Grant’s Super 16 Superhero Birthday Party {With Free Printables!}
It’s kind of a big deal, turning 16. So, I knew we needed to throw a big party. And since Grant has always been a little crazy about superheroes, I knew what I had to do. I know many of you have little boys {or big boys} who also dream of saving the world while wearing a mask and cape, so I’m sharing our day with you…
One of the great things about a classic superhero party theme is that you can start with some basic primary colors and shapes just run with them. I have included a list of supplies at the end of this post to help make your planning easier. (This post contains affiliate links which help to support this blog)
City skylines and black and white polka dots are great foundational elements for a superhero feel, so that was the look for the party table. A couple of blue plastic table cloths with a makeshift table runner made from wrapping paper worked perfectly as a cheap and easy table cover.
And a few boxes covered in black tissue paper and yellow card stock made a great city skyline to hold the cupcakes.
We had a super-simple menu of hot dogs and chips, and a little ‘Pop’ ‘Bam’ ‘Boom’ added some wow factor to the condiments.
These large superhero words are great for adding a POP here and there!
Once again, my cafe shelves came in very handy for theme decorating. I made another of my easiest chalkboards ever in my old red frame.
And the same red lantern I used on the Christmas shelves fit in just right here as well.
I made Grant’s name on a skyline from black paper with painted-on windows which held the glittered paper letters clipped on with clothes pins. {Get this glittered paper from Hobby Lobby for only $1 on sale weeks!}
Here’s the rear view…
The party favors for each guest were superhero cookies cut from Williams-Sonoma Marvel Comics cookie cutters. (UPDATE: Williams-Sonoma is no longer selling these, but for those of you who have asked, I did find them for you herewith free shipping!) (This post contains affiliate links which help to support this blog)
We also had a city skyline photo backdrop made from black foam board with painted windows. This pre-made city backdrop is a great option for a city backdrop if you’d rather just buy one!
When guests arrived, they chose a mask of their favorite superhero. Purchase the download for the masks here. These masks and cape sets are also great for passing out to each of the kids!
My husband made us some laminated speech bubbles so we could all use a dry erase marker to write our own messages. This dry-erase contact paper applied to cardboard would work great as well!
We had a lot of fun with that!
It turned out to be a super night for Grant and all his friends. And,obviously,it was pretty fun for me, too.
If you’re planning a superhero party anytime soon, feel free to download my printables.
Click here to download the cupcake circles. (Use a 2-inch punch to get a perfect cut.)
The pennant banner I used over the table was just one I found on clearance, but here’s a cute Pop Bam Pow banner that can be used in many ways!
ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES:
Here is a list of additional supplies that may help in your planning! These are my affiliate links, which means I receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you! Thank you for supporting this blog!
Superhero Party Favor Bracelets
NanaDiana
January 23, 2013 @ 12:44 am
What a wonderful, personalized birthday, Julie- I am sure he was thrilled to pieces. xo Diana
Rach
January 23, 2013 @ 5:23 am
What fun!
Your "pop" with an exclamation point on the soda bucket made me laugh.
You put a lot of thought into this, and made it cool enough for 16 year olds! No easy feat….
Well done!
SuzanneMoore
January 23, 2013 @ 11:45 am
Julie,
I love everything you did for the party! It gave me some great ideas for my son who will be ten in May. And just yesterday I finally brought out (and put back..haha) the black posterboard from DG that I bought after reading one of your posts. Now I am inspired again to make some framed boards! I really love your posts! A verse I thought I would pass along today is 1 Corinthians 16:9. Have a most wonderful day! And again,Beautiful job on the party, Mom!!!
Becolorful
January 23, 2013 @ 4:44 pm
You need to publish a party book. You probably already have. I remember I wore out my copy of the Penny Whistler Party Planner when my kids were little but I like yours and the added images sooooooooo much better.
hugs and congrats to the birthday guy,
p
Debbie Harris
January 24, 2013 @ 3:20 am
OMG-
This is so amazing! What fun. You're so talented!
Thanks for sharing!
agravette
January 24, 2013 @ 2:43 pm
awesome! thanks so much for sharing!
David and Dee Dee Sterling
January 27, 2013 @ 2:36 pm
Once again, you proved yourself an awesome Mom. 🙂 Great job! Loved the decorations and the photos were great! That was a Super Hero birthday to remember!
Kristi L (Digital Cake)
January 27, 2013 @ 7:53 pm
This is so cool! I want this party for my next birthday!
Molly Thompson
January 27, 2013 @ 10:46 pm
This is so cute! Even though I'm a 22 year old lady, I'm going to be dropping hints about this to my friends for my next birthday!
http://highfivemebrother.blogspot.com/
Kristi
February 12, 2013 @ 6:06 am
I love this!!! What a GREAT party theme! I love the family pics at the end, pricless!! And happy birthday to your baby boy 🙂
Kristi
Laura W
August 8, 2013 @ 10:18 pm
Oh my gosh, thank you, thank you, thank you! My son wanted a superhero theme and these ideas are amazing! I appreciate you sharing your printables too.
Julie
August 8, 2013 @ 10:50 pm
You're welcome! Hope he has a great party! 🙂
Brittany Dragon
September 22, 2013 @ 12:42 am
Thank you SOOOO much for the cupcake printables! I have been looking EVERYWHERE for a free print out. This was so perfect for my three year old's superhero birthday party!
Julie
September 22, 2013 @ 1:12 am
You're welcome! So glad to be a small part of the big day!!
C Crawford
September 22, 2014 @ 3:20 pm
There are so many great ideas here, thank you for sharing everything!! It's so hard to find party ideas suitable for older kids, I'm so glad you shared links as well as your ideas. It makes planning a Sweet Sixteen party for a girl so much easier!!
Julie
September 22, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
Glad you liked it! Have fun planning your party!
Kelli Seeley
May 23, 2015 @ 5:52 am
So cute! Where did you get your triangular, primary colored, banners (that you hung on the ceiling) from?
Julie
May 27, 2015 @ 3:59 pm
That was from Target a while back!
jen
June 26, 2015 @ 1:27 pm
SHAZAM! How cool was that party! Maybe I missed reading it, but how did you make those wonderful cookies?
Unknown
September 9, 2015 @ 8:08 pm
Hello! Just thought I would inform you that someone stole your printables and are selling them on their etsy shop. They stole some from my husband so now I am tracking down other creatives who he has ripped off and letting them know.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/246162760/36-superhero-cupcake-toppers-instant?ref=shop_home_active_5
You can report him to etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/legal/ip/report
Thought you might want to know!
tammy schwenk
November 12, 2015 @ 1:09 am
Your party looks great, such a shame that someone took the designs that you were willing to share and is selling them. I did get major inspiration from you, now I just gotta find some free downloads.
Unknown
May 17, 2016 @ 3:08 am
Hey, i am shae. Im 14, and I must say, this is a cool idea. I actually used all the documents.no printed them out, cut them out, and integrated them into my comic book decoupage desk. They fit perfectly. Awesome dude.
Romy EC
July 16, 2016 @ 2:01 pm
Everything looks amazing! But I wonder if your son was a bit too old for that kind of party. Here in my country kids celebrate their 16 in a totally different way. But it's fun anyway I guess.
Katie
May 27, 2019 @ 10:30 pm
Love the cupcakes – thanks for the template!
What type of striped wrapper is that?
Thanks 🙂
Julie
May 30, 2019 @ 6:26 am
They are some I found way back when, but these are very similar!
https://amzn.to/2WxfyR5