The Amazing Adventures of Micah Man and Laurel Girl!

Micah and Laurel's super hero birthday party was last weekend and it was such a success! I am so happy with how everything turned out and am only a little glad that it is finally over. I figured I had to go overboard on this one since it was their one and only double party! I have been wanting to do a super hero party for Micah for the past couple of years but have been putting it off because I didn't think he was quite ready yet (and because he had shown no interest in super heroes). I am so glad I waited because this was the PERFECT year to do it. He and Laurel both are kind of obsessed with putting on their super hero costumes (they each have a few) and running around the house. Even though Micah is very into Spider Man and Super Man and all that fun stuff, I really wanted to steer clear of using commercial super heroes for the party. Since Micah has been called Micah Man since he was born (first by his uncles), I decided that each of them should have their very own alter-ego. I started by creating their logos and ran with it from there.

Enter Micah Man and Laurel Girl! After my sister got those amazing super hero pics of the kids, I decided the kids needed their very own comic, the Adventures of Micah Man and Laurel Girl, of course!  I edited the pictures to look more like comics for the invitations and for posters that were hung throughout the party.

Below are the invitations (designed by yours truly, along with all other printed materials for the party):

We had the party at the CLC of our church. They have a great indoor playground area and a room that you can rent out. I am soooo glad we did it there because it just so happened to be pouring down rain all day the day of the party. 

This is the first poster that was on an easel next to the food table. I had all of the posters printed through ShortRunPosters.com . They have unbeatable prices and are very quick.

I feel so sorry for my husband because this party kind of took over our house. I have been collecting boxes for months (literally) for the cityscape. I wrapped all of the boxes in black butcher paper (from Texas Art Supply) and then cut out rectangles to stick on as windows. The backdrop was painted by me and Audrey. We wanted to have both a one dimensional and 3 dimensional skyline. I created the banner in photoshop to coordinate with the other design elements of the party. 

I asked the kids what they wanted to eat at their party so we ended up keeping the menu very simple. I am so glad I did it that way because the kids were happy and it made it much easier on me. We served:

Pow Nuggets (Chick Fil A chicken nuggets)

Super Straws (veggie straws)

Fantastic Fruit (also from Chick Fil A-- they deliver!)

and then we had Dynamite Desserts:

cupcakes and

cookies (made by BakeSewEasy)

and to drink we had:

Kaboominade! (lemonade)

Wham! water

Awesome apple juice

I attached the food labels to the top of some of the smaller "buildings" using painted and cut dowel rods so they would look like billboards on the tops of the buildings. 

My sweet friend Jessi made all of the cookies that were not only adorable, they were delicious too! She is just starting her business (BakeSewEasy) and is wonderful to work with as well as affordable! 

  

I made quite a few varieties of cupcake toppers (Pow, Boom, Yum, 2, 4, M and L) that all coordinated with the invitations, food labels and banner. Micah insisted the day of the party that his cupcake have sprinkles (that is why only 2 of them have them). 

I got the water bottle labels from online labels but they did not impress. I even did the "weatherproof" ones made for inkjet printers but they still ran ink all over your hands. I am going to have to find another solution for water bottle labels (any ideas?)

Every kid got their own cape as part of their favor. I hung a clothesline across the play area and hung the capes from it so that they would be on display when everyone got there. Making the capes was super super easy. I got the idea from my brilliant Aunt Kathy who sent Micah a cape like this a few months ago. Instead of sewing the main body of the cape, I just bought colorful t-shirts at Hobby Lobby and cut the back and the neck. This way, the kids can put them on by themselves and they don't pull or irritate their necks (if you have very particular children like mine). For the emblems, I hand-stitched the letters to the stars and then stitched the stars onto the capes. It's MUCH easier than it looks and the kids loved them! 

For centerpieces, I saved old spaghetti jars (12 total) and mod podged tissue paper onto them in strips using this tutorial but then also added black mask shapes to each one. I had them on all of the tables (with balloons attached) as well as on the food table with plastic forks and knives in them. 

For the favor table, I had another poster with talk bubbles and then I made a sticker that I attached to simple kraft bags (from here- I buy them in bulk and use them for everything). I made masks for each of the kids that I clothes pinned to the bags and I attached a little name tag. Inside was just a few fun little things to go along with their capes and masks (tattoos, silly straws, stickers, party blowers).

It was such a fun party, BIG THANKS to my sister who of course took all of the pictures! I did throw in a few of my own so it is safe to assume all bad pictures were taken by me. Laurel gets very overwhelmed with crowds so we didn't get many of her smiling but I assure you she had fun, you know, just in case you were worried. 

I just love this picture of two of my favorite people! 

Audrey and I also painted a sky scraper backdrop for our photo booth! We made a pretend weight bar out of a dowel rod (wrapped in batting and then duct tape-- the batting was supposed to discourage it being used as a weapon) and styrofoam discs covered in black duct tape. I also made a few signs on sticks for people to hold up but the weight bar was the fave. I love all of the photo booth pics! 

Overall, it was such a fun day and most importantly, all the kids had a blast! Big thanks to everyone who helped me with set up and clean up (I would list names but I know I'd accidently forget someone so you know who you are- THANK YOU!)

... and because this was my favorite part of the whole party (please notice how Laurel is pretty sure the candle is attack her and how David mentions he is afraid her hair is going to catch on fire)...

Now to start planning next year's parties...