Our oldest son, Krillin, turned 6 yesterday. He had chosen a Superman theme two months ago, so I have been planning. It occurred to me on Wednesday of this week that I still had the "final preparations" to do. That included all the shopping, decorations, and cake. I must be a glutton for punishment.
Wednesday was a horrible, terrible, no-good, nasty, no-good day. Ditto for most of Thursday, but I did get the cake baked. Friday was an 8-store, 4 hour shopping trip, including Office Depot (nametags and a poster), Dollar Tree (most of the party supplies), Hobby Lobby (clear vanilla), Toys R Us (Krillin's special Birthday visit, and some Superman decorations), Kroger (frosting ingredients, and lunch), Home Depot (garden supplies, nothing to do with the party 
), B&E Salvage (they had tins of Altoids Chocolate-Dipped Cinnamon mints for 25¢. I bought 40.
), and Rite Aid (rebate shampoos). Luckily, the stores were almost in a circle, so not much gas wasted. I took a breather when we got home, then it was time to start the piñata and put the cake together. For the piñata, the boys and their friend helped me get the newspaper into strips, then slap them on the balloon. They actually were a lot of help, doing it quickly and efficiently. Kenshin lost interest soon, but the others kept on. My idea was to make it kinda spiky and pointy, like kryptonite, and then cover it with green crepe paper. I was trying to figure out how to do that with a round balloon, and then had the brilliant idea to use one of the mylar, helium-filled, star balloons that Krillin had chosen for decorations. Then I added some cones (actually hats left over from an Elmo party), and it was poke-y!
Unfortunately, it took forever to dry, so I couldn't decorate it. I called it Grey Kryptonite. Highly dangerous, you know. 
For the cake, I was all on my own.
I did get some inspirations here and here. I decided to go with a round 2-layer cake; the bottom was blue, and the top was the Superman emblem. I couldn't reach Emily for her frosting recipe (she's out of town for a few months), so I searched and found this fantastic one. Best frosting I've had. The only hiccup I had was the coloring of the frosting, and that's my fault because my Wilton colors were dried out, and I didn't know it. oopsies! The blue and yellow worked okay, but the red still looked pink to me on the finished cake. I pretty much eyeballed the cutting for the emblem. I only had to re-cut the top part once. For the emblem's design, I used a basic emblem image, re-sized to 8 inches across, and cut out the yellow parts, so I could "pencil in" (I used a razor blade) the design. I did finally get hold of Emily, and she helped with the "how-to's" of the frosting. I was very pleased with the cake! I would post a picture, but after the cake was all cut and divvied out, I realized I never took a picture of it. 
mmmm.... it looked kinda' like this. But 2 layers. 
Saturday morning, we had to finish cleaning the house, and I was not feeling good. The house looked great, but I didn't do decorations. Sorry, Krillin. P-chan put up the canopy so the kids wouldn't fry in the heat (the guests had started to arrive), and then we set up the Superman Training Course (inspiration from here). The piñata was finally dry, so P-chan filled it with candy, noting that the mylar didn't fly out like a rubber balloon would have. Then he ingeniously rigged a bunch of his sock garters together to create a hammock for the piñata, so it could dangle dangerously overhead in the canopy. And dangle it did!
Jecka got knocked in the cheek, and I got knocked in the temple. Did I mention it was hot and windy???!! Then P-chan left to get the pizzas.Superman Training Course:
1. Leap Over a Tall Building : we have a kid's castle, so the boys took turns jumping, climbing, etc on it and grabbing a Superman "flag".
2. Speed and Precision : we set up 2 kid chairs, put a 2x4 between them, and the kids had to walk the beam, pick up some Kryptonite (glow sticks), and drop it into the lead bucket.
3. Save Citizen from Danger : P-chan wasn't back, and I didn't feel like chasing anyone, so the boys pushed the little car (with Kenshin in it) down the driveway and back. Kenshin got to push Krillin.
4. X-Ray Vision : Using the "flags" they got in the first game, they tried to tape them on the poster-sized Superman. This was indoors, and it felt nice to cool off.
P-chan got back, so it was time to eat! Pizza was enjoyed by all, then the cake and Scooperman ice cream. I got a lot of "ooh"s and "aahhh"s on the cake, and Krillin had the biggest grin on his face, so that made my day! We sang to Krillin (no candles), and ingested a lot of sugar. I was good and only had a tiny piece of cake, and 1 scoop of ice cream.
Then it was time for the piñata!!!! Krillin and Kenshin each got 3 swings, and everyone else got 2. They all got 2 turns, and this thing (though falling apart), still wouldn't yield. Remember how I used a mylar balloon? Those things are pretty tough to break with a bat. The paper mache fell apart, but the balloon held on.
Finally, an older boy smashed that thing apart when we told him not to use the blindfold. yay, candy! Krillin opened his presents, and then it was time for everyone to go home. After they left, I realized I hadn't given them their loot bags. Oh, well.
A little after the Birthday Extravaganza, I took the boys and their friend to a game night at a local church. I decided to go, because I had a huge tub of ice cream, and it's not good for sugar to be tempting me. So I took it to share!
}. Then he remembered that Kenshin also had to have an ambulance, 
