Spiderman Birthday Party
RECIPES

Spider Bites
Your guests won’t be afraid of these little spiders! To make this fun finger food, prepare your child’s favorite sandwiches and cut them into small circles with a cookie cutter. Use pieces of thin black licorice to make spider legs, inserting them in between the two slices of bread with the filling. For fun, use black markers to draw webs on plain, white paper plates. Serve each child a few spiders on their own spider web. Enjoy!

Green Goblin's Guzzler
Serve a delicious beverage that’s as green as Spider-Man’s archenemy! Simply add drops of green food coloring to your favorite light-colored beverage: lemonade, lemon-lime soda and apple juice work well. For more fun, make green ice cubes to keep it cool. After filling your ice cube trays with water, add a few drops of green food coloring to each compartment before placing the tray in the freezer. When it’s time to serve, add a few cubes to each child's glass and pour in your green-colored beverage.

Cobweb Cupcakes
A delicious treat awaits your guests with these creative cupcakes. Make your child’s favorite cupcakes and frost them with blue icing. To create a spider web design on top, use a pastry bag with a small decorating tip, or purchase ready-made icing in a tube. Apply white icing on the top of each one in concentric circles. Run a knife from the center of each cupcake to the edge in several places to finish the web. Top each cupcake with a plastic spider for an extra special effect. This idea works well on round cakes too!

Pretzel-Dough Spiders
Prepare dough before the party, and let guests sculpt their own special spider! To make dough for four guests, measure 1 1/2 cups warm water into a large bowl. Add a package of dry yeast and blend. Combine and add 1 tsp. salt, 1 Tbs. sugar, and 4 cups flour. Mix and knead dough with your hands. Cover and set aside for 2 hours. On the big day, protect your table with an oilcloth or vinyl tablecloth. Give each guest a portion of dough and a bit of flour. Encourage them to flour their hands and knead the dough before shaping their spider. When they are finished, place the spiders on greased cookie sheets, brush them with beaten egg, and bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!

Popcorn Ball Loot Bags
Popcorn balls are fun to eat and make great loot bags when wrapped in cellophane, and tied with a cord. Before the party, pop 2 1/2 qts. popcorn and set aside. In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1/3 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a hard boil stage. Quickly whisk in 1/4 cup butter or margarine and 1 tsp vanilla. Add drops of red food coloring to match your theme. Pour mixture over popcorn and mix until popcorn is well-coated. Spread sticky popcorn on baking sheets or pieces of waxed paper. Let popcorn cool slightly before forming it into balls. Wrap and tie with ribbon!

Spiderman Birthday Party
GAMES

Giant Web Hunt
Everyone loves a treasure hunt, especially when it means unraveling this web of fun! For each guest, you will need a small gift or favor bag item and a long piece of yarn. Before the party, cut several pieces of yarn about 15-20 ft. long and attach a small toy to the end of each one. Hide the toys in drawers, cupboards, under chairs, etc. Slowly stretch each length of yarn around the room, wrapping them around furniture and intertwining them with other pieces until you have used all the pieces. This will create a massive web! Attach the name of a guest to the end of each piece of yarn. When the children find their names they may begin to unravel the spider web. They’re sure to giggle as they get caught in this giant spider web, and they’ll definitely love the prizes at the end!

Spider Web Relay
Elusive webs keep kids one step ahead in this fun relay game! Before the game, draw and cut out four spider webs from posterboard. Each web should be approximately 12-15” in diameter. To begin the game, divide your guests into two teams and establish a start/finish line. Give the first player on each team two webs. The first person in line must place a spider web in front of him and step on it. Then, he must place the second spider web in front of the first and step from the first web to the second, and so on. This continues until he has walked across the room, around a designated point, and returned to his team. The next player in line must do the same, until each player on the team has had a turn. The team to finish first wins!

Theme-Related Field Trips
For a special birthday trip, see the Spider-Man movie, recently released in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the web-slinger’s first appearance in a comic book. Or, consider taking your guests on a field trip to a local zoo to learn about arachnids. Many learning centers offer tours and programs especially for children. Contact your local venue before going.

Face Painting
Children’s face painting makes them feel a part of the action and is sure to bring smiles to all! Make sure you have plenty of red and black paint if your guests want a look to rival their web-zinging super hero. Draw Spider-Man’s triangular eyes on each child, or paint a spider or a web on their cheeks.

Pin Spider-Man on the Web
Your guests will love this fun twist on a classic game! Before the party, draw a large spider web on a big piece of cardboard and post it on the wall. Then, print out several images of Spider-Man from the Internet or make copies from a coloring book. At the party, let the guests color their Spider-Man pictures, and help them cut out the images when finished. To play, attach tape to the back of each Spider-Man. Gently blindfold each guest one at a time and spin them around. Point them toward the web and let them walk forward to stick their Spider-Man picture on it. The child who places his or her Spider-Man image closest to the center of the web wins!

Web Maze
This crazy game will keep everyone laughing! Tell your guests to form a circle and face one another. Instruct the children to extend their right hands into the ring and take a hold of someone else’s hand. Then, tell them to do the same with their left hands. Challenge your guests to untangle the "web" by stepping over or ducking under others, and turning around. Whatever the children do, they must not let go of one another’s hands until the web is untangled!