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Here’s the backstory, in case you haven’t been following along on Facebook. Mike (my husband) and Gavin (one of Mazzy’s best friends) have the same birthday— October 22nd. Gavin is also the son of Seri (aka Little Miss Party) and one of our closest family friends.

Over the summer, Mike and Gavin realized their birthday was on the same day and Mike joked around about having a joint birthday party. Over the next few weeks, every time we would see them, Gavin would bring up their joint party and Mike would humor him by agreeing with all his party planning ideas. What food they were going to have, what the cake was going to look like, the party theme, etc. It was decided the theme was going to be a superhero bowling party. Because, OBVIOUSLY.

The one glitch in humoring a five-year-old is the five-year-old is often not in on the joke.

“Mike, you realize Gavin really thinks you guys are having a joint party, right?” I said on more than one occasion.

“I know. It’s hilarious,” my husband would respond.

But in my heart, I knew there was more to it than that, because at some point Seri was going to have to break his son’s heart with the truth.

OR.

Mike and Gavin were ACTUALLY having a joint birthday party.

Sometime at the beginning of September, I got the call.

“Ilana?”

“Yes, Seri?”

“Ummmm… do you think Mike would actually be willing to have a joint superhero bowling birthday party with Gavin? He talks about it non-stop.”

“ABSOLUTELY.”

I think I told Facebook before I told Mike.

Invitations went out.

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Gavin invited his friends and Mike invited his friends. Everyone was reminded of the “MANDATORY DRESS CODE FOR ALL: SUPERHERO”.

The party was last Sunday at Lucky Strike.

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It was planned to perfection because Little Miss Party does this for a living.

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Everyone dressed up, even me, who is usually costume averse. I put together my own Wonder Woman costume from various thrift store items, as opposed to buying the pre-packaged sexpot Wonder Woman at the costume store. Not way, no how. THIS WAS A KID’S PARTY!

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Seri’s family went with a Batman themed family costume…

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We contrasted with a brighter more mainstream Super Family.

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Don’t we all look cute together?

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Mazzy did her own thing as Flower Girl. (The costume was made by yours truly and you can read all about how Flower Girl came to be, plus how I ruined my dining room table while constructing it here.)

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Harlow used her Superbaby costume from last year. (That’s the advantage of being a tiny peanut. Stuff from a year ago still fits.)

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Look at these kids…

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I think I die of cuteness every time I look at these pictures.

Everyone stepped it up and got fully dressed in costume. I think it being so close to Halloween helped. Here’s me with two of my oldest friends and our littlest ones (who haven’t quite gotten their superhero flying poses down yet).

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Here’s a few other families in attendance. FYI- Raquel Bianca took all the photos so neither Seri or I had to stop the festivities to take our cameras out the entire time.

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The party was in a private space at Lucky Strike, which was AWESOME. Two lanes just for us with a big private room perfect for letting the kids run around without anyone getting lost.

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Harlow had never been to a bowling alley before and Mazzy had only been once— we went to an adult bowling party when she had first learned to walk and it was kind of a nightmare. All she wanted to do was run up the bowling alley towards the pins and I had to leave with her because I couldn’t take it.

This time was different. Mazzy loved bowling and keeping score. And Harlow actually understood the parameters and was able to play with the big kids.

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It only took about five hours for her ball to make it to the pins.

Harlow also got her first taste of a cake pop, and probably the only issue we had with the party was the fact that she wanted every cake pop available. She also wanted to eat cake off everybody else’s plate once she finished her own. I spent a lot of time cleaning up after the people who left their half-eaten cake sitting out so she wouldn’t put the germs of thirty people directly into her mouth.

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Oh, I almost forgot. The quintessential shot of Mike and Gavin blowing out the candles on their joint birthday cake.

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My husband is such a good sport.

And to Seri, I am so happy our kids brought our families together. You make our lives so much more fun.

Happy birthday, superheroes!