Spiderman 4th Birthday

So my little guy (well... I guess not so little) turned 4 on Saturday.  He is OBSESSED with Spiderman. He actually introduces himself to people as Spiderman.  He has also convinced his 2 year old brother that he is Spiderman, ahh the joys of being an older sibling...

No surprisingly we did a Spiderman theme.  I think it turned out pretty good.  My camera skills (and camera) are no fabulous so you will have to bear with on that aspect of the post. 

the cake... Spiderman of course...

I used a 9" round and then carved it into the shape of spiderman's face/mask.  Once you place the white eyes and your first line down the center of the cake the rest is relatively simple.  I did have to learn that linking lines between the webs were like upside down c - straight lines look very silly.

TIP: If you need to carve a cake to get a unique shape (like spidey's face) bake the cake ahead and freeze.  It's much easier to carve a frozen cake, you get a cleaner cut and far fewer crumbs.

the rest of the menu...



One of my son's favorite things in life is the good old orange, straight from the box, mac and cheese.  I saw a cute picture of a hot dog cut like an octopus on top of mac and cheese and thought it would be perfect to fit the spiderman theme... for those of you that do not have a son obsessed, Doc Oc is one of the main villains. This was so simple.  Just microwave the hot dogs and then about make a cut in half about 2/3 of the length of the hot dog and then make a 2nd cut so that you get 4 "legs".  Prop up and for greater impact add some eyes. I used the red gel icing I had left over from the cupcakes but you could easily use ketchup.

Peter Parker Pizza (thanks to little Caesars), Green Goblin Salad, popcorn and a veggie tray rounded out the menu.  I somehow didn't get photos of the Green Goblin Salad but it was very easy to make. 

Green Goblin Salad
serves 10-12
2 small boxes of lime gelatin
3 cans of mixed fruit or fruit cocktail
2 cups of mini marshmallows
Recipe: Prepare the lime gelatin according to package instructions.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes and then stir in fruit drained canned fruit and marshmallows. Refrigerate until chilled. 

This was great because I easily made the night before so all I had to make the morning of the party was the mac and cheese. 

activities...

Popcorn... get your popcorn... I borrowed a cute popcorn maker from a friend that is a table top replica of an old fashion popcorn machine. I found red and white small bags at the craft store (by the gift wrapping supplies) and attached these little labels to match the spidey theme. The popcorn was perfect as both a snack before the main food since the party started at 10:30 and a little activity to watch it be popped. Plus my son loves popcorn. 

It was a pool party and most of the kids in attendance were either 2 and under or over 10 so I didn't plan a lot of games. We did play "Pin the Spider on the Spiderweb". My fabulously talented stepdaughter went above and beyond and created this great poster board. I was planning to just do a 2 minute spiderweb but she got all into and free hand drew spiderman's hand slinging the web.  My son thought it was awesome!