Jack’s 5th birthday party was superhero/Superman themed. This was the first party that Jack wanted friends from school(outside our usual group in invitees) – he picked three boys that he often talks about – and a girl that I hadn’t seen him play with before. Every time we talked about his party, she was always on the list. He finally explained, “She always laughs at my jokes, Mama.”
It felt a little odd not to have the “normal” core group at the party, and I was terribly nervous at having to perform in front of people that I don’t know (as most of the parents stayed with their children) Once I started leading the games, my old teacher self kicked in, and I lost my nervousness…
I love the idea of a backdrop for a party (and it helps the photos to look cute!) I used a roll of mailing paper and tempera paint to make the background. I used spray paint on boxes to make the buildings.
While we waited for everyone to arrive, I had the kids decorate a belt made from felt and duct tape. I made each kid a cape with their initial on it – that they could take home instead of a party bag. These two things were big hits.
December is rainy, so I had to think of games that worked for 5 and 6-year olds cooped in a living room. The games ended up being insanely simple, but were amazingly successful. The idea was that the kids had to train to be superheroes and prove that they were. I wrote the Superman motto on a sheet of paper, and added 3 more “requirements.” Each of the kids showed their skills one at a time while the others watched (and I exaggerated looks of awe…)
- Faster than a speeding bullet (running in place – I wanted to die laughing at how seriously the kids took this “game” – one boy started over three times because he knew he was faster than his previous demonstration “no, wait, I am even faster! Let me do that again!)
- More powerful than a locomotive! (lifting a ‘very heavy’ weight that I had first asked John and Uncle Marc to bring into the living room – but they just couldn’t lift it – so we had to ask SuperJack to do it…)
- Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!
- Stomp out crime! (no photos of this – just popping black balloons)
- Restrain the bad guys! (I picked one of the dads at the party to wrap up as a “practice” bad guy. The kids wanted to punch and shoot the “bad guy” but I quickly explained that superheroes don’t like to hurt anyone, and they just tie up the baddies for the police to take to jail. I was quite relieved the kids were satisfied with that explanation! This dad was a riot and made all kinds of attempts to break free without actually ripping the tp that the kids were using. It made the kids scream and think the game was that much more fun.)
- Get a supercar! (I wrapped Squinky cars individually and put them in a bowl. The kids passed the bowl around in a circle while the music played and when the music stopped, whoever was holding the bowl got to take a package out and keep the car inside. Everyone got a car, so it was just a matter of waiting their turn.)
I had the idea of taking photos of each superhero in front of the backdrop, but completely forgot about it. When I finally remembered most of the guests were gone, or were completely uninterested in cooperating – including the birthday boy…
I made the buttermilk cake from the Domestic Goddess cookbook and it turned out really nice – though just as I was serving it, I realized that Jack likes chocolate best – next year I guess…
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