T’s Superhero themed 5th birthday party: How it went, and what we learned along the way
T turns 5 this week so we celebrated at the weekend with a Superhero themed party. We asked everyone to come dressed as their favourite superhero, and turned the local Church hall into a scene straight out of a comic book… we even had Spiderman swinging from the ceiling!
Here’s an insight into the party planning process - hopefully it will inspire you if your little one has requested a Superhero themed birthday party!
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Games:
Spiderman hoopla
We bought an inflatable spider hoopla set, then printed out a Spiderman mask and stuck it on the spider’s face!
Xray vision box
We decorated a shoebox with various superhero phrases we’d printed and cut out, then cut a hole in the side of the shoebox just big enough for a little hand. We put some mystery objects in the box for the children to identify using their ‘xray vision’
Find the Tesseract
We printed out some images of the Tesseract and hid them around the room and sent the kids on a quest to discover them.
Super power dice
We printed out 6 different super powers, and stuck them to the sides of an inflatable dice. The kids rolled the dice to discover their super power!
Captain America’s shield toss
We made some replica Captain America shields out of card, created a target from an old box and encouraged the kids to see if they could land the shields in the box.
What’s your Superhero name?
You can find loads of different versions of this online, but I wanted to make my own so I knew T would be happy with his superhero name (Captain Thunder in case you were interested!). Making my own also allowed me to match the design to our party invites.
I was really happy with how the games turned out, but to be completely honest the kids spent most of the time on the bouncy castle! Definitely the best £85 I’ve spent!
In case you have more time than me, or you aren’t planning a bouncy castle, some other game ideas I had that didn’t make the cut were:
Spidey web practise: silly string for the kids to aim at a target
Thor’s hammer pinata
Hulk smash whack-a-mole style game (could use different villains faces)
Food
Our little girl is allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts, which makes buying pre-made party food quite tricky. So we decided to cater the party ourselves, full of themed food, free from her allergens*: a feast fit for Asgardian royalty:
*Don’t forget to double check the ingredients list to make sure they are safe for the children you’re catering for
Captain America shield sandwiches
We bought a Sandwich cutter/sealer and cut a star shape out of the top of the piece of bread to make Captain America shield sandwiches. Filling choices of jam, ham or chicken
Groot’s Roots sausage twists
I adapted a few different recipes I found online to make this. This recipe makes 10 sausage twists, I then cut each one in half.
Ingredients:
2 puff pastry sheets
400g sausage meat
Some dairy free milk
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C fan
Unroll the pastry sheets, brush some dairy free milk down the left-hand side of the pastry sheet
Use a fork to spread 200g of sausage meat onto the left half of each pastry sheet, leave the right half empty
Fold the pastry in half so the right side folds on top of the left side, press the edges of the dough together to seal them
Cut the stuffed pastry into 5 even strips
Twist each strip to make a spiral and put onto a lined baking tray
Brush some dairy free milk over each twist
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown
Spidey snack skewers
We printed some Spiderman faces and stuck them to a bamboo stick skewer - a fun way to serve cherry tomatoes
Hulk snack skewers
We printed some Spiderman faces and stuck them to a bamboo stick skewer - a fun way to serve green grapes.
Thor’s marshallow hammers
We bought a pack of mini flumps, and used these pretzel sticks for the handles (break each stick in half).
Iron Man’s Arc Reactor Jammy Cookies
I used this recipe to make vegan gingerbread at Christmas and it was such a hit I decided to adapt it for T’s party. We just added a dollop of strawberry jam to the centre of each cookie before putting it in the oven.
And let's not forget the pièce de résistance: a Captain America cake that would make even Thanos weak at the knees!! Unfortunately this cake isn’t allergy-free - I still haven’t found a fool-proof vegan birthday cake recipe (please get in touch if you have one you can recommend!!). We kept our daughter safe by cutting the cake in the kitchen, wrapping it up and putting it in the party bags, so it didn’t actually get eaten at the party.
What we learned
Amidst the chaos and the laughter, there were a few valuable lessons learned. Like, DIY-ing isn't always as budget-friendly as you might think (who knew?). And chasing RSVPs can feel a bit like herding cats. But you know what? Seeing the joy on our little one's face made it all worthwhile.
So, if you're gearing up to throw your own superhero shindig, here are my top tips for keeping your sanity intact:
Plan, plan, plan: Give yourself plenty of time to iron out the details. Trust me; you'll thank yourself later. Everything takes longer than you think it will!
Know when to delegate: You're a superhero, not a one-woman show. Enlist the help of friends and family to lighten the load.
Stick to your budget: It's easy to get carried away with all those Pinterest-perfect ideas. But remember, it's the memories that matter most.
Be realistic: As I said, it’s easy to get carried away. You know how much time you have to plan this party - focus on what feels do-able for you.
Embrace the chaos: Things might not always go according to plan, and that's okay. Sometimes, the best moments are the ones you never saw coming.
Until next time, stay super! 🦸♂️💥
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I love to find new ways to stay organised and conquer my to-do list to try and make life a bit more manageable. Follow me on Instagram if you're keen to find ways to bring more order to your days
