Throw this birthday party: Superheroes and Monsters

Check out this two-year-old’s birthday party that could EASILY translate into an awesome “big kid” adult party theme!

For my daughter Em’s second birthday, we decided to go with a monsters and superhero theme. Em loves monsters and I really love the idea and concept of celebrating the primal animal creature that is generally outcast by society and misunderstood for its difference. And it’s a fun gender-neutral theme!

I was super excited to celebrate a toddler’s exploration of the “hero” archetype — we all have our own particular super strengths and I’m all for advocating the idea that we are all our own hero. And what kid doesn’t like permission to be a monster — permission to deconstruct, to make a mess, to disassemble the rules and structures that we are so often confined to? To fly around in glitter-adorned capes?

[related_post align=”right”]It was important for us NOT to make this a hero vs. monster party but a Heroes and Monsters party — after all, heroes and monsters can live in harmony and monsters can be heroes, too. Often in children’s movies and cartoons the language of “Good Guy” and “Bad Guy” is perpetuated. We are either one or the other: a doer of evil, or rescuing a damsel from distress. There are no “bad guys” or “good guys” but all of us have moments in which we are either gentle with ourselves and others or not gentle with ourselves and others.

So how did we manifest these queercore concepts into a party fit for a two-year-old?

For food, we had some of Em’s vegetarian faves that were really easy for me to whip up and assemble:

• We had hummus with monster tentacles emerging from the vegan beany dip paired with gluten free crackers.
• There were also monster tentacles and bouncy monster eye balls strategically placed through out the bowl of guacamole accompanied by quinoa tortilla chips.
• With furry fabric and felt I constructed two furry cyclops pizza box covers for our vegan “notta ricotta” cheese pizzas that we had delivered from our fave pizza joint.

For a cake, we opted for an awesome vegan cinnamon bun cake. We used the tentacles and monster eye balls on the cake, as well as coconut for fur, and blueberries and blackberries for moles and warts. It looked amazing, was super yummy, and very monsterlicious.

The kids had tons of fun making art for the party. A friend gifted us with this great cardboard castle for the kids to color and paint. It served as a wonderful monster sanctuary.

I bought a bunch of cheap fabric and glitter fabric paint for the kids to construct their own superhero capes, and we had monster teeth and party hats that we constructed into monster horns.

The little tentacles and eye balls served as lots of fun post-party, and we ordered plenty extra of both so kids could go home with them and play with them at the party. Other dress up items included monster tails, dinosaurs hats, and monster claw galoshes.

It was a party full of play, of magic, and art, and we all couldn’t have been happier about how it went. So here is to monsters, to messes, and the superhero in all of us!