The Super Hero birthday party of the century happened recently for Lucas Painter as he turned 3 years old (you can see his Robotronic Lair here). His Mom, Adrean, came up with a cute and clever idea for making personalized capes for each party guest! The cost was low and the impact was high, just the way childhood should be. Want to see how it's done?
Adrean has always been the sort of person who would much rather make something than buy something from the store. She knows when to bust out the diy skills and is quite keen on decorating on a small budget. We recently featured more of Adrean's handiwork in her daughter Elliot's room (you remember her artful heirloom abode right?).
Her latest creation had all the friends and family members in attendance smiling, as it's not very often each child gets to take home a gift of their own (or spend an entire party pretending to shoot webs from your wrist bands).
To start Adrean used old adult sized T-shirts she had around the house and a few from the local thrift store (to help accommodate different sizes of children attending). Taking a pair of sharp scissors, she cut up the side of each shirt across the back of the arms and around the front side of the neck hole. This creates the basic cape shape and you can create additional masks and arm bands using the actual arms from your shirt. Just cut eye holes and embellish.
After purchasing a few pieces of felt (to create circles and lightning bolts on the back) and glitter paint, each cape was adorned with the child's name. If you'd like to take it a step further, you could add velcro to the front of each neck band for easy removal. We think you can agree with us when we say these kids look extra happy to have come to the party!
Forget spending big bucks at retail stores (especially with how fast new super hero movies are being released these days) and make your own. For play around the house, your next party, Halloween, or just a trip to the grocery store — DIY play capes are where it's at!
Thanks Adrean!
(Image: Adrean Painter)
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Awesome! Totally going to do this!
We did something similar last Halloween. We took an old T-shirt of my husband's that had a dragon on it, cut off the arms and cut it up each side. Then we put it over a long sleeve shirt and belted it. We handed him a wooden sword and he was a knight.
Love this! How did she attach the felt to the capes? Also, did she use a specific type of paint on the capes to make it more friendly to the washing process?
seattlejessica - The second photo shows the use of a basic craft glue to adhere the felt and I would assume any fabric paint would work just fine!
I was contemplating doing a super hero party for my daughter this year - this sealed the deal!!!!
These pictures are great! I'm sure that any parent or teacher who does this activity will create a memory for their kids that they will treasure for the rest of their lives!
I have to say that adding the velcro seems like a necessary safety precaution to me - I would be concerned about the cape getting caught in something and the child choking or other Isadora Duncan-style catastrophes.
I second what EmilyS said. Growing up, the little boy next door choked to death when the drawstring from his hood got caught on the slide. It only took two minutes. Adding a velcro faster to this one keeps those superheros safe!
Ohdedo...how about editing your post to suggest that for safety reasons?
And parents, cut out those drawstrings!
Lizliterarius - Our post actually does include that information if you check above.
What a totally cute and original idea!
What a SUPER idea!! Will more than likely do a SUPER HERO party for my lil Lukey as well!! his bday is right around halloween and I think this will be more than appropriate!
Thanks a bunch!
I made one like this and my son loves it because he can easily take it on and off since the neck is adult size. Very fun and very cheap!
We just had our annual bash on Sunday (Star Wars this year) and I'm already on the hunt for next year's stuff... Superheroes!! I'm so excited to have discovered this post and can't wait to try it! :) Thanks!!