This weekend my son was so excited to attend his BFF’s birthday party. And, when I say BFF, I mean it. The two boys are joined at the hip and talk about each other constantly. It’s really quite cute. So, while my little man was enjoying an amazing party with his friends I was admiring all of the fabulous details of the Superhero Themed Birthday Party. It was awesome!

My friend Leslie is seriously multi-talented! She took my maternity and pre-baby family photos and designed and organized the entire party. I’m so happy she is allowing me to share the details!

Superhero Party Activities

The superheroes arrived to a felt cape with their initial. The first activity of the party was to decorate the cape with stars and lightning bolts. Each boy had his own bag of sticky decorations – so they just had to remove the backing and stick the shapes to the cape.

My little superhero and the birthday boy!

While decorating their capes, Leslie had some breaking news to share with the boys. Turns out there was a “Bad Guy” on the loose in our neighborhood! Leslie passed around a photo of the “Bad Guy” and told all the superheroes to keep their eyes peeled. Next activity? Weapons training to prepare for a run-in with the enemy. They did some NERF slingshots and bow and arrow practice, aiming at bulls eyes with a photo of the “Bad Guy”.

And then they spotted the “Bad Guy” (aka Leslie’s husband and the birthday boy’s dad)! The boys were armed with silly string to capture him!

Superhero Party Food

The party food was clever and very five year old boy friendly. The kids enjoyed Wonder Dogs (homemade corn dogs), Jello Jabs (portioned jello), Power Puffs (cheese puffs) and Superade (Gatorade). I loved how she used the red, yellow and blue color theme throughout the party from the capes to the balloons to the food.

The food was displayed on a table with a handmade cityscape backdrop. I am not sure the boys appreciated the awesome details, but I sure did!

Superhero Party Favors

In addition to taking home a cape and mask, each boy got to grab a few treats on the way out. They each got a superhero coloring/activity book, Punching Pops (Pop Rocks), Heros (candy dispensers) and red, blue and yellow candy sticks.

Happy Birthday, Noah! Thank you for an awesome party, Leslie, and thanks for letting me share the details.

For the second year in a row we celebrated my kids’ birthdays with a joint boy-girl party. My daughter’s birthday is mid-November and my son’s is 6 days before Christmas – not easy times to plan parties! So, for as long as I can, I’m going to throw one joint party. It’s easier for time management and allows me to spend a little more money and effort on one bigger party. Last year we had a Barnyard Bash. This year we went under the sea for a Mermaid & Pirate themed party.

Food & Desserts

The party was from 2 to 4 in the afternoon so I didn’t put much attention or effort into providing a lot of food. Call me a pregnant lady with a sweet tooth, but my attention was on providing lots of delicious desserts. The food table had “Sushi” (turkey sandwich rolls), Goldfish, and Fruit Salad. We had “Pirate Punch” (Capri-Suns) and Water for the pirates and mermaids to drink.

And for the good stuff… the desserts! We didn’t do a cake and instead did a sweets table with lots of choices.

We had Cupcakes, “Starfish” Rice Krispies Treats, Sugar Cookies shaped like mermaid tales, pirate hats, shells and starfish, Chocolate Covered Oreos, Cake Pops, and Swedish Fish (of course!).

We encouraged guests to take home some of the left over goodies (and there were plenty).

Pirate & Mermaid Party Fun & Games

As soon as kids arrived, they got decked out and dressed up like either a Mermaid or a Pirate. The Mermaid costumes – a felt tail and crown – were handmade by my mom and were just perfect! The pirate costumes were from Little Tikes. Having the kids get in character was a blast and all the kids really got into it. They gave each other pirate names and said “Arrgh!” a lot.

Once dressed, the kids Decorated Pirate Masks I found at Michael’s for $1 a piece. I thought it would take up all of 3 minutes, but the kids actually sat around the table and colored for a while. It was a good activity to have kids doing at the beginning while everyone was arriving and getting dressed.

Next we played a last minute addition to the party called Cannon Ball Pop. The goal of the game is to pop everyone else’s cannon ball (dark colored balloon tied to your ankle) and be the last one with a balloon. I wasn’t sure how well the game would go considering the kids were definitely on the young side of the target audience for the game. But, it was a huge success and totally hysterical. The kids got into it and were totally good sports about it.

Our “big” game of the day was a Treasure Hunt. We took advantage of having the party at the Community Center of our neighborhood and sent them on a hunt around the area. We made a treasure map that showed the location of three clues and also the treasure chest. The clues spelled out the words “A Pirate’s Life For Me” and the kids had to yell those magic words to get the treasure chest to open. My husband was the hunt-leader and I think he had as much fun as the kids.

The treasure chest had beaded necklaces, jewel rings, gold coins and, my favorite, Pirate’s Booty. I happen to think that’s totally funny and clever – yes, it was my idea.

Pirates & Mermaids!

The party was worth all the planning and time and effort when my daughter said, “This is my most favorite party ever.” Here are some of the happy mermaids and pirates at the end of the day – remind me next year to get a group photo early in the party!

Shopping Details

• Invitations, Paper Goodies & Signs: Simply Sweet Parties
• Chocolate Covered Oreos: Sweet Tooth Sweetie
• Sugar Cookies & Cake Pops: Heavenly Bites Cakes
• Paper Poms: Prost to the Host
• Mermaid Tales: Pattern from Miss Pretty Pretty, made with love by my mom
• Pirate Costumes: Little Tikes