(party) sibling superhero birthday party

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this post or party. I received samples for review purposes from Pear Tree Greetings and Whole Port. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

With my kiddos birthdays only 11 days apart, I decided to do a joint sibling birthday party. The challenge was picking a theme that would satisfy my opinionated 4 year old son and girly enough for my 1 year old daughter. Oh and it also had to be budget friendly and not extremely time consuming. I spotted the cutest superhero invitations online at Pear Tree Greetings and I was sold on a theme! My son is almost as obsessed with superheroes as he is with dinosaurs, so I’d score some major mom points. To girlify it, I decided to bring in a polka dot pop art element to the party. To keep within my budget, I steered clear of superhero characters and focused more on colors. This year, we decided to take the party on the road and hosted it at a local bounce house place. I loved that I didn’t have to clean up or even entertain much, but the challenge was that I only had an hour of set up time so the party had to be fairly simple. Aside from a sprained wrist on the birthday boy (total bummer, but he’s almost 100% again thanks to our fab chiropractor), everyone had a good time and it was one of my easiest parties to plan to date.

These superhero POW invitations from Pear Tree Greetings were the inspiration for the party. I love that they have a spot for a photo, so we did a little impromptu photo shoot pre-party of the birthday boy and girl. Getting 2 young children to look at the camera and look somewhat happy to be there is almost impossible, so I was pretty happy with the shot I got. If only you could have seen what it took to get that 1 little photo, you would have thought my husband and I were nuts lol. All in the name of party planning. Don’t worry, they offer superhero invitations without the spot for the photo if your kids won’t sit still either. Pear Tree Greetings also has the most adorable matching thank you cards and address labels that we used for the party.

My talented mother made the super cake and I made the cupcakes. I showed her my idea for the backdrop, building and polka dots, and she crafted up the cake to emulate it. The polka dots, buildings and windows are all hand-cut from fondant. My mom learned how to decorate cakes from a Wilton class at Michaels + online tutorials and she’s a total pro now. I just adore how the backdrop decor matches the cake so perfectly! That awesome cake stand, mini cupcake stands (for the birthday boy and girl) and polka dot wrappers are all from Whole Port. They totally make the dessert table!

Speaking of the backdrop, I found a roll of polka dot paper on Amazon and used it as a backdrop and also to cover the tables. I have plenty left over for a future polka dot party (can you say Mickey & Minnie Mouse or a Lady Bug party!). For the building in the background, I simply wrapped boxes (cracker boxes, snack boxes, etc.) and stacked them to form our own little Gotham City skyline. For the windows I used foil-like silver tape that I found at my local hardware store. Don’t ask me what it’s really used for, but it makes fabulous shimmery windows.

I searched high and low for printables that matched Pear Tree Greeting’s POW invitations and ran into BsquaredDesign on Etsy. She was very easy to work with and her designs were exactly what I was looking for to help pull the theme together. I added her larger superhero designs to the backdrop and attached a few of the smaller designs to lollipop sticks for the cake topper. For the centerpieces, Pear Tree Greetings makes fun superhero party circles that you can add to your tables like giant confetti. I added my kiddos photo to a few of the circles and it was a great personal touch. Instant and easy decor, love it! I also filled a few empty Starbucks Frappuccino bottles with Lemon Heads candy and simple stuck a few superhero printables attached to lollipop sticks inside. I’m a sucker for little details, so I stuffed polka dot bags (found at Michaels) with napkins, forks and polka dot straws complete with straw flags to put at each place setting. I added felt star stickers to the cups and polka dot bags for an added superhero touch.

So I might have spent more time finding the perfect pair of polka dot leggings for Amelia to wear than I did on anything else for this party. A girl has got to look good for her first birthday party, right? Too bad she’d rip off the adorable matching headband the second I put it on her, which is why her hair is a bit of a disaster (but a cute disaster lol). The tiny Salt Water red sandals made up for it. I’m dying of cuteness overload! Let’s talk shirts. I wanted Amelia and Logan to have matching shirts and found some really cute ones on Etsy, but loved how these matched the party and they were able to show off the age they were turning. How handsome is my little man striking a superman pose?! Okay, so maybe this portion of the party is not so budget friendly but the kids can wear everything again so I’m still calling it a win.

I decided not to do goodie bags this year, but instead I bought capes for all the kids (actually cheaper than goodie bags and reusable!) and added a foam star to the back. Using my Cricut Explore and SlowMama’s superhero mask template, I crafted up a mask for each child out of stiff felt and elastic. The only character thing I included were superhero PEZ dispensers that I found at The Dollar Store (the black plates on the dessert table came from there too). Even the adults enjoyed them. My mom also made superhero cookies to match the printables and we pre-packaged them in little baggies for an easy on the go favor for everyone.

Party Styling: Vanessa of www.SeeVanessaCraft.com

Cake & Cookies: Grandma

Invitations & Table Circles: Pear Tree Greetings

Cake & Cupcake Stand & Polka Dot Cupcake Wrappers: Whole Port

Party Printables: BsquaredDesign

Shirts: Humor Apparel

Polka Dot Leggings & Headband: Vanilla Bean Baby

Polka Dot Straws: The Paper Kit

Capes & Polka Dot Paper Backdrop: Amazon