Superhero party ideas - How to make a photo prop

Add this photo prop to your list of superhero party ideas! Its tons of fun for the kids (and parents), inexpensive to make, and the memories to be captured….priceless….

Superhero parties are super fun – both for kids and party planning parents. The best part is there isn’t a shortage of superhero party ideas out there. I think the hardest part is having to pick from them! This face-cut out photo prop is tons of fun and keeps the kids AND parents entertained…and you get some pretty awesome pictures to boot!

When my sister-in-law asked me to make of these face cut out photo props for my nephews super awesome Superhero 1st birthday, I was totally excited to get started.

I’ve made a few of these face cut out photo props in the past (check out the end of this post for some more pictures), but this one was one of my favorites..because I love my nephew and I’m big Wonder Woman fan!

These photo props can be made out of wood, but I chose to make it out of tri-fold presentation board. It’s easier to cut the face holes and it’s cheaper – since it’s mainly used once. If you need something more durable or even permanent you can use a large piece of MDF.

Besides the foam board, you’ll need some paint to make the superheroes.

I used inexpensive Dollarstore paint and it worked perfectly. The only thing I noticed was that I needed 2 coats of paint on the red and blue parts so that it didn’t look “streaky”. You might not need to do that with a higher quality pigmented paint, but as long as you don’t mind the couple of extra minutes to do a second coat, the cheaper paints will be fine – and makes this project more affordable to make. The only paint colors you’ll need are blue, red , yellow, black and white.

Nifty Paint Mixing Fact: To make skin tone color you mix equal parts of red, blue, yellow and white. Cool eh? Just wait until you try it! Uh-mazing!

Here’s the full instructions and materials list for this Superhero Party ideas project…

Materials:

Foam board or wood
Paints: red, blue, yellow, black and white
Paint brushes
Sharp scissor or X-acto knife

How to make a face cut out photo prop

1. Take your tri-fold foam board, unfold it and lay it flat. Tape the `seams` of the folds together, by adding a a couple pieces of packing tape across it- so the flaps cannot fold shut.

2. Using a pencil, sketch the superhero figures on the white board. I had a cartoon superhero picture on my phone as I sketched it with a pencil. I made a few mistakes and it was easy enough to erase and redraw. If you’re more daring than me you could skip this step and go straight for the paints! Also, remember you don’t have to draw in the faces, since you will be cutting most of it out anyways.

3. Cut 2 oval (face shaped) holes in the middle of the faces. I roughly measured my kids faces and used that to guide the measurements. I used an X-acto knife to make the cut since its foam/ cardboard.

4. Start painting with the light colors first. It’s easier to paint dark over light than the other way around. To make the skin toned color: add equal amounts of red, blue, yellow and white…and be prepared to be amazed!