Superhero Party 4yr - Hobhgoblins Horseshoes

My son loves all superheroes so for his 4th birthday he wanted a SUPERHERO party.  His favorite superhero is Buzz Lightyear. 

For invitations to his party I created a "newspaper" featuring articles about how the Evil Emperor Zurg (Buzz Lightyear's nemesis) had masterminded a prison break of many other superhero nemeses (including Batman nemeses Catwoman and Joker, Superman nemesis, Lex Luthor, Spiderman nemesis, Hobgoblin and Power Puff Girl nemesis, Mojo Jojo).  Another "article" asked all invitees to come to the party dressed as their favorite superhero to save the day and capture all the escaped villains.  Everyone loved the invitations! 

My son's birthday is in August so we were able to have it outside.  We decorated the various tables at the party in different superhero themes.  We had a Buzz table, a Spiderman table, a superman table, a Batman table and a power puff girls table.  We set up different game stations (Joker's Basketball Jam, Hobhgoblin's Horseshoes, Lex Luthor's Bowling Lane, Catwoman's Tricycle Course, Zurg's Water Zap, and Mojo Jojo's cardboard maze). 

Upon completing each game, each child received a computer generated "baseball card" of the villain they had just defeated.  After completing all the games and getting all the "baseball cards"  each child was awarded a personalized superhero cape (I made these very cheaply out of fabric and ribbon; I used felt to put each child's first initial on the cape). 

The kids all looked soooo cute dressed in their various costumes trying to "capture" the bad guys.  And, they LOVED the cape.  I still see a lot of the kids playing with their capes - including my son!  We had simple fare of barbecued hotdogs and hamburgers to eat.  I had a cake made with only a skyline for decoration. 

I then placed miniature action figures of all the superheroes on the cake.  During present opening all the children sat in a circle and my son sat in the middle.  We then played "pass the Kryptonite" (a take off on pass the hot potato; the "kryptonite" was one of those glow sticks).  When a child got stuck holding the kryptonite they were "out" and gave my son their gift and sat in the middle to help him open it. 

At the end of the party each child went home with a mini tin lunchbox that we had decorated with various superhero stickers and filled with some more stickers and candy. Also in the box was a thank you card that I printed off the computer on card stock.  It had a picture of my son dressed as Buzz Lightyear and said, "thanks, you saved the day!" Everyone had a blast!  My son told me this was his best party ever!