Vinny's "aVINgers" Themed 5th Birthday Party!

Hello loves! May is such a busy month for me. For whatever reason, so many people in my life were born in May! Including my son, Vincent. He turned 5 this year, and requested an Avengers themed birthday party! I couldn't have been more thrilled to throw it for him. Being that the new Avengers movie came out on May 1, Avengers stuff was so easy to find! Pics of the party and party details are below:

Theme
Even though "Avengers" is a theme in itself, I always try to customize my parties in some way, and normally it's playing with words. This year, since it's for Vinny, the theme was "aVINgers," and Vinny was "The inVINsible Man!"

Since the new movie came out so close to his birthday, I thought it would be nice to set up the party like a movie theater. My original plans were to watch the Avengers movie (old one) outside, but it was scheduled to rain that day and we were having trouble getting creative with outdoor seating/blankets, so I decided to keep it indoors.

I do ALL my parties on a very tight budget by the way, so I try to create everything myself first before I buy/rent it. Most of what you'll see are things I created or manipulated, or common things that are used in a different way. I'm not going to say that I will never splurge, because I do think certain celebrations deserve a good splurge, ;)...but I still want the party to look good and for all the guests to have fun, so my main focus is always on the details and what my guests would like to see and do.

Enjoy the pics!

Credit to my cousin, Ashaela for creating Vinny' s superhero self! She is an amazing artist and I'm so thankful she helped me with this project because I would've NEVER been able to create that!! Thanks girl. :)

Also thanks to my dad for carving out the cityscape silhouette FREEHAND WITH AN XACTO KNIFE!! I'm so lucky to have such amazing artists in my family.

It's amazing all the things you can do with cheap plastic tablecloths! I used plastic tablecloths and ornament hook command strips to hang all of the backdrops. They stayed up through the entire party and day before (which is when I set it up)! I've tried TONS of ways to hang backdrops and this is one of my favorite methods.

 I had yellow and red pillows that I wanted to throw onto the couch (I used them during Vinny's 2nd Birthday Party, you can see them here), but I couldn't find them and didn't feel like purchasing new ones, so I just did without. They would've looked great though! I bought them from IKEA--you can find so many good things to use for parties at IKEA!! It's also where the clamp-spotlights on the table came from.

 

 DIY Photo Booth
My parent's house has a "butler's pantry" -- or, the floorplan's way of describing a cute hallway between the kitchen and the dining room. ;) It came in handy for my DIY photobooth! I used two blue plastic tablecloths to hang the backdrop (I doubled up so you couldn't see through it), a banner I had from a previous party (I purchased from Target), and tons of props--superhero masks, glasses, hats and headbands, etc. I wanted to hang a curtain in the doorway to the photobooth, but thought of it too late and couldn't find a tension rod. People were taking pictures with their cameras/camera phones, and I also had my polaroid camera on hand so even the adults could take home a party favor!

 

FOOD GALORE!!
We had tons of food, but here are my three kid-birthday-party-food staples:
Lumpia (filipino eggrolls) - The kids LOVE it.
Pancit (filipino dish) - Noodles for long life.
Muffin Meatloaf - Everybody loves this meatloaf! I constantly get asked for the recipe so here it is: Skinny Kitchen BBQ Muffin Meatloaf

Can't forget about the cake! I made the cake using colored cake mix (I found at Wal-Mart). I bought three layers in red, blue and yellow. I used white icing for the base color of the cake, and blue and red m&ms to create Captain America's shield.

Games
So for games this year, I admit I was slacking. I wanted to do ALOT more than what I originally had planned, but I had quite a few kids/parents let me know they weren't going to make it, so I admit, I got a littled discouraged and didn't do all the games I wanted to do. But we did get to do pin the heart on Iron Man, and all the kids got prizes. Our winner (above) got two prizes, of course. :) I really wanted to create a Hulk Smash game (found on pinterest) for the kids, but didn't get a chance to make the box for it. Maybe next time. ;)

Hope you all enjoyed, and a big thank you to all those who came and those that sent him gifts and birthday wishes! Vinny had a great time and fell right to sleep once everyone left. Until the next event...for now, I need a nap. :)