Super Hero Saves Birthday From Evil Villa Party 3yr

My son turned 3 last month, and we had a great Super Hero" themed Birthday party for him in our backyard! 

INVITATION:  I made these using Shutterfly.com.  I had a few pictures of my son wearing a cape that he recieved last Christmas.  I photoshopped him out of the pictures and pasted them onto a sky scene (to appear as though he was flying) and a city backdrop (so it looked like he was standing on top of a skyscraper looking over a big city).  On the invite I put "Help Ky save his birthday party from the Evil Mac Attack".  (Mac is our dog).  I also put that kids should bring swimsuits & towels for the "battle". 

DECORATIONS:  My son likes batman superman spiderman etc... so I mixed all of the characters up.  We had batman napkins superman plates a Spiderman Pinata.  I also stuck to the primary colors of Red Yellow & Blue for balloons & Streamers.  

FAVORS:  Upon arriving to the party each child had a Superhero Supply Sack.  Each Bag had their Initial on the outside and inside was a Cape & Mask with their initial on it (ordered from www.sewplainjane.com) a squirt gun a water bomb ball and a water soaker tube.    

ACTIVITIES & GAMES:  When the kids arrived they were greeted by a large sign telling them that there were Evil Villians lurking in the backyard and they needed to put on their capes and masks and to take their "weapon" to the back yard to help save the Birthday Party.   In the backyard I had 4 large buckets filled with water and labled as "Villian Venom" and a small kiddie pool filled with water located through out the backyard.  I also had found 8 Superhero Villian Pictures on the internet and took them to Kinko's to be blown up printed & laminated.  Each villan was 11 x 17 and printed in color.  I picked a variety (Lex Luther the Joker Catwoman Mystique The Riddler Venom etc.).  I then stopped at a hardware store and grabbed some real estate sign stakes and used them to stick the "villans" in the grass around the back yard. 

The kids had a blast running around shooting all of the villians (and each other) with their water guns soakers and the hose.  Since they are laminated they don't get ruined - and my son has used them many times since the party to play with. I also bought a mask & cape for our 50 lb dog "Mac" the ultimate villian.  He LOVES water and the kids had a great time chasing him around trying to squirt him with water guns.     I also printed out Wonder Woman & Superman in black & white on a 2x4 white paper and had the kids each help color the pictures in.  We then taped them up to the wall outside and played "Pin the Logo on the Superhero".  Each kid who was closest won a prize.  We then went over and did the Spiderman Pinata.  I filled it with some candy but also with fruit snacks (superhero) ring pops  PARTY SNACKS: We had "Superhero" sandwiches Chips Muscle Veggies & Dip and each child had their own water bottle with their initial in a Diamond (like Superman) filled with apple juice (less waste great favor less spiling).    

CAKE:  I went to our local supermarket and had them make a "Cupcake Cake".  This is where they take cupcakes and put them into a shape (of a Superhero diamond) and then frost the tops of all of them together so it looks like 1 cake on top.  I had them do this in Red & Yellow like the Superman logo - but with an "K" instead of an "S" for my son's initial.  The other advantage to this is that you can pick different flavored cupcakes (we did half chocolate half white) so everyone gets what they like best. 

FAVORS:  Each kid took home their cape mask water bottle water gun water bomb ball glow-in-the-dark necklace & bracelet (they wore these after dark) ring pop & water soaker tube.  All in all this was the perfect party for a bunch of 3 year old boys.  Enough structure that they could run around & play - but not too structured that they had to sit still or follow a lot of directions.  I actually might do the same thing again next year when he turns 4! "