Ian's Birthday!

Ian wanted to have another Star Wars themed birthday party this year. He liked last year's party so much he wanted to have a repeat. Although I'm glad he liked his party so much, I told him he needed to do something different and I would try to make it just as fun as last year. So, he decided to have a Batman birthday party this year. This is a picture of his cake and the party invitation that he sent out to nine of his friends. We also invited parents and siblings who wanted to come. So we had a pretty full house.

We started out the party by getting the kids dressed up like Batman. We gave them a brief history of Batman and introduced them to the villains. Then it was time to begin their Batman training. We started off outside with water balloons that they could throw at a watercolor painting of the Joker and Catwoman, until they "dissolved." (Ian specifically requested I do water balloons again. It was his favorite activity from the previous year.)

Then we did a bat-a-rang toss, followed by an obstacle course. The kids had to crawl through tents and tunnels and jump through hoops and such. Then we tried doing "Bat-tag." A game where the kids wore four bat symbols each (taped to their clothes). Then they had to take as many as they could from each other and stick to themselves...without knocking anyone over. The Batman with the most at the end of the time period won.

Since Batman is a master at the martial arts we had the kids break "boards." I used Styrofoam sandwich trays that they could punch or kick through. The kids had a lot of fun with this and it was Ian's favorite party game.

A knock at the door and a present waiting on the doorstep was the beginning of the next activity. After unwrapping several layers of wrapping paper the kids found a note from Catwoman saying that she had stolen his presents. When the kids looked, all the presents they had brought were gone. The note went on to give them a clue as to where she was going, but they would have to hurry because all the other villains were after her to get the presents too. So as the kids went to each location on the "treasure hunt" they captured a villain who they put in Gotham City Jail and then went to find the next villain. They capture thirteen villains in different locations before they got to the end and found the presents.

Then the kids ate pizza and cake before opening the presents. It was a fun party and Ian was very happy with it. Now he wants to have another Batman party next year.

This is a picture of Drew during the party. He loves Batman almost as much as Ian.