Nikhil's Super Hero BDay

Let you be forewarned 

For I have already scribbled enough

And am not gonna let you go, till you finish reading it.

The Making

Why???

As if it wasn't emotional enough for me to see my little kinder, repeatedly say that he was "missing his old friends", "they will be searching for me", ''I want to go back to my old school", "will I never see my old friends forever again?' now I had to keep him safe from getting hurt again(which is quite a story which I get into a later date).

And so, I wanted make this BDay as memorable as possible +

I wanted him to have fun and play without any physical strain.

Absolutely no bouncers, which is the perfect and easiest way to keep the 5 year olds busy, if you ask me.

So, mommy had to use her brain. ( Which by itself is quite a rare event, as daddy puts it)

And so Nikhil's 5th BDay transformed into A Super Hero Mission.

What started as a little thought, then slowly grew and grew until it became this Super Hero Party.

In the end, all turned out well and the kids had fun.

What I didn't expect, was the sense of peace, accomplishment I would feel, after the party was done.

The last time I had felt such, was when I completed my college final semester exams.

Phase 1 : Innovations are born because of necessity

First , Mr.BusyBeeDaddy declared only on Aug-5th that he wanted Nikhil's BDay Bash on the 18th.

So I had a quick couple of weeks+1 weekend to take care of everything.

( The effective manager that he is, his job was done, as soon as he had delegated this task to me, and given an ETA :-) )

Then, Mr.Budding Manager wanted an Amazing Spiderman BDay(till he changed like in an hr ). I went around one party store to another, on a requirement gathering spree.

After assessing, the available decorations , I wasn't happy, and definitely not convinced.

And I came back.

Then after a couple of hours, Nikhil declared that he wanted an Avengers BDay.

After, just short of making him sign a document with witnesses, getting umpteen # promises that he wont change his mind again,

I sent out the invite, with an Avengers theme in mind after deciding on The Tech Museum to host his party.

There was a variety of Super Hero Fonts that I was able to find on the net. I especially loved, the "AmazingSpider", "BatmanForeverAlternate", "SoundFX", "Palooka BB", "ironman", "SF Arch Rival" & "SF Arch Rival Extended"

The invite

Nikhil is bringing the party to you.
The little super hero is turning five.
And, its time for the earth's mightiest little heroes to assemble and have fun.

Kiddos, SMASH!!

But Niki wanted to "play forever in the party". What else would a 5 year old want?

And I have this sudden addiction to anything DIY & reusing, and was soooooooooooooo waiting for an oppurtunity to try out things.

So, 1+1=

 And so , pinterest+google were heavily bombarded in the days to come.

My poor old laptop, hadnt seen so much use in a while and was there cringing and crying, slowly down things at every possible way.

There were so many ideas for BDay parties and so suddenly, there I was planning my very first DIY(as much as possible) Super Hero BDay Party.

Phase 2 : Ready Start Action

It was a rewarding search, of finding interesting yet not common games to train the little ones. The super hero training camp's curriculum was designed & redesigned  catering to the liking of the Kinders. Then again modified to be more gender nuetral. Girl Power Eh!.

The New York City Backdrop took quite some time, to find the best possible way to do it.

Had to be light, and right color, right height.

Went through quite a few attempts. Paper on top of colored paper turned out quite messy and heavy.

Cardboard sheets were heavier.

Then I figured out a solution and it was using a table cover as the base.

And painting, sticking, coloring on top of it.

Then came the Super Hero lollipops.

The Buildings from my cardboard boxes with all of Niki's fav super heroes waiting to jump out in action.

My most favorite - the comic themed photo frames which I had made, out of unfinished wooden frames from Michaels.  This one took quite a while, as I mastered the art of decoupaging, painting, sanding and was very very happy with the results. Since my little master, ran away with the rest of his SpiderMan comics, I had to use pages from Super Man. :-)

Oh Yes, I forgot the certificate. Designing the certificate, itself, was quite fun. And I was able to locate the perfect SpiderMan image for the background.

And, there was a couple misses. I missed 2 of Nikhil's close friends, getting confused with the email ids, I forgot the thank you note , I forgot the Game callouts, and lighter.
But overall, I should say, it was a fun event.

The D Day

The Daily Bugle, has a news report

There was a newspaper clipping from Spidey's The Daily Bugle, waiting at the membership desk, setting the mood of a Super Hero Party.

Here's the clipping - The Daily Bugle, Saturday, 18th August 2012

Top Secret Mission Manual

The Super Heroes had the  Super Confidential, Top Secret, For your Eyes Only, Super Secretive Mission Manual, waiting for them, as soon as they entered the party room, with a list of tasks, which they had to accomplish, to win their very own certificate from "The Amazing Spiderman"

Here's the manual - Super Hero training manual

The Super Hero Training Mission Starts now

Secret Identity

I had made a variety of masks, Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Spiderman, Green Lantern, and a glittery version for the girls, Hulk, SuperMan, Iron Man, Batman from templates I found on the web, using foam sheets.

And as I made each piece, each one went through multiple rounds of quality and acceptance testing, where I showed Nikhil the mask, not mentioning how it is supposed to represent, eagerly hoping that he would recognise it correctly. As each and every mask passed the test with flying colors, I set on to complete all of them

Took almost a day to finish the 30 odd pieces.

And so, the little super heroes had the masks available, and they quickly chose one and covered their true identity.

Super Hero wristbands

Next came the "rigorous" task of designing your very own Super Hero Hand-piece, for which I had strips of different colored foam, with a bunch of stickers and double sided tape.

Voila!! The Super Heroes were all ready for the mission now.

The radioactive Slew crossing

This is an idea which I got in the last minute. I had the black sheet, which I didnt want to just throw away, and just when I was thinking what to do, my little one was playing his Lego Batman game which resulted into a Green/Pink Radioactive Toxic Slew , which the Super Heroes had to navigate without getting their feet burnt.

 Do you have Spider Sense

This one was a box filled with items and the Super Heroes had to use their Spider Touch Sense, and figure out whats inside the box without peeking. I dont have a picture of this, but was really surprised that quite a few kids were able to contain their curiosity and really not peek. ( Very much unlike mine :-) )

Give Spidey a Nose

This was a new twist to the age old Pin a tail to the donkey.

The kids had to affix, a sticky nose to the Spider Man's face. Sadly I dont have a pic of this too.

Spin Super Webs

The Super heroes had cans of webs(silly strings) that they had to use the catch the Bad Guys.

I should say that this was the best training exercise the kids loved. I was really scolding myself, for not getting more cans. So much so that, next time around, I am going to have a party just with silly strings.

Strongest hug to your mummy/daddy

I heard quite a few crushing bones, when the Super Heroes tested their strength.

And my shoulders are still paining from my share of the hug :-)

Loudest roar on planet earth

And my, ear shattering roars, that reverberated through the party room..

My little Super Hero, all he could do was a baby roar, getting all shy as people watched him.

Bash the Bad Guys

                                                                 This one again was a hit with the Super heroes, who really didn't need a reason or any more training to bash the bad guys up.

Mission Accomplished - We are Certified Super Heroes now

As each of the Super Hero were handed over their certificates, there was huge round of applause and cheer.

And the Super Heroes, proudly displayed their Certificates.
Here's the link to the Certificate(pdf).

The "bomb" pinata 

Ever since he saw a pinata in a friends BDay, Niki has been wanting one. I knew there would be no place to hang a traditional pinata. So I came up with my own.

A Paper lantern ( which had already seen the wrath of our very own demi god), was strengthened with layers of paper&Modpodge n then given a spray of black paint and then finally had the words BOOM painted in gold.

Niki, cdn't wait for the pinata time, and in fact it was him who loaded this into the car.

And the kids really had fun, diffusing it :-)

The Party Settings

• The BirthDay banner, was one that I modified n reused one of the banners from the previous years, now fitted with Spidey 
• Made a Spider Web Banner, spelling out NIKHIL
• Center pieces were Nikhil's super hero board books, fanned out
• Of course, the super hero lollipops, all dressed up as SpiderMan and a few as masked crusaders. This again, the little Super Hero loved it.
• Then there was the plain red table sheet, which I had painted and customized for with his name
• Supero Hero jellos and juice
• My favorite was the comic themed photo frames which I had made, out of unfinished wooden frames from Michaels. 

Thanks

A special thanks to below sites and the Super Hero mummies who inspired me to organise this party

• Thanks to my mother, who took care of EVERYTHING at home and was there helping me at every step and offering valuable suggestions, most of all, taking care of the little tornado. Without her, this party wouldn't have definitely happened. 
• Thanks to the mask templates from Cutesy Crafts
• Thanks to Page Turners Hollow for the Daily Bugle Template 
• Thanks to jollymom  for the callout signs

My Universe is 5 year old already

5 years.
A lot can happen in 5 years.
Governments change,  you change jobs, you change cities, friends get married, 5 more social media sites are born,  Java sees 2 major releases & a lot many minor releases.......
But to get the feeling of having lived a lifetime in just 5 years, only a child can do it
This time, 5 years ago, we were gazing at the little blue bundle, in amazement, happiness, without a clue whats in store for us the next few years.
We made our share of mistakes as first time parents..
Fought over whose fault it is, the baby missed a feed ( or should say, still fight :-) )
Dropped him a couple of times...
His first BDay, His first steps, His first words, His first hugs, His first day care, His first smile, His first tooth....
Went through his first colds n coughs as if it was the end of the world, and still, I cant see it as just a little cold cough...


Many snapped and clicked... Many that I couldnt capture it in celluloid
Many crystal clear, but Many of the details are fuzzy..
Many engraved in my brain..But Many of the details are pushed back into my memory. The keys to "the point between rage and serenity" :-)
(quoting X-Men-First Class.)


Like the Sun making us think that he is the center of the galaxy, though technically it is not,
The little 5 pounder, took over our lives, and we are dancing puppets.
Parenting is not so easy..
But together we all grew another 5 years.
Here I was reliving my childhood, jumping on the sidewalks, dancing in a grocery store, singing in public, proudly wearing a burger king crown, eating icecream for breakfast, swinging in the park till our heads went dizzy, running around screaming, rolling in the snow, fighting over a pack of M&Ms, counting the # M&Ms, complaining to daddy whose fault it is...
We learnt, the thin line between right & wrong, how there is no right that's applicable always, why it is absolutely perfect to slow down once in a while, just sit and gaze at the ceiling, mistakes are ok, how a word means everything, promises are meant to keep.

In 5 years, I feel I have gained more wisdom, than all the years before...

This week we celebrated my little prince's 5th BDay.

Next week he starts Kindergarten.
My little one is growing up and fast.
I want to hug him a little more. Kiss him a little more.
Deep in my heart, the worst fear is the day, when he says "Mummy stop. I am big boy" is not far away :-)