This year we decided to throw Ben’s birthday party on the beach. He wanted a super hero themed party and we did our best to theme it that way.

First Adam sat down with Ben and went through pictures of cakes on the internet. In typical style, Ben requested something completely outrageous. A cake with super heros, monkeys and beach scenes. And also in typical style, Adam was whole heartily on board. I guess the coconut doesn’t fall far from the palm tree.

Deerfields Bakery did this amazing job of complying. This  is a triple layer cake. Chocolate cake, then fudge icing, then yellow cake, then cherry filling, then chocolate again. They even made sure to add Ben’s favorite super hero, Wonder Woman. The other boys all requested either the Hulk, Ironman, or Captain America.

For the entertainment, we did a few different things.

Bubbie and Grandpa Bill, who were in town for Ben’s birthday, were in charge of the tattoo station. Superhero tattoos as well as princesses and transformers were available.

Next we created a treasure hunt. Adam and our friend Keyandez dug out a rectangle moat and then the kids help dump bags of dollar store trinkets in. Adam covered them all up with sand. We put out all the shovels and sifters we had and away the kids went. Anything the kids found they could put in their goodie bags and take home with them. The dollar store had loads of bags of plastic army men, plastic bugs, frogs, snakes, spiders, and we also threw in some cheap little cars. Okay, it wasn’t really superhero themed, but it was too good of an idea veto.

Key and Adam digging the perimeter.

Digging for Treasure

Finally we bought cans of silly string and repackaged them as Spider Man’s Super Spider Webs. All the kids were armed with them and ready to battle evil villains.

How did we get villains at the party? Well, late last night I searched the internet for an easy way to make a mask.

I found a site that showed me one from tin foil and tape.

You take 3 sheets of tin foil, shape them to your face, then cut it out like a mask.

Next I covered them in duct tape.

Finally I poked holes in the sides and tied some string on them.

Some of the father’s happily agreed to play the villains. In fact I wished I had more masks because I think some of the other fathers would have enjoyed it too.

Villains Joseph, Adam, Mike, Keyandez, and Doug.

Don’t worry, we remembered to bring a rake to the beach so we could clean up all the mess we made afterwards.

After all the morning fun, it was time for some pizza and subs from Amatos Pizza. I added a watermelon that had been chilling in the cooler on the side.

Finally, the moment Ben had been waiting for – the cake!

We stuck around for a while afterwards. It was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed the beach while I was able to soak up the sun afterwards and watch the sail boats drift by from the Race to Mackinac.

Happy birthday, Ben, my sweet little boy. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.