My little Super P Turns 3.  Vintage Pop Art Inspired Super Hero Birthday Party
As Seen on Hostess with the Mostess!

Here is the background on how this theme and concept was formed…

For this party, the graphics helped to mold the decor throughout the whole party.
I designed a “Super P” emblem graphic that would be repeated throughout the party. We also brought in some of the “icons” of super heroes – the traditional big city skyline. Patterns used throughout the party and graphics were representative of old comic books include halftone patterns as well as classic “benday dots” (Lichtenstein’s trademark).

I designed the super hero invitation below to help set the tone of the party. All of the elements on the invite would be carried out throughout the entire party. I embellished the envelope with a return address label that was a conversation bubble, and then a halftone pattern “to” label. (Both included in our complete printable package in our shop!)

(FYI lots of our sources can be found at the bottom of the post if you are overwhelmed!)

A few of my favorite elements from this Super Hero party was:
– The look of the Super Hero desserts
– The look of the backdrop with the buildings placed behind the desserts
– The telephone booth where kids could go to turn into a Super Hero

We had some amazing dessert vendors and I can’t wait to share the eye candy from the dessert table! Photography from none other than Becca Bond Photography. The main dessert table featured a large “Super P” emblem (find here) on the black/white polkadot backdrop.  The table featured “buildings” of varying heights in the red/blue and white colors – these buildings reflected the graphics that we used on the printables. (TIP: I got boxes of all sizes at my local Home Depot, wrapped with large banner roll papers (find some cheap here) and embellished with windows using electrical tape and black cardstock punched with square punches)

See more Super Hero and boy themed parties:
– Batman
– Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
– Angry Birds
– Star Wars

The desserts were mainly displayed on very “pop” feeling lacquer white wooden boxes.  Mine had some black etching on the edges but you could also use white or black lacquer boxes as seen here. You will see more pieces from this lacquer set throughout the party tables.

A standard at most of our dessert table are the fondant toppers from Two Sugar Babies. I had the pleasure of meeting Charynn, the owner, in NYC at the Martha event last month. She is just as sweet in person! We hit it off and I just LOVE her work!
Check out the amazing Super P logo fondant toppers. The guests raved!

The beautiful cupcake wrappers are from Bella Cupcake Couture… I think they add a finishing touch that the cupcakes needed.

The cake was made by the sweetest cake company! Got What It Cakes, which is owned by Mandie Miller. I was so thrilled when she found us on Martha’s site and we connected.

The cake couldn’t have been more perfect. Mandie put a conversation bubble with “YUM” at the top. How PERFECT!? The skyline coordinates perfectly with the invitation and then the 2nd tier being the benday dot inspired pattern.

Yes, Adria and I dressed up in super hero capes, too!

Next sinfully delish confection are the cookies! The Cookie Jar made the most adorable cookie pops that have super hero comments. She also replicated the Super P logo on cookies! Pure amazingness.

I added some printable party logos from oursuper hero collection to the cupcakes to bring in some more graphic elements.

Super cute “3″ Lollis were from Vintage Confection. I just love how impactful simple things like big 3 shaped lollis can be!

The sweetness doesn’t stop there. We had oreos with coordinating polkadots from Sweeties by Kim. They were fabulous and totally fit in w/ the color scheme and the “feel” of the table. LOVE.

Below is the candy bar that was displayed at the party. We had so many treats, we had to have several “treat” tables….

I took a photo of Pierson wearing his mask and super hero costume and it inspired me to hand draw a pop art inspired poster of Pierson.
Below is the result of my illustration of Pierson in “Roy Lichtenstein” style pop art.

We offer the customized (your kid’s hair and eye color!) printable pop art poster here (print yourself or we offer printing!)

Glassine bags with printable party logos on them were displayed at the candy bar for the children to fill up with treats. A conversation bubble sign was displayed that said “Thanks for saving Pierson’s 3rd birthday! Pack up some Super Treats and enjoy!”

With the Super Hero / Pop Art theme, I focused on big city skyline graphics throughout the party.

It seemed only fitting to serve the candies in buildings! I found some squared clear containers (find similar squared clear containers) to use for the candy. I cut out squares of black cardstock and applied them to the containers to look like windows. I then filled the containers with red, blue and yellow candies and treats (the color scheme)…

You can find some candy like what we showed here: Chiclets, Yellow candies, Red Candies, blue candies and more color coordinated candies! You don’t have to buy the most expensive candy, but just candies in the color scheme of the party!

Candy scoops can be found here.

I made these layered jello shooters for the kids to pull in more of the colors from the party. The children loved them! (they were non-alcoholic, of course!). I stuck a Super P logo flag out of the treats.

We used cheap clear plastic shot glasses to make these jellos. Find the jello making tutorial here on the ruff draft.

Audrey of Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats created these adorable cake pops for the party. I just love them! We served them on circular cutouts of printable paper from our printable collection.

We displayed our printable party labels with the name of each treat.

We served yellow chocolates, red licorice, red candy, aqua sour straws, yellow/black boxes of Chiclets, yellow Harbaro gummies, blue old fashioned candy sticks, and more!

Now, onto the Favor Table.  All of the children took home their personalized capes and masks, but they also got some special treats from the candy bar and the favor table… I adore the large paper wrapped boxes. (Tip: Use this large scale paper to wrap recycled boxes and black electrical tape to create the windows)

Polka Dot Balloons can be found here!

Grayce (Adria’s daughter) loved modeling her sweet cape and super emblem. (Available in the shop – easy to print on label paper (we love onlinelabels.com) and apply to the kids’ shirts!)

Adorable cookie pops were displayed in the lacquer boxes that I lined with patterned papers. The Cookie Jar made the cookies and they were both beautiful and delish!
You can see the printable favor hangtags from our collection attached the cookies that were wrapped in cellophane bags (from Nashville Wraps!)

The colored popcorn was a hit!  More of the fabulous cake pops from Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats were displayed as well….

We also displayed yummy cake pops from Dreamin N’ Details. We put cute little printable “POP” flags on the top of the cake pops. The guests loved nibbling on these!

What was on the menu? HERO sandwiches, of course. Labeled with our printables (instant download here), of course!
Little fruit cups were served and they had “MMM” and “YUM”stickers on them…(These are included in our printable collection)

All of the tables were pre-set with place settings for each child.  I had made boxed lunches and put them in a white gable box.

I adhered the printable coloring page from our shop on it for the kids to color (think “classy” McDonalds happy meal haha!)  The “callout / conversation bubble” says “Don’t forget to eat your veggies!”

I designed luggage tags for all of the kids with their name on them. Those would signify where the children were to sit.

Each place setting had a black and white polka dot plate (find some similar here), a water bottle (with our printable wrapper on it), and a cute little pop bottle with candies in it (Thought “POP” would be a good logo to put on those… the kids LOVED them!) Also, red/yellow/blue markers were placed at the tables for the kids to color their lunch boxes….

The lacquer tray to hold the cupcakes was so adorable. You can find white and red rectangle lacquer trays here.

I wrapped plastic silverware with black/white polkadot napkins from Target and sealed it with one of our printable party logos.

Pierson had a special seat!  He got an awesome reusable lunch bag from Urban Harmonie Designs.

The cake cutting is always a blast.  At cake time, we used pop art plates that were perfect for the theme.  They were so SUPER!

When the children arrived, they were given a “Super Emblem” with their initial on it. (It was a sticker that they would adhere to their shirt) I had considered appliquéing shirts for all the kids, but I quit w/ that idea after finishing Pierson’s and Jeffrey’s Stickers were MUCH easier and they would be useful for one of the games (later on I’ll share)….

The children were pointed in the direction of the London Style “telephone booth” (That I made from a refrigerator box! But you can also order a photo booth telephone booth prop here if you don’t want the hours of hassle! ha!). There they would transform from their secret identity to their SUPER HERO identity. All of the children were given capes and masks… (Kid Kapers is the BEST – she makes custom capes and masks!) They also had their Super Hero Logo sticker on their shirt…

So cute!

Next up …. Pin the Super Logo on Pierson’s Super P!
I drew a pop art graphic poster of Pierson (remember, over the candy bar?)….
The kids were blindfolded and given a super hero emblem sticker (with their initial – like the one they wore on their shirt)…. they had to pin their logo on Pierson’s logo….

The action…

Great job, super kiddies!

Next up – the coloring wall / graffiti wall….
I designed a skyline with some personalized touches like the big Super P Logo and some cute call outs….

By popular demand, we are now offering this customized printable coloring poster in our shop!

By the way, you can’t really tell…. but I wrapped my bar. I wrapped the edge of the granite with an aqua grosgrain ribbon and then fit a piece of black/white polkadot wrapping paper to the top portion so that the bar would “coordinate”

We had a Photo Booth for the children to have their pictures taken. We made (DIY project) a fake barbell weight that the kids could pretend to be lifting over their heads. we also had handheld signs that said “Boom” and “Pow”. The backdrop was the polkadot/benday dot pattern that was repeated on the dessert table. We also had a printed “conversation bubble” that was on the backdrop and it said “Happy 3rd Birthday Super Pierson”.
We got some funny shots!

You’lll see that we had yellow/red/blue cardboard bricks that the kids enjoyed building walls and breaking through walls like a super hero.

Love these super kids!

Jeffrey being crazy.

The kids all had a blast and the birthday boy, Pierson, was loving his mask and cape from Kid Kapers!

The Anders Ruff girls… Me (left) and Adria (right).  Thanks, Adria, for helping me handle the setup and cleanup process!

We have had such rave reviews that are are now offering ALL of the printable designs shown in this party in our shop.  We will customize the designs to your child’s initial and personalize it for their own Super Party.  (Note – we now offer this in SUPER GIRL colors!)

VENDOR CREDITS & RESOURCES:
– Event Styling, Graphic Design & Printables (Posters, banners, tags, signs, etc) –Anders Ruff Shop
– Photography – Becca Bond Photography

PRODUCT SOURCES to help you create a Super Hero party:
Party Props & Decor:
– Polka Dot Balloons – here
– Clear Plastic Shot Glasses for layered jello – here
– Cupcake Wrappers – Bella Cupcake Couture
– Custom Capes and Masks – Kid Kapers
– Black and White Paper Plates – here or here
– Pop art super hero plates – here
– White Gable Boxes and Cello Bags – Nashville Wraps
– Printable Party Elements: Tags, Labels, Favors, Invites, & More – Anders Ruff Custom Designs
– Photo Booth Prop (we made ours but you can order one here)
– Buildings – Recycled Boxes wrapped with Colored Banner Paper from here or here and windows from electrical tape
– Polka Dot Backdrop Printable here or use black and white fabric here
– Clear Candy Containers here (add black squares to make look like buildings)
– White Lacquer Boxes (similar to what is seen on our dessert table)
– More Super Hero Masks here

Desserts & Sweets:
– Candy – Yellow Candy, Chiclets, Red Candy, Yellow Chocolates, Licorice, Blue Candy Sticks and more here
– Custom Cake – Got What It Cakes
– Custom Cake Pops – Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats
– Chocolate Covered Oreos – Sweeties by Kim
– Sugar Cookies – The Cookie Jar
– “3” Lollipops – Vintage Confections
– Colored Popcorn – here