Avengers Birthday Party (Part 1)

Birthday parties are a lot of work, and this year I decided I wasn't going to do one for Berkeley.  But then there is that moment when my kid says, What are we going to do for my birthday party this year?  And all of the sudden, you are planning a party.  I'm a real sucker and my kid can sadly talk me into nearly everything he wants (within reason).

Earlier this year Berke was all set for a Disney Cars birthday, but about 4 months ago that changed to an Avenger Birthday Party.  He learned about Avengers from his friends; we really knew little about them, but we went with it.  The last two weeks Christian and I have watched The Avengers, Captain America and Thor just to do some "research" for the party.  All of the sudden WE totally love all the Avengers too!

It's always hard to plan an indoor party in the middle of winter.  Avengers are so physical and so I had to figure out how to make this party work inside our small 2 bedroom apartment.  I am so thankful that Pintrest was there to be my BFF through the process.

Here's what we did:

I decoupaged Berkeley's name with Avenger comic books as a birthday present.  It turned out pretty adorable and he loves it.  We displayed this along side a picture with him dressed like Captain America.

We had our good friend Lauren make our cake.  She makes amazing cakes and did a fantastic job with this one! Captain America,  Hulk and Thor all in one amazing cake.  

This was how we displayed the cake and all the kids were excited to eat the cake the entire party!

For activities each of the children made their own Super Hero Shields.   We cut out cardboard circles, decoupaged colorful paper onto the cardboard.  I used spider man duct tape (found at Michaels) to make the handle on the back. I then purchased adhesive foam and stars.  The children were able to design their own shields  by cutting out shapes and letters with the help of their parents; they turned out really adorable.  I am proud to say this was my own idea, didn't get this one from Pintrest.  

Our small hallway was transformed into a photo booth for our super hero's!  Auntie G and Aunt Steffy made these awesome decorations with their paper cutter for the photo wall.  All the children got a their super hero picture taken once they had made their shields.  I had seen most other parties have a background of a city, which was adorable but I just didn't have the time to pull it off.  I thought this turned out amazingly adorable and took a lot less work than the city idea would have.  The bright colors really popped but didn't take away from the kids.

We fed the children a super hero lunch.  We had Captain America Shield sandwiches.  I made them on round deli thins and cut a star in the middle.  It was easy, fun and tasty.

This is how we decorated our kitchen.  Christian made and cut out these cute words on the wall.  He spent hours cutting them out perfectly; they were great!

Besides the sandwiches we had Spiderman fruit snacks, Spiderman Cheese Its, apples and carrots, string cheese and juice boxes.  It was a great array of Super Hero food that did not make a mess and were all finger foods.  I bought the Avenger plates and Napkins from Target, as well as the fierce Avengers cup to hold the string cheese (now Berke can use it to drink from).

We bought this Avengers Poster and had the children use the sticky foam stars to try to "pin the star on Captain America's chest" blindfolded.  It turned out cute and was also a nice decoration before the stars got pinned on.

As a party favor all the children received a bag of popcorn,

as well as these  Bottle cap "super hero medals" that I found on Etsy, which the kids loved and were super cool.

It was actually a lot of fun to get together ideas and execute them for Berkeley's 4th Birthday Party.  It turned out very well.

A Birthday Mashup

Saturday we had a Musical Birthday Party for our Big Boy who is

THREE!

(I have been telling him all week he is a big boy and one day he told me he is not a big boy, he is a girl. Not sure what to make of that....)

We invited some of Berke's little friends over for a fun party. These kids are the cutest! Lily was the only girl who could make it, but others were invited but couldn't make it. What a fun group of friends my kid has...seriously!

Everyone showed up and Auntie G and Aunt Stefy helped them make party hats. They also got cool musical bandannas.

Once everyone got some energy (aka food) and had a party hat, they were ready to PARTY!

We started out with singing time

Then had a little dance party.

These kids have some serious moves!

The kids danced pretty hard, so after our dance party, we sat down and played with a big birthday surprise......some cool drums! Everyone got their own drum; they learned how to drum fast, slow, soft and loud and then we drummed to a few songs. We even did a little parade with the drums around the house.

No birthday is complete without birthday cake and ice cream, unless it is Berkeley's party, cause he doesn't like cake or ice cream. So we opted for his favorite sugary treat...DONUTS! It was a sticky, delicious, messy time and EVERYONE loved it. Lily was a bit distressed that Berkeley wasn't having a birthday cake, but I think she was happy in the end with her donut.

Berke's little friend Ian showed up a bit late, so he missed the friend picture, but here he is. I love these rockin' boys in their flannel shirts.

Berke had a fun party with his pals.

A BIG thanks to all Berkeley's friends and their "special birthday parent helpers" for coming to the party and for the wonderful gifts they brought Berkeley! As well as Auntie G and Aunt Stefy for all their behind the scenes help.

I have to say I look at other blogs and see all the cute decorations and party favors that are carefully crafted and oh so adorable, and I will never live up to that. However, even with my Dollar tree Happy Birthday banner, plates and table cloth I think I know how to throw a fun party! I mean these kids left with the cutest drums and had a fun and exhausting afternoon, and I don't think I can ask for anything better than that.

I have also learned something about my little Berke as of late, and that is that he doesn't do great in groups. He is the funniest and sweetest boy one on one, but he doesn't jive in groups. If there are group activities he seems to stand to the side; he watches and observes what the other people are doing and takes it all in. I thought he would love his little dance party as he rocks out at home all the time, but when his friends came over to dance he stood against the wall and watched them, and did a few moves of his own, but on his safe wall away from everyone. It is quite interesting and I think that his daycare and primary will be helpful in helping him to be more comfortable in groups (I hope). He has started to come out of his shell at daycare when they do singing and exercise time, and that took a few months, so I think it is good for him.

Berke also started PRIMARY today. Yep, my little man is a SUNBEAM!

In our church all the little kids who turn 3 years old by or on December 31st start going to primary instead of playing with toys in the nursery.

So Berke BARELY made the deadline. If he was born 14 hours later he would have been in nursery for another year. I have been pretty stressed and worried about this, as it is clear Berkeley is the youngest in his class. There are 13 Sunbeams this year, so they wisely divided them into two classes. Berke did pretty well today; I sat in the back of the room and he was turned around 1/2 of the time waving to me and saying, "hi mommy!" His attention span is not quite there, but he did better than I thought. He did very good in his class time however and I think he might just be okay.

I love my little three year old big boy!

BERKEY'S BIRTHDAY

Berkeley turned THREE years old. Each birthday continues to be an emotional and sentimental day for me, much more than I ever anticipated. This little boy has changed my life so much; he has brought me more joy than any one could have ever told me. I love this kid so much.

Berkeley woke up to his room covered in balloons; he was very excited by this fun surprise.

We got ready and picked up Berkeley's little friend Soren for a play date. We went to two of Berkeley (and apparently Soren's) favorite places. We started the morning by going to Dunkin' Donuts to get a donut and milk. It was too funny to see these boys, who are both super clean freaks eat their donuts. Soren used his palms to eat the donut, as to not get his fingers dirty or have to touch the frosting in any way. Berkeley chose the option of no hands and just bit the donut from the table. Both creative options and both seemed to work.

Then we headed to the Museum of Science! We had lots of fun learning and exploring new things. Dad even taught us about volcanos.

We even went to the Butterfly Garden as a special birthday treat, but it turned out to be more of a special birthday horror show. Berkey and Soren were not really digging the butterflies. They were pretty active and were flying around everywhere. Berke was terrified to say the least and Soren was trying to be brave, but was asking to leave quite frequently.

Two cute three year olds. Berke is lucky to have such wonderful little buddies.

I just love this picture!

We dropped Soren off at his house so Berke could take a much needed nap before we headed to Target to get Berke's 3 year photos taken. Berke got to pick out any toy he wanted when he was done and chose a little Spider Man on a motorcycle toy.

We headed back to the house, where Berke opened presents, ate dinner and played with his toys.

Our friends RyRy and Nikki came over and we ended the night playing Wipe Out 2 on the Wii. Berke stayed up until 10pm and still wasn't ready to go to sleep, but we were. Christian and I forced ourselves to stay awake to watch the ball drop (I have no idea why). Then we headed to bed.

Happy Birthday Sweet Berkeley! We love you!

Happy New Year Everyone!

THREE

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet Berkey Boo
Mom and Dad love you little man.