - 1/2 plain and 1/2 pepperoni!                     Will Submit another page

Group 5 - SOLVE THE CRIME COMMITTED BY THE RIDDLER: Reindtroduced the Riddler.  Pertinent info: Likes games and puzzles.  Always sends clues. This team had to find the 5 cards with a green "?" on them. This was basically a version of Guess who.  I wrote a poem about the crime and had pictures of the suspects.  The 5 clued helped eliminate suspects until you could guess which suspect committed the crime.  The five teams left at the same time.  I had an activity for those who finished to do while they waited for other groups to finish. They had to match the villains with his or her real name. (Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, Victor Fries, Edward E. Nigma, Harvey Dent). 

When they all got back and shared their crime solving abilities, we shined the batsign on a film projector and my friend came in dressed as Batman.  He awarded each kid a black cape which they then got to decorate w/fabric paing. Finally we ate:  Cake, and to represent our villains: gummy penguins, honeydew (green) served in an upside down green derby, cheese cut into cats with a cookie cutter, black and white cookies (these are round and frosted black on the left and white on the right) and of course… ice cream. 

Favor bags again revolved around the villains. Most was purchased at either Oriental Trading Co. or US Toy Co. (I can't remember).  They contained: Freeze dried ice cream, a bird whistle, a notepad shaped like a cat, a bag of chocolate coins, Batman fruit snacks, a small puzzle game. I also included (since it was free) a nod-o-gram from the land of nod catalog that shows 2 pictures that seem to be identical but when you look closely there are a million differences to find.  I thought this was good for the Riddler.   Everyone had a great time and everyone was worn out.!!