Five.

Happy 5th birthday to my big-hearted, larger-than-life Calvin. Love you always, my sweet Bub.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I think the most curious aspect of Audra's Curious George birthday party is why I failed to get any pictures after weeks worth of preparation.

No big deal, though. One of the things I've been trying to do this year is let the little stuff go.

LET IT GO! LET IT GO! CAN'T HOLD IT BACK ANYMOOOOOOORE.*

You're welcome for that. And this.

Anyway, as you well know, I love planning parties for my kids. And friends. And anyone else who will let me. If event planning didn't require evenings and weekends, I'd be all over that job. But I am a detail-oriented control freak, and while that often results in nice-looking parties, it also results in anxiety and crazy making (for me and those who love me and especially those who live with me).

So. Even though I love it, it sometimes stresses me out. And that's stupid because birthdays are fun and parties are fun and no one cares about the exact angle of the drink bucket except me and I am honestly a bit of a whackadoodle. So I'm pushing myself to stop and walk away if party planning moves from love to stress.

I would say I did a pretty good job of that at this party. Almost everyone showed up before I was ready for them, which was no big deal. They wanted to help and I let them. In fact, the party started without me even realizing it, which is ultimately why I didn't get any pictures. It was just easy and fun and exactly what a kids birthday celebration should be.

I mean, I would have LIKED some pictures of everything looking perfect. But I guess if I had to choose I would rather just enjoy myself and my family and my friends and the ice cream sundae bar.

Because that happened, and it was glorious.

Unlike Audra's reaction to her party and everyone in attendance. Although her lack of reaction is sort of glorious in its own special way. 

It was fun. It was cute. Everyone crammed merrily into my tiny house and I got next to no pictures and my eye only twitched anxiously for a few seconds over the crooked drink bucket.

I'm breezy like that.

But I did try to recreate just a bit the next day. A tiny bit. I mean, it would be a real shame if Audra didn't have pictures of her second birthday party! Nevermind the fact that she isn't in any of them.

*Calvin's birthday is in two weeks. Guess what kind of party he's having?

Two.

 

Happy birthday to the darling girl who stole our hearts two years ago today. We love you more than you'll ever know, little Lou Boo. 

Bam! Pow! Zip! Calvin's superhero party.

This kid of mine is all about superheroes right now. I'm not entirely sure when or how this obsession began, but I believe it might have something to do with his underwear.

Nothing cuter than a tiny tush with Spider-Man on it.*

Given his recent interest in masked crusaders, a superhero party seemed like the clear choice for Calvin's fourth birthday. He was pumped. I was, too. I know people think I'm crazy and over-the-top with these parties (I know this because they tell me so) but I love it. I do it for my kids, obviously, but I also do it for me. There is nothing I love more than shopping, crafting, and setting a table,** which are three of the four pillars of birthday parties.

The fourth, of course, is food. While I love that pillar with my whole heart, I do not love cooking that pillar. So this year I decided to focus my time on things I enjoy, like making skyscrapers out of cardstock, and pay people to do the rest. I ordered a three-foot sub from Subway and cupcakes from Byerly's. The rest of the food was limited to stuff that required little to no effort: pb&j for the kids, carrots and dip in cups, watermelon,  chips/cheese balls/goldfish in little boxes, Izze sodas, and SuperV juice boxes.

Food: DONE.

(Party guest alert: You can expect this same spread at all future parties. Sorry, my creativity does not extend to the food portion of the program.)

The decorations were also simple and inexpensive. I ordered the invitations from Tiny Prints, and added a favorite picture of Calvin running around the yard in a cape to the back. The red tablecloth was purchased for Calvin's Mickey Mouse birthday party a few years ago. I bought two yards of superhero fabric from JoAnn Fabrics, trimmed the selvage, and used it as a runner. The centerpiece is 11x17 black cardstock I folded like an accordion, then cut into skyscraper shapes along one side. The windows were drawn with a white paint pen. The cupcake wrappers, toppers, and sprinkles were from Etsy (thanks for the gift card, mom and dad!), as were the felt star and lighting bolt bunting strung across the mirror and Calvin's birthday shirt. I found free superhero saying printables online, printed them and stuck them on wooden skewers in the sandwich. The mini superhero figurines, star/4 candles, punch balloons, and streamers were purchased at Dollar Tree. The plates and black and white polka dot napkins were from Target.

Outside, we hung superhero sayings along the fence. I bought six sheets of poster board at Dollar Tree, along with a three-pack of permanent markers. I freehanded the words, scribbled them in with marker, and then cut jagged edges around them. Took me all of 20 minutes.

My biggest project was cape-making. I made nine capes in various colors and sizes so each guest (ranging from 5 months to 5 years) would have their very own. I found a no-sew tutorial online, but decided to sew the shields, stars, and velcro on to make them a little nicer. (My mother-in-law helped immensely by sewing on the stars/shields.) The cost of felt and velcro for nine capes? $12...and I have a bunch left over because I wanted more variety in the colors. Talk about a cheap favor.

Finally, I wrote a newspaper article about our little superhero. My collegiate newspaper editing and layout skills came in pretty handy there...amazing how something can come back to you after all those um, uh...couple of years.***

 

*Except maybe a Spider-Man costume wedged into a tiny tush.

Our happy, partied-out four-year-old.

All in all, this was probably the least amount of time and money I've put into a party (minus the streamers, those were a pain), but I think it was one of my favorites...and I'm pretty sure Super Calvin would agree.

 **Except Jesus. And my family. And diet coke.
***TWELVE. How have I been out of college for twelve years?

Resources
Superhero invitations
Superhero cupcake toppers
Black star cupcake wrappers
Superhero bunting
Superhero sprinkles
Superhero birthday shirt
Superhero cape tutorial
Superhero printables
Mini popcorn boxes