party pics have arrived!

this being the official 4th birthday and all, i think party pics are in order.

it’s no secret that small people love superheroes, so this party theme made for some SUPER fun!

several people have asked about how i did this invite…

Printshop is dreamy, but with a few shape text boxes and some colorful Word Art, you can do something similar in Microsoft word. i snapped the pics in our backyard and edited on picnik with the HDR effect to give it a cartoonish feel.  

the same week the twinks decided on a superhero party, i saw this table cloth & birthday banner in the check out line of old navy. they looked comic-y enough so i designed the word bubbles around the banner.

i made the masks from felt & will have them to thank when i am diagnosed with carpel tunnel. you can get 3 masks per sheet of felt, so it is an inexpensive gift if you are in the market! the party favor containers were in the party section at walmart… another super find!

the character rings were a hit, along with these super cute crime fighters.

now on to this incredible photo backdrop, painted by two amazing college girls! if i could facebook tag them here i would but a bloggy shout out will have to do for now. thanks, jerica & andrea!! and thanks to their roomie, taylor, for the inspiration! while i am in the spirit of thanksgiving, thanks  also to mandy for taking pics for me!!

by the way, a very special thanks to my mother in law, mimi, for transforming two elmo-ish cakes into these for me…

brilliant me forgot to put in the order for two small cakes, assuming they would have plenty the morning of. you see where this is going. mimi to the rescue. two stores later, and two orange elmo cakes later. (i’m sure some sesame street lover is correcting me on the other side of their computer but elmo is the best i can come up with). they had eyeballs and hair and look at them now! BIG thanks to mimi & cousin amy…especially for dealing with my perfectionism!

back to the oh-so-fab backdrop….so i texted our college supergirls on thursday when my time was running out and they joyfully worked their magic so i could have it done in time for the party. are they not UHmazing!?? the subjects below are pretty great too.

the early childhood educator in me cannot miss an opportunity to provide developmentally appropriate play experiences, which is where gotham city came from…

superfriends were able to literally paint the town. need a creative way to pass the time with your wee ones this summer? put out a few boxes with paint, rolls of tape, cups of water, sponges, brushes, you name it…then just see what happens. as they say, a child’s play is a child’s work!

the kids also loved decorating their very own super hero masks…and you can’t beat the prices at oriental trading company.

so there is no such thing in TX as an outdoor event in june without water. and what is more fun than a water slide? especially when it takes up half of your backyard. ryan and i laughed out loud (more than once) at the size of this inflatable beast! if you can’t tell, it was more than twice the height of our privacy fence! so not joking.

it also was no joke how much fun was had! their faces say it all!

thanks to our family & friends that joined us for our super celebration! birthday letter coming soon.