Tip of the Day

Be on the look out at dollar stores, garage sales, and clearance aisles for inexpensive party supplies. For example, I found a train happy birthday banner at the dollar store. What a find! Another time, I found little dinosaur bone 3D puzzles. This made a fabulous game for a dinosaur party.

Super Hero Training Camp

For my oldest's 6th birthday, we did a Super Hero Training party. It was a blast. We called it a super hero training camp. The kids went through different courses or training to develop the super hero ability. They kids each had their training manuals to follow and final test, graduating at the end of their training. We did not focus on any one super hero. That made the party easier, since we could bring in elements from several different super heroes.

Invitations  

I like to design my own invitations. Often I scan pictures that go along with my theme and use a desktop publishing program to design the perfect invitations. For this party I had picked up a sheet of marvel hero stickers. I scanned the stickers and used them to decorate my invitations. I also had a superman shield sticker (this sticker came in a special super hero airhead candy I bought as a favor) I scanned and used. The front of the card simply said "We want you!". Then the inside said, "Bryson thinks you have what it takes to be a super hero. We'd like to invite you to our training facility." The details of the party followed. I bought a 20 pack of greeting card printer paper, envelopes included. My son then handed them out at school. This was my biggest party. We invited the entire class plus family, however we only had a total of 10 kids. This was also my first party in which the parents just dropped the kids off and picked them up later.

Decorations

Originally the decorations consisted of pictures of different super heroes that I printed off my computer. But while shopping for last minute supplies I came across a wall hang of superman. It was very cool and on clearance for $7.  This became a fantastic backdrop for photos.

Games and Activities

• When each guest arrived they received a  bag with their name on it which contained their training kit: a cape, mask and training manual. Then they went to the table to decorate their training manual. I made the capes out of felt and ribbon. I bought a yard of felt at a local craft store, about $2 a yard. I was able to get 4 capes out of each sheet. The felt was folded in quarters which I used as a guideline for each cape. I bought two packages of 8 Maudie Gra masks at the dollar store.  The training manual had the name of the "courses" in the training and they were rewarded a sticker when they completed the course. This kids take this very seriously, make sure everyone gets their sticker.
• The first course was "Demonstrating strength". For this course I blew up a package of silver balloons, $1 for 25. I instructed the super heroes to crush the "rocks", or sit on the balloons and pop them, that threatened the city.  After they crushed all the rocks, I informed them that all good super heroes clean up their mess. Each child was given a sticker in their manual.
• The next course was "Capturing the Super villain". For this game the kids tied the super villain, played by my husband, by wrapping him up in toilet paper. We found that this was easier for the kids to do with a pencil in the middle of the roll. Each child earned a sticker for this.
• The last course to take was "Protecting the innocent". This game was a treasure  hunt. The young super heroes trainees followed clues to find a young child who had been kidnapped, a doll, and their party favors. The favors were a special Superman airhead, Marvel heroes candy, Marvel heroes stickers and Spider man tattoos. 
• After completing all of the courses, there was a graduation ceremony. I handed out diplomas, I bought from the dollar store. The diplomas already had each child's own name on it. 
• After the graduation, the super villain ran off with the party cupcakes and as their first official act as super heroes, the children had to track them down. This was the best part of the party!

Cake and Ice cream

• For this party, I did not make a cake. I made cupcakes and topped them with small superman figurines, I found at Michaels on clearance.
• Instead of ice cream, I found Spider Man and Green Goblin Popsicle.
• We did not serve snacks at this party.