A Superhero Carnival

Charm turned five this year, and ever since his astronaut birthday was over last year, he'd been dreaming of a superhero party.  My mind was trying to come up with a way to make these parties fun, but less work every year, so I came up with the idea of having a carnival party where the games had superhero names.  For example, a bean bag toss became the Captain America Toss by adding a shield to the target.  My plan was to reuse these games every year for a carnival party that is themed to whatever Charm or Lucky or Clover are interested in at the time.

It sort of worked this year, as in, some of the games were reused for Lucky's party.  Mostly, however, these parties are lots of work, and I've decided that I'll do them every other year from now on.  Bill's not on board with every other year birthday parties, so next year, he's planning on doing all the party planning himself.  I'm excited for the break and can't wait to see what he comes up with:)!!

Here is Charm's Superhero Carnival Party:

Waiting for friends:)!

Superhero 'photo booth' and props!

Looking out on the back yard carnival

 Let the Carnival begin:

Superhero Pong

(superhero stickers on ping pong balls)

Super Plinko

The Avenger Ring Toss

(We also had a Spiderman Can Toss using tin can banks from the dollar store that were stacked like a pyramid.  Spiderman foam balls were used to knock the can pyramid over.  I don't have a picture of this game:(.)

The Captain America Toss with Bean Bags

Save the Superhero

(Plank and pool were from his shark pirate party.  I found Avenger dive sticks on clearance at Target and the kids had to use tongs or a net to 'save' them while standing on the plank.)

Hulk Smash was the favorite game of the day!  We just wrapped up a bunch of empty boxes and had kids stack a tower with them and knock them down with Hulk fists!)

The Avenger Triple Threat:

I had this stand on hand already and used it to have the kids try to get a ball into the different levels.

The Avenger Drop:

Charm decorated the clothes pins to look like little Avenger characters, and we had the kiddos attempt to drop them into these containers.  

We also had the 'Hulk Hole in One' with a putting green.  Kids earned tickets when they putted the ball into the hole!

Our lemonade stand turned into the snack and prize station!  (I repainted the sign that rests on the top of the Lemonade Sign.)

This cake, made by a local baker, was AMAZING!

The kids did a potato sack race, and then Bill convinced the parents to participate as well.  It was awesome!  

Another fun birthday celebration for the Charm-meister!!

Charm's Outer Space Blast Off

First, you must know that the party I'm about to talk about took place about 13 months ago.  I discovered that I never posted pictures from Charm's 4th birthday here when I was working on pulling together pictures of past birthdays for Charm's baby book that has been sitting unfinished for 4 years now.  It didn't feel right to post pictures of his fifth party until his fourth was documented in much the same way it didn't feel right to start Clover's baby book before adding some pictures to Charm's.  In attempt to move a step forward, I'm taking a few steps back.  So goes this season of my life.  Perhaps I shall call it the turtle season, because I feel like I'm moving in sloooooow motion most of the time.

But for now, this turtle is going to focus on Charm's party from last year.  Here are some pictures from Charm's big day:

We gathered everyone outside and attached 'astronaut in training' name badges.  They played on the 'rocket' while awaiting launch time.

They were handed envelopes with their top secret training mission inside (Note: Stage numbers are off by one on the handout versus the stage markers in the yard.  I'm not sure why.  13 months is a long time to remember those little details but probably we fixed the handout after I took these pictures?.!)

We did a countdown on the 'rocket'!

 A few jumps each on the trampoline helped them to feel 'weightless'.

 Each child got to toss a few tennis balls at the alien...

 and then they got behind the photo prop and pretended to be an alien:).

(I painted the photo prop on a piece of eucaboard and Bill made the frame.)

Next up, they traveled through a black hole...

...only to incur ship damage requiring repairs which were completed at the space dock.

Each child was handed a piece of the ship, and they had to work together to put the ship back together:

(Again, I painted the rocket on a piece of eucaboard from Home Depot, and Bill cut it out after I traced puzzle lines using a yard stick for the straight edges and a small plate for the curves.)

Finally they completed star navigation training.

Each child had to create his/her own constellation using black construction paper, small star stickers and chalk to connect the stars.

Once the constellation was completed, they were handed flags to take to the moon!

Each child put a flag in the 'moon' and received a specimen bag to take home!

The bags contained 'moon rocks', astronaut ice cream and some outer space sticker sheets.

A cake, ice cream and pinata finished up the party fun!

And if you made it this far, here is a little bonus basement play fort fun.  Two winters ago, I started making play themes for the kids using the reading loft/fort/structure Bill built in the basement as a back drop.  I made this spaceship themed area to coincide with Charm's birthday.

The control panel was in our outside play set on the day of the party. 

And this concludes my trip back in time and space.

Have a lovely week!