Superhero Birthday Party!

Are you as excited as the rest of the movie nerds about the DVD release of The Avengers next week? My son and I were invited to a birthday party for a Captain America loving four year old recently and what better time to tell you about this awesome party than right before the DVD release? Of course, if you are really excited, you could duplicate a lot of these ideas for a great DVD launch party - no birthday necessary!

First off, I want to make sure you know that I can take ZERO credit for the awesome ideas that came together at this party. The party was planned for and crafted by my super talented (and blogless) co-worker, Bailey:

Hi, Bailey! Bailey has mad crafting and cupcaking skills and is too busy being super talented to have a blog but she did give me permission to show off her great party to you guys!


First Impressions
The party was held in her in-law's backyard. When we first arrived, we were greeted by a table full of super hero crowns and masks so the kids could dress the part to be their super selves.

Games
We played four different games. The thing that is genius about these isn't just that the kids LOVED them but that they were easilly adapted for kids of all ages to play together. This party had kids ranging from 2-10 and they all loved the games and played well together.

Game #1: Super Ring Toss

For this game, two hula hoops served as targets and kids threw balls made from left over t-shirt material and dried beans. Easy peasy and inexpensive. How far away the kids stood depended on how old they were.

Game #2: Kryptonite Pick Up

"Kryptonite" was made out of crumpled balls of foil that had been painted green. Kryptonite had been spread throughout the yard and kids had to use shovels to pick up the kryptonite and put it in their team's bucket.

Game #3: Super Villain Moving Piñata

This game wasn't just a blast for the kids to play but for the grown ups to watch, too. Max' dad dressed up like a "super villain" (left). Kids were handed water balloons (in the pool in the middle pic) and had to chase the villain around the yard. When they hit him (right), he would toss candy and prizes out the bag we was carrying. Kind of like a piñata. But way more fun and with some more skill involved.

Game #4: Superhero Ice Rescue

For this game, a variety of plastic super hero action figures had been frozen into blocks of ice. In order to free the superhero and claim their prize, kids had to spray the ice blocks with spray bottles to melt the ice and rescue them. The birthday boy (center) even had a full size Captain America figure as one of his birthday gifts....but he had to work for it! This game was my son's favorite and he will tell anyone who will listen about his superhero who had to be rescued out of the ice.

Of course when the kids were done rescuing the superheroes the adults took over and had a water bottle fight!

Food

There was a variety of superhero fuel (AKA snacks) set up on the table. Bailey used red and blue plates and buckets from the dollar store to hold snacks. Also check out those fabulous red white and blue strawberries that were dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with blue sugar!

Cake Table
The cake table also served as the gift table and a place for some more favors.

Left: Lollipops were made "super" by taping superhero logos onto the wrappers and then giving them little "capes" by wrapping felt strips around upside-down small paper cups. There were also superhero taffy and superhero pez dispensers

Right: A tower of superhero cakes topped with a Captain America pez dispenser. Bailey used fondant to make star badges and to spell out the birthday boy's name at the top of the tower. The cupcakes were red, white and blue. My favorite ones had blueberries in the bottom.


You think the birthday boy liked it?

You betcha! Look at that excited little face!!

Thanks for letting me show off this great party. Hopefully you found something to inspire your future Avengers or Superhero celebrations.

I'm so crafty, I make people!

I'd like to introduce you to:

Kaypha Joseph

He made his debut 3 weeks and 1 day early on Mother's Day, May 9th. Our "preemie" baby weighed in at a hefty 10 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 22.5 inches long.

Not only did Kaypha come on Mother's Day, but he shares his birthday (one year later) with my cousin's (and one of my best friends) baby girl. What does that make them to each other as the children of first cousins? Second cousins? Anybody know?

A [MIL-inspired] Birthday Story

I know.... I know. I'm such a procrastinator. I'm sorry. I keep getting e-mails asking when the heck I'm going to show you what MIL got me for my birthday. Okay, okay already. So here's the story....

Husband came home the night before my birthday and handed me my box. Hooray! Presents! I thought. I open the box....on top is a card and inside the card are pink balloons and directions for Husband and I to blow them up and throw them at each other. Mostly because it was about 1:00 in the morning and our silly selves were already in bed while I was opening my presents, we sadly, did not. On to the good stuff I thought.

The box was filled with small, individually wrapped gifts. Oh joy! The only thing better than getting a present I thought is getting lots of presents.

First small package: I open it to discover..... a Venus razor (I kid you not). I look at Husband. Is your mom trying to tell me that I'm hairy?!?! I mean, I'm Italian, okay? I can't help it....

Husband shakes his head. No, honey...that's just....well, that's just Mom.

I'm not sure I believe him but then I remember that this is the same woman who gave us a large laundry basket (it was a nice basket...I still use it) full of toiletries and other household items the Christmas before we got married and is the reason I have not yet had to purchase toothbrushes or toothpaste at the store the entirety of our married lives (which, you know, isn't a really long time or anything....but it's been more than a year already and I suspect I have another 2 years of toothpaste left).

Anyway.... on to the next package. It feels a bit cylindrical. I'm going to laugh if these are toothbrushes I say, remembering the pre-wedding Christmas gift. And I open it. Not just one....but TWO toothbrushes! I was laughing. It was actually pretty funny. I mean, you'd laugh if someone gave you toothbrushes for your birthday wouldn't you?

Hmmmm. What else is in here.....

chocolate

Small Flashlight

Ooooh. Another wrapped box. I open it to discover....

(it's actually a box. This is a picture of the lid. Notice the fancy lace detail.).

Oh! But that's not all! I can hear something inside. Hardly able to contain my excitement, I tear the box open to find JUST what I've always needed:

Hmmmm. Moving on. Let's pick this one. I pick up the small, wrapped bundle. It's kind of soft. Oh no I think. The last time MIL was here, she asked me what size I am. I bet this is.... I stopped. I decided it'd be better just to open it. This is what I saw:

Now. What does this look like to you? Looks like lingerie to me.* So I started snickering. Then it turned into full-on laughing. Priceless! Priceless! Who gets a razor, toothbrushes and lingerie for her birthday from the same person?!? Nobody. Except me. I mean, this is pretty funny.

Okay. **deep breath** Breathe in. Breathe out. Come on, Carissa. Time to calm down.

Whew. That was funny. Okay. What else is in here???

shirt


Yellow Vinyl tote bag

Hmmm. What's this? This one feels heavy. And then I open it. I'm not sure what to think. I kind of look at it. This can't really be what I think it is. There are not words to explain the mix of befuddlement I feel at this very moment, so I'll just show it to you. Ready?














That's right. The Amazing Hot Heart Massager. Now....let me ask you. What do you think it is? Huh? Huh? I mean, this appears to be no G-rated birthday present.** At this point, I am laughing. I am practically crying. I'm really surprised I did not fall out of my chair.





So in the end, what did my mother-in-law give me for my birthday? The best laugh I have had in a really long time. I got some great gifts for my birthday including some things I've been eyeing for quite some time. But none of them made me laugh the way this box from my mother-in-law made me laugh.





*We later discovered that this was not lingerie, but a pajama set that included a cami (pictured above) and embroided capri pants.

** We later discovered that it does not vibrate. It heats up and has essential oil inside. So I guess in the end it is G-rated. But it was pretty funny when I looked at it the first time

Happy Birthday to ME!

So today looks like it's shaping up to be a great day. I got a box full of all kinds of things from my mother-in-law (it was unbelievably funny....I almost fell out of my chair....new post on that to come later) and an espresso machine from my husband.

On the way to work, I got an iced grande, soy, blended chai tea latte and a breakfast sandwich from Starbucks. I LOVE Starbucks breakfast sandwiches and am SO SO glad that they finally have them at New England Starbucks now so I don't have to be a slave to evil empire that is Dunkin Donuts. That and I really dig blended chai

Then I came to work and I had a surprise on my desk from my friend who works upstairs. Gertrude is posing with my present above. Thanks, Sarah! As I was taking pictures of Gertrude and my birthday present, one of our editors came out of his office to sing happy birthday and dance around. That was also unbelievably funny. I'm quite sad Sassy wasn't here to see it.

So then I open my e-mail and saw the e-mail from Sarah....oh-my-goodness it SO funny. I'll share the funniness in a minute, but first the back story....

A group of friends of mine from college (of which Sarah is a part) near the end of our senior year took to referring to our group of friends as "the midgets." I'm not sure any of us really know how that happened as all of us are average-height people, though one of us is quite fond of little people...so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Anyway....at some point my fellow midgets and I started sharing random "midget facts" with each other. They usually go something like this, "Did you know midgets (are far superior to those of normal height....for this-and-this reason)?" I know, I know....it's kind of bizarre and silly but it's funny, okay?

So without further ado, this is my birthday midget fact of the day:

Did you know that on average, midgets enjoy their birthdays much more than average height people? This is because the cake to birthday person ratio is much higher, thus increasing the cake enjoyment factor. This ratio also applies to ice cream, wrapped gifts, and helium balloons.

...well I thought it was funny anyway.