Batman Party -4yr- Treasure Hunt of Riddles

My son turned 4 this 6th of December and he wanted to have a Batman theme party.

Since North Cal has cold and occasionally rainy weather in December, i had no choice but to have an indoor BDay party. I started to plan his party, 4 weeks in advance. For the party, I kept the invitee list reasonably small so that i could focus more on the kids activities during the party.There were around 15 kids and 16 adults for the party.

The invite was sent 2 weeks in advance with the Batman Theme in mind -Calling All Super Heroes and Wonder Woman!!!!!... Joker has stolen _____ BDay cake!!!!! and Batman needs your help in finding the cake. Lets all meet to celebrate _____ 4th BDay and save his cake from Joker.Meeting Scheduled at Bat Cave: Date: Time: ---Robin :) PS: Superhero costume encouraged but not required :) "

Two weeks prior to the Bday party I bought few yards of blue and pink colored velvet cloth from the fabric store for making capes(got it at sale for around $1.50 a yard). And for cape decoration bought some red blue and white colored star shaped and heart shaped fabric stickers.For the boys made Blue colored capes with alternate red and white colored stars at the back and for girls made light pink color capes with red and blue color hearts at the back. Next bought some colorful half mask to complete the super hero costume for kids( from party america again got it on sale).It was for them to keep. I am not good at stitching so i saw this cool site where no stitching is required for making cape - "How to make cape ---http://www.nickjr.com/crafts/wonder-pets-save-the-day-cape.jhtml". 

For Decor i had the Batman Themed - yellow black and lavender color balloons and Bat shaped balloon. Decorated the walls with Bat themed streamers across the formal living and family room. Had Batman theme paper plates and solid colored yellow and lavender paper cups and cutlery(again on sale in party america). Used the super hero figurines which my son already had to decorate the table where the food was setup. Had Batman theme table cover and confetti s for the food & drink serving table and the cake cutting table.

For cake - I had ordered a Batman theme cake from a local bakery(Batman and his Bat-mobile with Gotham city at the back drop). It was a chocolate cake with banana custard and real banana and strawberries.The Gotham city was made out of chocolate bar. The cake was huge hit with kids.

For food - I had the Indian cuisine for appetizers main course and dessert. I had green punch for the kids and open bar for adults ;) When the guest started to arrive for the party i gave the mask and the cape to the kids to wear. They were super excited and the smile and excitement on their face made all my efforts worth it.Some kids came dressed with their super hero Halloween costume. Then till all the guest arrived i did some face painting of Bat-shape for the kids. That kept them busy till all the guest arrived. I lack artistic touch so i bought the face painting kit from Party America where the kit came with the Bat shape stencil.

When all the kids arrived and were done with face painting i started my first game of treasure hunt. Keeping in mind that out of 16 kids only 6 kids were old enough to read i made 6 clues for the treasure hunt. Each clue would lead to another and the last lead to the treasure which was Bat rings (one for each kid).Each kid took turn for reading out the clue loud and then tried to solve it as a team. Following were the clues sealed in a colorful envelope hidden all over the house:

1)"I like to play jokes on other folks Then hide when I am able. So get down on your hands and knees and look under the table.". --under my son's art table they found the next envelope with a clue.

2)"Riddle me this riddle me that.  Who's afraid of the big black bat?" -- on the Bat balloon they found their next clue.

3)"Hickory dickory dock. Batman's racing the clock. The clock struck four look behind the green room door. Hickory dickory dock." -- the next clue was behind my son's toy room door.

4)"rub a dub-dub-dub Batman needs a scrub" -- the next clue was taped in the guest rest room bath tub.

5)"Batman's playing with his grappling hook.  But I think he needs an instruction book. Where would he find a book of this kind? Think hard then go take a look." -- the next clue was taped on the book case in our guest room.

6)"At the end of your quest lies a treasure chest then you will have earned your rest."--I hid the shiny silver box with bat rings in the toy chest.

We had cake cutting.. Followed by the next game .. Passing the joker(passing the hot potato)…the kid that got out during the game were given bouncing ball and the winner got two bouncing balls to keep. This way everybody was happy and actually enjoyed the game. This was followed by dinner and then we had our last game of blindfolding and putting the mustache on my hubby's face. The kids were laughing hysterically to see the mustache stuck to his nose or forehead :). Adults also enjoyed this game ;).

To every kid I gave crayons and a bat card. This kept the kids busy coloring the bat card for some time. For return gifts I took the advantage of Thanks Giving Black Friday sale and got some awesome early bird deals on toys. Christmasy shiny gift wrappers with a shiny bow made those return gifts more exciting for the kids. All in all the kids had a gala time.

PS: My son already told me he wants a fire fighter theme for his 5th Bday :).. "