Daniel's Superhero Party

Daniel has a lot of interests. He loves to play outside (ride his bike, climb trees, run), loves building with his Legos, loves jumping on the trampoline and recently has taken a real interest in his Nerf gun and bow, loves carrying around backpacks filled with random stuff and pretending to go camping or to be a lifeguard at the pool (with swimtrunks of course), I could go on and on. But if I had to pick one thing that he really likes the most, it would have to be his SUPERHEROES!

All from Daniel's room except for the Happy Birthday sign Spidey is holding, which is a birthday topper/candle that I bought thinking I might do the cake myself.

While Daniel tends to favor Spiderman most days, he really doesn't have much of preference when it comes right down to it. Whichever one he's carrying around at the time, (or dressed up as), tends to be his pick of the day. Batman, Ninja turtles, even Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story (my personal favorite). Lately though, Captain America, who I've learned is one of the Avengers, is his favorite. When I asked him recently why Captain America is his new favorite instead of Spiderman, he explained that it's because Captain America has friends....and because he carries a shield. Meanwhile, speaking of shields, I'm glad the shield that I got him for his birthday is soft because he actually sleeps with it some nights! 

When given several options for cakes at BJs, he was quick to choose "Captain America," even though I showed him that Captain America was only one of the four heroes. I even took him back to BJs with me when I ordered it just to be sure, but his opinion never wavered. Avengers cake it was! 

I don't know where or when exactly Daniel first developed an interest in superheroes, but it was at a pretty young age. I remember him first developing an interest in Spiderman as early as two years old!  It's not like he ever watches superhero"stuff on TV. Superhero shows are too violent from what I've seen, and since we only watch shows on PBS, Disney Junior and Nick Jr, it's not like he's picked up this interest from TV. He does, however, always request Spiderman videos whenever he gets the chance with the iPad; and since we're with him while he's watching it, we do let him watch some this way. But we have to be SO careful. They can get inappropriate real quick. 

I love to see him run around in costume and think it's so cute that he runs upstairs to change whenever anyone comes over- "wait here, I have a surprise," he'll say, and then he flies into the room in full fledged superhero mode!

With this said, is it any wonder this boy needed not only a superhero party but a superhero dress up party for his 5th birthday?!

He's become good friends with a little boy named Maddox this year at preschool, and when I looked in the student directory that Little Lambs provides parents with personal information for playdate/birthday party purposes, I was not surprised to learn that Maddox's interests were certainly in line with Daniel's: "Spiderman, Batman, Ninja turtles and trucks."

Now to the party.

Like Anabella's, Daniel's party was super easy to plan as I had to look no further than his room for the decor. While at first he didn't like the idea of me "borrowing" his superheroes for "decoration." He actually told me, in no uncertain terms, that his toys "were not decoration." 

But once I involved him in helping me to arrange them, he realized it was okay and actually started to get really into planning his party and "decorating" with his toys.

Daniel really liked the labels I made (help from pinterest, of course). He'd walk around the table naming all the foods he was having, "Peter Parker Pizza" being his favorite. Do you like the Spidey he put on the motorcycle here?!

I pre-decorated his party the first week in February, which meant I did twice the work because I had to put it all away again since Anabella's party was first. But, it was so worth it, for being the OCD person that I am, had I not laid it all out on the table ahead of time, I would have been much more stressed that day.

Turns out, because I had it all pre-planned, I quickly pulled up the pictures on my phone and knew just where to put things. It's a good thing I did, too. While you'd think I remember, after all it had only been a week. I didn't. In the heat of the moment, you forget. I tried to do it without, then had to pull out the pictures on my phone.

While I used Spiderman paper products (though I did use an Avengers tablecloth and banner for the kitchen once I realized he wanted an Avengers cake), I made sure to include the other heroes he likes as well. For example, this Batman, which was "not a decoration," but Daniel agreed looked good kinda overseeing things.

We had red "Spidey Punch" but for a soda loving boy, we had to have "Pop!" too. 

Yep, boys need a dress up corner, too!
Actually the costumes (capes) for Daniel's party got handled more than at Anabella's party.
Svetlana wore the Batman cape, while at some point Sergey put one on too. And, Hayden was Buzz Lightyear! So cute. Wish I had a picture. Daniel had more friends from school at his party (he invited all the boys in his class; Anabella only invited a couple friends from school), so I was busy talking and didn't get as many pictures. 

Daniel wanted pizza at his party, so his food was much easier to prepare.
Peter Parker Pizza, (two trays: pepperoni and cheese- we ended up getting 5 and had them double sliced; we had about one pizza leftover but we ate it over the next few days) "Fuel" veggie tray, "Super Fuel" fruit bowl (his request because he loves fresh pineapple so much) "Crunch!" chips and dip, "Spidey Treats" Rice Krispies treats and brownies (another request of his), and Spidey Punch and Pop! Easy peasy. I did leave out the tangerines (Olaf noses) from Anabella's party simply because noone had eaten them, and I was trying to get rid of them. No one ate them at his party either. But they did look pretty, and well, let's face it, that is pretty important when planning a party. 

While Anabella was all about helping me plan games for her party, Daniel was not much interested in games. The only thing he said he wanted to do was decorate cookies and "play." I'd suggest a game (show him pictures from pinterest) and always get the same answer "No, Mommy, I just want to play." 

Sometimes it's hard for kids to go somewhere new and jump right into "play" even if they do already know all the kids (which was the case for most of Daniel's friends), so I'm glad Daniel agreed to this "icebreaker" type activity to get all the kids comfortable once they arrived. And, of course fill them with sugar before they jumped into sword fighting in the basement! 

The sugar cookies (thanks BJs, love that place!) were decorated with icing first and then M&Ms and Skittles. My first thought was to do icing and M&Ms (the original idea was that they going to make Captain America shields), but Daniel said he didn't want M&Ms, he like Skittles better, so we did both. 

They were very "serious" about this! ha! Cole's cookie was so cute when he was done- it was COMPLETELY covered, mounded over actually with candy! I think Daniel, Lily (and Caleb later) were among the few who actually ATE the cookie! The rest decorated and took a bite or two and that was it.

Lily, our neighbor friend, came back over for Daniel's party as a Power Ranger, having been Cinderella just a few hours before. Love dynamic characters! Anabella was Batgirl for Daniel's party.

I love Daniel's little friend Liam, who was Thor. Daniel met him at Little Lambs camp over the summer and was super excited that he was going to be in his class in the fall too. He lives one neighborhood over, and we went to his Halloween dress up party in the fall.  He's one of Daniel's best friends at school (and likes superheroes too, shocker I know). 

Clifford requested to make his appearance earlier at Daniel's party as snow was in the forecast and he (she) wanted to get home before it got too late. I don't know if it was due to timing or what, but the boys didn't get into him like they did at Anabella's party. They kinda looked up and smiled and then went on with their cookie decorating. 

The superheroes weren't much interested in Clifford, but boy, these big kids were!

Solomon said he did not like this big red dog stealing all the attention! 

Aunt Allie and her family came for the first part of Daniel's party, but they too left early due to the forecast (and that it was Valentine's Day). 

After decorating cookies (I know probably not the wisest of moves, but it was 3:30 so it wasn't like it was before actual dinner), we ate. 

After lunch, the boys "played" like Daniel wanted down in the basement. Don't ask me where they found these swords! It was true superhero fun. So much so that I was afraid to rain on their parade and let Daddy handle this part of the party. Boys will be boys. Nobody got hurt, but it just wasn't my kind of "fun." So I went upstairs with the other moms and got a bite to eat. 

I love the way Captain America is holding out his shield here!

There ya go, boys, let's play with some Legos. 

After about a half hour of free play, we rounded the superheroes back upstairs to put on their coats so that we could go outside and "Crush the Cones" and "Pop some Bubbles."

This Crush the cones activity was from pinterest, and while Daniel was at first against it, after I took him out one day and let him practice, he was quick to agree that it was a pretty fun "game" and said he wanted to do it at his party. The "Pop some bubbles" was another one of my made up games, and unlike "Pick the Princess," wasn't quite as successful.

My thought was that it would give the kids something to do while they waited in line to crush the cones, but nobody really got into it. They were plenty content to watch their friends. All the bubbles did was make a big fat mess all over the deck which was already a big fat mess from the crushed cones, especially considering the only ones I could find were colored pink, purple and blue.

Imagine sticky bubble goo all over crushed cones tracked through the house as we all re-entered through the deck.  ha! And, whose idea was this again?

While I'm really not kidding, it was pretty messy, the kids really did enjoy it. So, I have to say if I had to do it again, I would. Minus the bubbles. And minus the colored cones.

The birthday boy went first of course, and slammed the heck out of those cones! These were the leftover ones from a box I had in the pantry. 

Anabella was next.

Hey, there were some bubbles flying around!
I guess I was too busy with the cones to notice them!

This is Daniel's friend from Little Lambs, Cole.

Thor, aka Liam, used his own smasher!

Next up, Power Ranger Lily

Caleb had taken off his Incredible Hulk costume by this time.

Maddox's turn!

Mr. Tough Stuff Sergey crushed them single handed-ly!

Aiden followed suit.

Reid tried too, though Caleb sensed he needed some help, so he was quick to grab the other glove and helped him finish.

I think Reid was wondering if he might be able to eat a piece...knowing that's what he does at Granny's! ha!

We had some leftover, so we went for Round II.

Those gloves were pretty messy when it was all said and done, but I washed them off in the sink with a rag and some dishwashing liquid and they're as good as new. 

When we went back inside, it was time for CAKE!

Look at him holding those camo binoculars that Granny had given him earlier! 

The little boy to Daniel's right (in the Batman mask) is his best bud from preschool, Maddox.

His Avengers cake had a cool keepsake on top of it- it even lit up! 

Daniel mentioned opening gifts at this point, which would have been fine, since we still had about 15 minutes before his friends had to leave, but then he changed his mind and wanted to play some more instead.

When it was time for his friends to leave, he did open a few gifts that his friends had gotten him because they were so excited and wanted to see him open them.

While I don't have many pictures of him opening his gifts, I did try to get pictures of him with his individual friends for thank you cards. I wish I had done a group shot like I did with Anabella's guests.

Gage, aka Iron Man, is also a friend from Little Lambs.

Liam

Cole

Svetlana & Sergey

Maddox

He gave Maddox a hug for his gift! So cute! 

There's the Hulk! 

Having a snack of pizza with Maddox before he left.

Quite possibly one of the highlights of the day was having Dave, Caleb and Reid return to our house after hearing that it was snowing heavily in Front Royal. Caleb and Daniel were having a blast just before they left, so to have him return for more fun, made Daniel's night. Anabella was filled with questions and concerns about her Hadley girl after she heard that she and Lindsay were stuck in a snowstorm and couldn't make it home. She was all about having Dave and the boys hunker down with us and went as far as to determine the sleeping arrangements. She would take care of Reid, of course, and Caleb could sleep with Daniel. She said at one point, "I like having you all here so that you can see what we do every night and all." It was pretty funny. Even as I was tucking her in later than night, she was still hopeful they might return. I was happy to hear they did make it home safely, but apparently Lindsay and Hadley ended up having to stay with a friend in Front Royal because the roads were really bad. 

Whew, I have to say while I enjoyed both parties tremendously, I sure am glad to have 300+ days before I even have to THINK about planning another party! Next year's an "even" year, which I think makes it's "destination" again!