Spiderman Party  3yr - Refrigerator Box City

For my son's third birthday we had his favorite super hero, Spiderman, theme party. 

For decorations I used red and blue streamers from the Dollar store and I made spiders out of paper hanging down intermittenly from twine.  I also made a huge spiderweb 4'X 5' out of twine behind the food table with a large spider made from black poster board in the center and a red tablecloth for the backgdrop.  I made half spider webs out of twine in door frame corners used the backs of paper plates to draw more spiders in webs to decorate around the house. 

I made treat bags out of brown paper bags with the spiderman emblem on the front and used Spiderman party cups, napkins, blowers, plates and tablecloths that we bought on clearence at Party City. Instead of party hats I bought the Spiderman masks that are offered with the party supplies so that the kids could pretend they are Spiderman.  We posed my son's large Doctor Octupus action figure on the table to add to the table decor. We bought 20 red, blue and yellow helium balloons from our local party store and let them float freely around the house which effortlessly entertains the children as they try to jump and reach for the balloons of their joice.

Every year we make a main decoration out of refridgerator boxes and this year was no different.  We made a "city" out of a refrigerator box and oven box in which we cut out doors so the kids could play inside like a fort.  These creations are always a big hit.  We used gray paper and adhesive spray to wrap the boxes and black construction paper cut into rectangles for windows to paste all over the sides.  We bought blackboard paper with a night sky to paste behind the entire city and we also pasted a large moon on this for added effect.  Trying to get the sky secure to the wall to cover the fireplace was a bit tricky but we managed with staples and heavy duty tape.

On top of the shorter building we posed and taped my son's large Spiderman action figure so that it looked like he was shooting a web on top of the skyscraper. To help with this effect we attached twine to his wrist and attached it again to the top of the skyscraper. The supplies for this project came from the teacher supplies store and because my mom is a teacher most of the paper was reused in her classroom so it wasn't wasted.

For the refreshments we had burgers & hot dogs and for the birthday cake we had a Spiderman face cupcake cake and another regular Spiderman cake both from Wal-Mart. (The kids loved the cupcakes best and I have to say they are much easier than a traditional cake.) The punch was 7Up and Fruit Punch complete with icecubes in which we had frozen spider rings inside. 

The games were very simple and and all the party favors and prizes came from the dollar store (i.e. dress up jewelry and stickers for girls, rubber snakes and water guns for boys etc).  The children played a musical chairs type game in which I made webs on the backs of paper plates and placed them in a large circle on the floor. The children walked in a circle and each time the music stopped we took a web away. This game was quite hilarious to watch and the kids seemed to enjoy it best.

We also played drop the spider in the jar and pin the spider on Spiderman.  The party wrapped up by a special visit from Spiderman himself in which he brought my son his main gift.  Spiderman was actually my husband in a Spiderman costume that my mother tailored to fit him perfectly.  We had to alter the costume a bit by sewing in special mesh to cover his eyes and we bought red tights for my husband to cover his feet (the costume didn't come with boots).  The costume looked incredible and because my children really think it was Spiderman my husband will have to unfortunately wait a few years to wear it again for Halloween. 

The best part of this story is my husband's tale of getting to the front door.  He had to dress in the garage and walk around the block to the front of the house and because most people have never seen a grown man dressed like Spiderman pushing a kids bike down the street in broad daylight he had a line of rubberneckers checking him out.  My husband made sure not to talk to the kids (so they wouldn't recognize his voice) and he only made gestures and high fives to the children.  The expression not only on my son's face (especially when he gave his hero a hug) but on the other adults and childrens faces too was priceless. 

Since his visit was kept a secret from almost all of the guests I had many of them come up to me afterwards and say that was the coolest thing they had ever seen.  Needless to say this party was a hit.