Three Robins and a lot of superheroes

I have a son who is very original. For example, he enjoys making car noises, pretending to be a robot, and reading about dinosaurs. Particularly pirate dinosaurs. I know – unheard of for a four year old boy.  Clearly dressing him in pink tee-shirts and encouraging dancing has done NOTHING in the battle against gender stereotyping. But more than dinosaurs and cars and trains, above all other things he wants to be a superhero (his special power would apparently be ‘running faster than daddy’ – I never said he was a genius). And so, for his birthday all he wanted in the world was a superhero party. Which causes some distress for a mother who is ambivalent about superheroes and character-based parties in general. So I turned to my friend da Internet – and discovered a lovely world of non-Pixar superhero parties. And thus a superhero party that suited both mother and son was initiated.

A few years ago when I cut teddy bear shapes out of sandwiches and laid out red and white gingham fabric and called it a teddy bear’s picnic, I thought I was SO clever.  And then I started looking for accessories for the next party. THE HORROR. I was RUBBISH at parties. (see also Mouse Party) In a world of people with more styling skills, more DIY ability, more money, more attention to detail and more originality, I had sunk to rank amateur status.  Depression set it. Until I realised I had one skill up my sleeve – I’m nothing if not a skilled Internet researcher (some my husband may call it d*cking around on the computer, I call it research). However, having just come off the back of way too much time invested in a mouse party, not to mention a 40th celebration, this was the low-key small party of the season. So see below for the not-fancy-but-I’m-trying-OK superhero party. Can we also bear in mind that it was over 30 degrees in October in London which is UNHEARD of and we were all dying of heat. If you want to see some truly decent superhero parties – there are some links at the end. Also, check out our pinterest site – it is super cool. Boom boom.

Super table. I believe I NEED to invest in a proper back drop. My husband thinks NEED is overdoing it. His expression was actually a little stronger.

So these were my attempt at batman coloured jellies. They looked ace for about five minutes . A small tip for would-be jelly makers - if it's over 30 degrees, a layered yellow and black jelly quickly becomes brown. Even four year olds not too keen on warm brown jelly slush.

I know - lollies in a bowl. Genius. Tutorial to come.

Black bat juice at the birthday boy's request. On a scale of 1-10, how bad would it be just to add massive amounts of food colouring to normal water to make it go black? I would never do that.

Jeez, there really wasn't a shedload of effort in this was there? No, I didn't make the cookies. I didn't even ice them. I did however draw the letter T in icing. And I did stamp out stars and put yellow sprinkles on them. I'd give that a C+ for effort. Reminds me of year seven chemistry comments to be honest.

Now that those batmans have p*ssed off....

Some far more impressive superhero parties:

Spiderman party from Smita at The Party Wall.
Very cute comic superhero party from Chelsea at Life Frosting.
Gorgeous superhero party from Ma’ Cake.

And our pinterest site for many many more….