DIY Gotham City
For the first two birthday's of Ryan's life, my husband and I knew we wanted to keep those for ourselves. #rightfullyselfish is what we deemed it. With this 3rd birthday rolling around - quite quickly might I add - the Martha Crocker (c'mon guys...you get it...right?) living within me, was ready to rear her ugly head! It was finally time for Ryan's first home party!!! The theme was a no brainer. I mean, I'm not saying he's Batman, I just can't recall a time I've seen Ryan and Batman in the same room together. Take what you will from that. LOL
Ryan is just a toddler, a BIG one...AKA a man-child, but still a toddler none the less so he didn't request to give much input. THANK YOU LORD! Be warned, the older they get, the more they pitch for specific details in food, and decorations and blah blah blah! I get it, you're 10 but "I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my $h*t!" - Erykah Badu
First thing first, Ryan's Gotham! Just typing that makes me think about the process which makes me tired all over again. Here's what you'll need:
boxes in all shapes and sizes - we just moved so we had plenty matte black wrapping paper - here's the link - we used about 2 1/2 rolls yellow construction paper - here's the link - about 5 sheets school glue life size Batman cardboard cutout - here's the link black plastic table covers - here's the link
It's pretty much as easy as you probably imagine I'm going to tell you it is. First I set all of my boxes up the way I thought I might want Ryan's Gotham to look. This way I could determine about how many boxes I would need. In the end, I wrapped two additional boxes "just in case" and I ended up using them in the decorations. You may want to consider doing the same. Once you've determined which of your boxes you're going to use and how many, you wrap the boxes with the black wrapping paper. You don't have to be as careful or quite as nice as when you wrap Christmas presents (thank goodness) but don't get too sloppy. While the wrapping process isn't difficult, it is time consuming. Because I work 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday-Friday, I could only work on Ryan Gotham after work. I didn't want to put it together too early because then Ryan would want to save the city everyday and there's the risk of Batman, Joker and Penguin destroying the city before the party even came! Not my idea of a good time, so I created Gotham over a 3 day span and didn't put it all together until the morning of the party. To create the windows, I cut the construction paper in to rectangles 2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. I used Elmer's glue to adhear the windows to the buildings. I didn't use any specific pattern when placing the windows nor did I mark the paper to make sure they were perfect (if you know me, that may be a shock). I just eyeballed it and did my best to stay in a grid-like format. I'd put on a few windows, take a step back and decided where I needed more, if any. For the city's backdrop, you can use any black fabric that you come across. My first instinct was to use the old black twin size sheets that used to be on one of my son's beds...well, I couldn't find them. So I decided to use try out the table cloth that I had bought...for the table! VOILA! It was perfect. I sent the husband out (again...) to pick up two more, and there you have it...a black wall with black boxes. *psssssst* This is where cardboard Batman saves the day. At this point I couldn't be happier that my husband had convinced me to put cardboard Batman in my cart and I knew just where to put him now. He belonged in Gotham! It was the perfect touch to the DIY picture booth and he definitely brought the city to life!
This project was worth all of the late nights and barking at my assistant (husband). IT WAS A HIT with all of the party guest, parents and children alike! Those man-hours paid off so won't lie, it's still around. And if you're looking for Batman, he's probably fighting the cardboard cutout for impersonation while I cook dinner. :)
stay tuned for: toddler party food & toddler party activities