Batman Birthday Party

Parties are my love language. Well how I speak in love language I guess. I love to throw parties for my boys. The older two are past the age our family does big old birthdays every year. However, the younger two still get parties. In fact, this year was Bean's very first friend party. He has had a First Birthday Fiesta, a BYU Football second birthday party, and a Dinosaur party last year. This year he requested to have a Batman Birthday Party.

Which was a little funny considering I am not sure really how in to Batman he is. No other party theme I threw at him would do though. So Batman it was.

One of my party decorating tricks is to pick a color theme that coordinates with the party theme and then to go crazy with it. I incorporate the colors in just about everything from patterns, food, and decorations. This year the colors were the traditional Batman colors black, gray, and yellow.

I even found this perfectly coordinating Batman doll.

PS Who really has thighs like that???

Anyway, I digress. I like feeding a simple lunch and easy snacks at a toddler party. Using food is not only an easy way to decorate, but serving lunch (or dinner) is a great activity for a party.

Another easy way to decorate a party is to add posters and tags. I made all of my posters and tags using  PicMonkey. I made the simple and modern Batman head graphic using only geometric overlays. Once I had the head the way I wanted it, I saved it and then could simply insert it within other tags and posters.

Lunch was simple. However, I served it in and on these cute lunch boxes and plates.

Wrapping the stem of a banana with washi tape may have been a little unnecessary, but I couldn't help myself.

After lunch, we had a few more activities. Like coloring.

Cape and mask wearing.

We had a bat-shaped pinata of course.

We also blew some bubbles.

Before we sent off our friends with a thank you bag, we ended our party with a simple, but delicious Batman cake.

This party was SO fun to pull together, but it was slightly exhausting. Which honestly is why I have yet to throw my other March birthday boy a party. I still owe him one. Oops.

Here are the things I made--

Posters and Tags

Pinata

Cityscape Background

Chocolate-covered Oreos

Batman Capes

Tutus

Cake

What I purchased--

Batman- Walmart

Batman Masks- Walmart

Bubble Wands- Walmart

Balloons, Paper Fans, Tissue Balls, Honeycombs- Zurchers

Paper Plates, Napkins, Straws- Zurchers

Treat Cups- Zurchers

Plastic Cake Stands (spray-painted black)- Zurchers

Letters- Michaels

Fabric Banners- Michaels

Lunch Boxes- Hobby Lobby

Wrapping Paper (used as table runner)-Hobby Lobby

Milk Jar Glasses- Hobby Lobby

Batman Birthday Invite

Before I go into the details of this rather adorable Batman Birthday Party Invite, I would like to say something.

When you are out of the habit of blogging, almost two months goes by with no post, and you don't even realize it. I am not sure anyone else realized it either. Probably because of my "radio" silence increasing more and more over the last year, I am sure the few people I had reading this blog have given up on me. So let me say thanks for sticking with me that long.

I have come to the realization, that I am okay with my blogging life (or lack there of). Of course part of me wants to be read by thousands and thousands. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to be known in the blogosphere for my mad skills. I want validation from friends, strangers, and mega bloggers. 

BUT...

I am not good at the life. I am not great at self promoting. I don't have the funds for a blog face lift (hence that I am in the dark ages and still have a blogspot) or to go to all the amazing and fabulous conferences out there. I am not a great entrepreneur (heck I couldn't even spell it...spell check had to help). I admire those woman who do and can. They are so very awesome at what they do.

For years I felt that because they are awesome at what they do and I don't do that well, it must mean that I am about as far from awesome as you can get. 

So I backed off of blogging. I backed off because, someone could do it better. No one out there would miss me or what I do. I was getting an ulcer watching my blog views go down. My comments become nonexistent. Basically I backed off in a pity party kind of way. 

So, why even blog a tiny bit now? 

This is why. I still love creating things. I can say in some confidence that there are things I am good at. Even if only my mom reads this blog anymore (thanks MOM I love you), I still want to share. Who cares if I am not a dot com. Who cares if no one sponsors me. Who cares. Who cares.

So I "blog" for me right now. I create for me because I like to. I decorate when I can. I make stuff when I have time. I share because it is fun. If someone gets an idea from me. Great. If people occasionally stop by from Pinterest. AWESOME and welcome. However, even if just my mom reads, that is good too. 

I had a good run for awhile. Who knows maybe when my kids are all in school if this blogging thing is still around I will jump back in with a little more professionalism. 

For right now, I am good with just sharing what I do when I do it. 

LONGEST intro to a blog post ever. Sorry about that.

So on to this Batman Birthday Party Invite.  I wish I could say I came up with the concept of this modern simple batman invite all on my own. However, thanks to Pinterest I came across my inspiration on The Hostess with the Mostess Blog via a party done by Posh Paperie. I really liked her design style and the concept of the party so I copy-catted her a bit.

For the invite I turned to my handy dandy PicMonkey.

I used geometric overlays for the flood lights. I used the bat overlays found in the Halloween section. The rest was just a mixture of some of my favorite fonts.

One of the things I liked the most was the idea of a geometric Batman. So I made one. This Batman was completely made from mixing and manipulating geometric overlays. He turned out pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

For the back of this card, I just copied and positioned image after image of the original Batman head.

I also used the Batman head for some birthday posters (which I will share soon) and these name tags that I taped to the outside of the envelopes.

The whole invite ensemble looked like this.

I was able to save this all to my computer and just print from my printer on to cardstock. Setting aside making the little Batman head image, it really was very simple and the perfect way to invite some fellow superheroes over.

A Pinteresting Wednesday: Batman T-shirt

Don't forget to enter the

Albion $100 gift card giveaway.

It is A Pinteresting Wednesday. Woot! Woot!

I actually made this shirt a couple months ago. I don't know why it took me so long to share it with you. Especially since I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this shirt.

I mean LUHHHVE.

I first saw this shirt idea on a friends board. I actually saw it and then just kept the idea in my head. I finally pinned it to my Little Men Clothing board as I was making my knock-off.

The original shirt is an adult shirt, and while I am sure Hubby could rock it, I really wanted one for Little.

So in an afternoon, I designed and the made my own.

Little wore it quite cutely, wouldn't you say?

I originally shared this on Instagram 

(follow along @larissa_anotherday)

I hand drew the batman mask image.

Then I scanned my drawing into the computer. I opened the image in Picmonkey and then I added in the writing using the font Amatic Small Caps in various sizes.

Once the image was saved, I imported the image into my Silhouette software. I cut it out in black flocked heat transfer vinyl from Expressions Vinyl.

Keeping it real moment--the teeny tiny letters were a little tedious, but with a small pair of tweezers it is doable.

Man, was it totally worth it. I love this font and I think it makes this shirt.

This is probably my most favoritest shirt to date. Maybe my most favorite Pinterest project to date.

Ah man. Love. Wait, I said that already.

I also love Pinterest.

Follow Along with Just Another Day in Paradise

Bloglovin'         Facebook         Instagram         Pinterest         Twitter

Thanks for reading!

Sharing here--

Lil'Luna, Life with the Crust Off,
The 36th Avenue, Rae Gun Ramblings,