Super Dawson's party

My Super Dawson turned four last Saturday and we celebrated with a super hero party. I found a whole bunch of super hero themed stuff at Target for 70% off so it all came together pretty easily. I usually buy scrapbook paper to do some of the decorating. All I could find was a huge pad of Super Hero themed paper at Michael's but wasn't going to fork over $20 for it. But then I remembered you can always find 40% off coupons online so I pulled one up on my phone and just bought the whole dang thing. I could stomach $13 and hopefully someone else can use the leftovers. (Never ever check out at Michael's again without searching for an online coupon! Retailmenot.com is the easiest place to find them.)

An easy banner with some of my favorite Super Dawson moments from this past year: 

 Scrapbook paper cut out for the front of the goodie bags:

$1 felt masks, a super hero blowpop, crayons (there's a line at Target with all of these themed crayon boxes for $1 so you could find one to fit almost any birthday party), the Superman snack holders and the stickers were part of my 70% off Target loot. I stuck some chocolate inside and called it good:

And the girl's version. I can't tell you how lucky I was that day in the Target clearance section. There were literally the exact number of snack containers I needed. Even the right amount of boys and girls. Crazy:

We had his party at 2:00 so we just had a table full of snack food. Normally I do a whole meal but I may be changing my ways because this was soooo much easier. And just pretend you don't notice that the backdrop is completely off center :) (Judie, this was not your fault! It started to fall down and when I fixed it, I did it uneven!!) I made the letters of his name out of foam board with scrapbook paper glued on top.

Judie made the city skyline and I loved how it turned out. If this seems slightly familiar, that's because we had a similar backdrop for Dawson's King Kong party last year. But in one of my less than brilliant moments, I threw that skyline away. So we started over for this one. (And this one I kept this time!)

 My sister's girls showed up in seriously cute super hero style. Quinn's pose!

Jon set up a little obstacle course for the kiddos, which they loved. It was nothing fancy at all but they thought it was awesome. Like Dawson's party ensemble??? I mean, really. I was obviously too weary to fight any battle regarding clothing that morning. I only have so much in me and it was all spent getting the house ready And if you'll notice, I also didn't have any energy left to gather all these sugar crazed kiddos for a group picture. This is the only shot of Dawson in on the party action:

 I love the ruffles!

 Another one of my Target clearance scores. These cute little super hero crafts kept them busy for a while:

There are no pictures of this boy opening presents. There were some major meltdowns during that segment (by him and me). If you've ever been to a birthday party for the five and under crowd, you can envision the mass chaos that ensues with at least eight kiddos crowded around like a moth to a flame. Its worse than a mosh pit at a concert. There are always at least three kids other than the birthday boy ripping into presents. The birthday boy was refusing to say thank-you and it just got ugly. So moving along....

It wasn't until I was looking through the pictures later that I realized Bennett was the one who actually blew out the candles! Little stinker :)

 The girls checking out their loot, in their adorable capes that my mother-in-law, Judie, made for everyone:

I couldn't stop laughing at Channing crawling around in his pint-sized cape. It was adorable. Would it have been awesome to get a shot of all the kids in their matching capes? Yes. Would it have been worth the rise in blood-pressure to make it happen? No.

These parties are super fun for me to plan. But I do tend to get stressed out during them. I am such an introvert. So having my house full of [very loud] people, whom I'm responsible to keep entertained, usually leaves me drained. I think I need to delegate the hosting duties to my husband and I'll just sit back and eat. ;) Can anyone else relate to this? Any stress-relieving party tips I'm unaware of? My mother-in-law suggested having all the kids sit with their parents during gift opening and I think that would help a TON. Well, I'm off the hook again until the end of February.

For more themed parties I've thrown for my boys, start here.