Super Hero Party 4yr - Fight the Invasion

My son has reached that age where he is sooo into any superhero that he can get his hands on.  So of course, when he had his fourth birthday, we knew it would have to be a superhero party.  It was so much fun to plan, and he had a great time. 

INVITATIONS:  We wanted to have the party at home and outdoors, so we knew we needed good weather.  I told everyone to keep an eye on their e mail, and I designed a cute e mail invitation.  I had it all ready to go and the minute I saw in the extended forecast that the weather would be nice, I sent it out.  It was titled Fight the Invasion! And it had a photo of a transformer/robot/scary lookin thing.  The party information was at the top, so everyone knew the when and where (location was Superhero Headquarters).  Below, I wrote, Calling all Superheroes!  We must unite to defeat the super villain!  Please meet at headquarters to prepare for the invasion.  We must defend our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of a happy birthday!  If you can join with us to defeat this villain and eat cake, please respond as soon as possible with the following top secret information: 1. Your secret identity (your name.) 2. Your superhero name. 3. Your superpower. 4. Your super color.  No special equipment will be needed, just wear clothing that is appropriate for outdoor superhero training.  Your participation is vital to the success of this mission!  People did their RSVP there on the website.  Those that could come said You can count on me!  Maybes were I'll see if my cape is back from the cleaners and if they couldn't make it, it said, My powers are GONE!  Happily, almost everyone said that they could make it.

DECORATIONS:  Of course, our main colors were blue and red, so we put a couple balloons on the mailbox to let people know they were at the right place.  As they approached the door, there was a blow-up superman bop-bag (on clearance at Party City for $2) standing next to the front door.  I made a little sign in the computer that said, Welcome Superheroes!  Please come in and prepare for an intense training session!  I made it in a speech bubble like it was in a comic book, and I used a font that we downloaded called SF Comic Script.  As they walked thru the kitchen to the back yard, they placed their gifts on the breakfast table.  It was covered with a blue table cloth and I made a hanging decoration of balloons and curling ribbon hanging down from the ceiling fan.  All the party favor bags were grouped on the buffet.  The island was covered with a red tablecloth and the cake was displayed there. 

Outside, the patio had three kids tables, covered with red table cloths with red plastic chairs from the dollar store.  There was also our large round table covered with a blue table cloth.  It held the snacks and drinks.  Above it was a sign made in the shape that a POW! Would be in a comic book, but it said Super Snacks.  We gathered all the adult size chairs and furniture and made a little seating area for the adults in one corner of the lawn.  Along one fence, we stapled up WANTED posters that we made of famous super villains on the computer.  We just printed them out on regular printer paper and stapled them haphazardly on the fence.  We turned our playhouse into a superhero office.  I stapled up a couple of superhero costumes that my son had in his dress up stuff, covered the daybed with a red, white and blue blanket and took out the play kitchen.  We put a toy laptop computer on the table and some tools and a Dr. kit on the shelves. 

The very best part was on the back fence.  I printed out Hall of Fame on some paper and stapled it up on the fence.  My husband works in a print shop and was able to print out a bunch of pictures of famous super heroes on foam core.  We used double stick foam tape and stuck them on the fence.  They were so bright and colorful!  We hung a few red and blue balloons around, and that was it.  The surprise was when you went into the guest bathroom.  I took out all our normal decorations and put all my son's super hero action figures in their place.  I printed out pictures of various super heroes and put the over the glass in the pictures that were hanging in there.  I also found a Spiderman soap dispenser at the dollar store, so the look was complete! 

COSTUMES:  As each RSVP came in, I used the child's super hero name and color to design an individual logo.  I used clip art and word art and managed to make a different logo for each child.  I printed them out on paper that makes an iron on decal.  I ironed their logo on to a plain white t-shirt for each child (white T's were on sale for $5.99 for a package of 5, so it didn't really cost too much.)  I bought a sheet of craft foam for each child in their color.  From it, I cut out a mask and attached elastic string so it would stay on.  From the remainder of the foam sheet, I made two wrist bands that closed using Velcro.  I also made simple capes from knit fabric (no sewing required!) in the child's super color, and used sticky Velcro to attach them.  I used coupons and found fabrics on sale, so the cost was not too bad on that either. About ¾ of a yard made two capes.  All together they had a t-shirt with logo, cape, wrist bands and a mask.  They looked so cute with everything on! 

ACTIVITIES/GAMES: As the kids arrived, I just let them play and have fun looking at all the stuff in the yard.  When they were mostly all there, I gathered all the kids on the steps and gave them a welcome speech.  I told them how we needed all the super heroes to band together to fight the super villain that was trying to destroy all birthday fun.  I gave each child their t-shirt with their logo and introduced them with their super hero name to the group.  Just as we were finishing getting all the shirts on, the super villain (a daddy dressed all in black with a black mask and hat) appeared.  He shouted that he was going to destroy the birthday fun for sure, and he dropped a bag of bombs (small black balloons) all over the ground and ran away.  I told the kids to hurry and diffuse the bombs (pop them).  They were only too happy to jump on them.  I had a couple moms ready to be clean-up crew to get all the pieces of balloon picked up for safety's sake.  When we were done, I rewarded their bravery by giving them their powerful wrist bands. 

Next we had a physical training course.  They had to swing on a web (rope swing) like Spiderman, climb the side of the building (ladder) like Spiderman, fly (down the slide) like Superman, hop from one hula hoop to the next like ElastiGirl, leap a tall building (made of legos) in a single bound like Superman, run like Flash, and spar with the bop-bag Superman at the end.  Each child went thru the course while the others cheered them on.  When they have proved their physical strength, I awarded them with their capes.  I called each one up and placed the cape on their shoulders.  They seemed to be very proud of those capes! 

As we were finishing the cape ceremony, the villain appeared again!  He said he knew exactly how to destroy super heroes!  He dumped a bucket of Kryptonite (green painted and glittered rocks) on the ground, laughed evilly, and ran away.  I told the heroes to stay away from it so they would not lose their powers.  I pulled out an old cooler that had a sign that said HAZARDOUS MATERIAL on the side.  I said that if each hero could gather one piece of kryptonite and placed it in the lead lined box, it could be disposed of properly.  In a relay fashion each hero took a pair of kitchen tongs and picked up one piece and put it in the cooler. 

After this victory, we went back to the steps and they were awarded with their masks and reminded that their secret identities were their best protection.  At this point I had a group portrait taken.  I said that I had one last tool to give them and passed out Web Slingers (cans of silly string).  We were practicing when the villain came out again and said he knew for sure how to destroy any happy birthday.  He said he would steal the cake and the heroes knew without instruction that they should use their web slingers to capture him.  He ran and they chased and eventually caught him.  (Talk about a great sense of humor!  What a guy!)  Then a police officer (his wife in my son's dress up police man hat) came and took him off to jail.  I told the heroes that we are now free to celebrate the birthday with no worries, so let's have cake!  We had cake, played a little more, and that was the end of the party.  We did not open gifts until everyone was gone, because it is always so chaotic. 

FOOD:  The party was at three in the afternoon, so we only had snacks.  I set up a tall glass jar with lemonade and labeled it power punch.  There was also a big red container filled with ice and soda and water bottles.  I picked up some red and blue snack containers at the dollar store.  We had Hero Sandwiches (ritz-bits), Super Sticks (pretzel sticks), and Veggies of Virtue.  Everything was labeled with the little POW shape and using the comic book font.  The plates and cups were just plain red and blue, but we had Superman napkins.  The cake was awesome.  I purchased it at a grocery store bakery near our home.  It was made to look like the top of a tall building with Spiderman fighting three super villains.  So cute! 

FAVORS:  My husband made a CD of super hero songs from I Tunes (Kryptonite, We Don't Need Another Hero, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Holding Out for a Hero, Jimmy Olsen Blues) and made labels and case covers for them with superhero graphics.  The CD's were placed in a cello bag with an Incredible Hulk blower, a Superman mini-frisbee, a Superman pencil, a bag of Transformers fruit snacks, a Spiderman head chocolate candy, and a small box of candy that was either Iron Man or the Hulk.  The bags were tied with red and blue curling ribbon and a name tag.  Of course, each superhero also took home his t-shirt, wrist bands, mask, cape, and what was left of their silly string.  The big surprise was when each hero was told to take one picture from the Hall of Fame on the back fence.  Even the parents were really excited to be able to choose one of the great pictures. 

THANK-YOUS:  We have this cool program called Funhouse.  It lets you drop in faces from your photos into funny pictures.  There is one of a cartoon super hero with his side kick dog flying through space.  I will put my son's face in the side kick's place and each guest's face as the super hero.  I'll get them printed like a 4x6 photo and put them in a simple red thank you card.  

Thank you to all the parents that take the time to share their ideas.  I used lots of them, and everyone had such a great time!