Superhero Birthday Party: The Favors

When we decided to do a superhero theme for the twins birthday party, I knew immediately that I wanted to make capes and masks for all of the kids as party favors. I mean, seriously, what three year old doesn't want to be a superhero? I started sewing right after Christmas, and much to my surprise (thankfully) the whole prcess went pretty quickly. The key was definitely cutting all of the capes en masse and then sewing, ironing, sewing through each step also in bulk, rather than doing one cape at a time from beginning to end. *Although* I did sew the first two capes one at a time to make sure things were coming out right, and I am glad I did, since the first cape I made ended up being Lola's cape, since it was about 7" too short for the big kids. Oops.

The twins were little hams, modeling their capes in the weeks before their birthday party. And it cracked me up to watch them chase each other around their house with their capes flying behind them. We had a few capes leftover, plus the capes that the kids each got at their party and they still request to be a superhero and wear the capes around the house over a month later.



Keeping a dozen three year olds entertained is no small feat, so when it came time to decide on what activities to have at the party we decided to do cape and mask decorating stations. Joe and I spent several nights leading up to the party cutting out felt stickers into lightening bolts and circles and stars. Just last week I saw a bunch of felt sticker shapes at Hobby Lobby and I was kicking myself for not checking there first. I bought silver sticker letters from Michaels. The decoration stations were a huge hit with the toddler crowd.

I really loved this party, the kids were so into it. Especially Reese and Ryan. They LOVED being superheros and having superhero shirts and capes. They wore their masks for hours and it was really the cutest darn thing I have ever seen. So much work and thought goes into these parties that we throw, and that's definitely my choice. But it is so awesome to see the kids so happy and loving their special day. It makes every crazy night crafting a million percent worth it. 

A few friends asked me to post resources for making the capes and masks, so here they are.



For the capes I used a combination of this tutorial from How Does She and this this tutorial from Serving Pink Lemonade. Honestly, I liked using a plate and having a curved neckline. But the How does she tutorial was helpful in determining length. I want to say my capes were 15" folded wide and 32" long before I sewed them with a 1/2" seam allowance. I used sticky velcro on the tabs to shut them and make them easy for the kids to take off and on by themselves.



Here is the template for the masks. I just printed it on regular printer paper and traced it by hand onto felt. Then I cut little snips on the edge near the eyes and strung them up with silver elastic.



I hope they are helpful, as always if you have questions leave a comment or email me directly.

Superhero Birthday Party: The Cake

So Reese and Ryan's birthday cake is kind of a funny story. Those close to the event have dubbed their birthday cake scandal as "cakegate". In an effort to save myself time and sanity, I hired out the cake to a "cake artist". I figured it would be hard to top last year's cake, so while the cost was exorbitant I felt like the relief from baking was necessary.



I sent the cake artist several inspiration pictures for the cake, set up delivery -- which was for a Sunday -- and went about planning the rest of the party. On Saturday, while I was at a birthday party with Reese, I got a confused text message from Joe saying that the cake lady was at the house dropping off the cake.



I figured, okay, she came on the wrong day, no big deal. At least it was a day early and not a day late. She put the cake in our refrigerator and left. I should have known this was the start of something horrible. I came home and excitedly tore open the fridge door to find a lopsided cake with fingerprints all over it, cake sticking out through icing, smudges and smears in fondant. Frankly, it was horrific. And the only thing that made the cake even more unpalatable (if that was possible) was the fact that I actually paid someone to make it.

 { me looking like something out of American Psycho and Bean providing much needed comic relief }



I called the artist up and told her that the cake was awful and I was devestated. And you know what she did? She drove back to my house in a snowstorm, took the cake and gave me back my check. She even held an umbrella over the turd cake on the way back to her car to protect it from the elements. What a nutbag.



So I did what any irrational, cakeless mother would do the night before her kids' birthday party. I went to the grocery store and Michael's and bought all of the ingredients to make my own cake. I will tell you indignence can do wonders for your inner cake boss.

Three hours later and the cake was done. And I have to say, I may have topped last year's cake with this one. While the experience didn't help my inner control freak, it did convince me to just make the kids' cakes each year moving forward as a special tradition. I actually kind of enjoy it.

 

{ Ry got the the cake before the candles did... }

Looking for the recipe? Find it here.

Super Reese and Super Ryan

Every superhero needs their own super suit. My kids loved these and they are cute enough to let them wear still now, which is a double bonus. I basically remade their Big Brother and Big Sister t-shirts with a new "super" design. What can I say? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

What you'll need:

• A pre-washed, blank t-shirt, one piece, or tank


• Felt or fabric piece for the applique


• Embroidery floss and needle 


• Scissors (the small ones with a pointy tip work best)  


• Heat n' Bond fusible webbing 

I ordered American Apparel shirts on Amazon. NOTE: these run very small, so size up. The rest of the supplies I had leftover from the last time I made these shirts. But all of the items can be purchased at Walmart or craft stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc.



For the applique, I printed out lightening bolt clip art from a Google image search and an oversized R that I just put into a regular word document. I didn't photograph all of my steps, so I apologize in advance for the detailed description sans photos. If you run into issues or have questions, feel free to email me or leave them in the comments and I'll try to talk you through it!

Instructions:



First take the template and place it under a sheet of your fusible webbing. Trace the lightening bolt and letter on to the webbing. You'll want to make any thin lines a little thicker so they will be easier to cut and stitch later on.



Make sure you trace your lightening bolt and letter backwards so that when you flip them over and adhere them to your shirts they read correctly.



Then iron your webbing onto your felt or fabric. Set your iron to the wool setting and make sure your steam is turned OFF. Iron the design onto your felt or fabric, holding the iron against the heat n' bond and felt for about three seconds. Do not over iron.



Carefully cut the appliques out.

Next, peel away the paper that is still on your letters exposing your fusible webbing. Place your appliques where you want them on the t-shirt with the fusible webbing/glossy side down. Iron the applique to the garment by applying light pressure over the felt for about 10 seconds, again using the wool setting with no steam.



I got thicker felt this year after my melting snafus the last time and I couldn't get the webbing to heat enough from the felt side, so I had to pin my appliques in place and turn the shirt inside out and then iron the shirt (does that make sense?!)



Now that your letters are attached to your garment, you're ready to start the applique process. For this process you will stitch by hand using a straight stitch, which is a really simple stitch to master. If you aren't sure how to straight stitch a quick youtube search will solve that problem for you.

Cut about 3-4 feet of your embroidery thread. Each skein of thread has six strands, separate two of the strands from the piece you've cut and thread them through your needle.



Once you have finished stitching all of the appliques, you're done.



Be sure to wash your garments inside out, to help the felt wash and wear better.



The twins had such an awesome birthday party and I think some of these little details helped make them feel extra special. They beg to wear their superhero shirts every time they see them and Reese tells me every time she sees anything from her party that we need to throw the party again.

I love that they are finally at an age where all of the crazy things I do to celebrate the day they came into my life resonate with them. I recently saw some art on Etsy that said, "your birthday is the best day of my life". It really is.