Star Wars Party

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... we had a Star Wars birthday party in honour of Dash turning Eight. Anakin, Obi Wan, Darth Vader and Princess Leia have a made a comeback did you know? At least in our family they have. Dash loves Star Wars, and this was one fun birthday party to put together.

DECORATIONS

• Silver and black balloons, strung up between the trees
• Flag Bunting - Star Wars images & old movie posters found on google images, printed out, glued back to back and stapled onto string
• GoodY bags - silver gift bags (found for .50c each) with a different Star Wars sticker attached to each one. Contents: A Clone Wars Pen ($2 for 4 pens), silver bouncy ball, sweets and glow sticks
• Old packing boxes (vaguely resembling the planet Tatooine) used to hold cookie decorating items
• A star-shaped cake with Edible Star Wars Cake topper (I surrendered to the dark side on that one; just couldn't figure out a themed cake that would be easy enough for my basic DIY cake decorating skills, but the birthday boy loved it)

THE FOOD

• American Hot dogs (requested by the birthday boy)
• $5 hot chips picked up from the local chippie
• Oven-baked hot-dogs on a stick (corn dogs)
• Watermelon & Strawberries  (red fruit; the colour of a light saber I told them)
• Cupcakes with ring toppers in the shape of Darth Vader & Stormtroopers (bought online at Nicnacnoodle, 12 rings for $6.50); lick the icing off and slip it on your finger...
• Silver paper plates bought in packs from... the $2 shop! (and fancy Star Wars napkins from TradeMe)
• Force Juice to drink. That would be .90c budget lemonade with the wrapper peeled off and replaced with my own version, printed from the computer. Gave me such a kick to hear the boys asking: "Can I have some more Force Juice please???"

THE Stars of the Show PARENTS

Darth Vader: Under that helmet is Mr G. His outfit was found on TradeMe auction site: $20 for the mask & red light saber with sound efforts and heavy breathing. Brilliant

Princess Leia: That would be me, wearing my bathrobe and boots. That authentic looking wig was bought from Geoff's Emporium for a mere $10. The things we do.

We began the party at Megazone Ponsonby for a friendly laser battle; sweaty work all that running and fighting and hiding. I managed to destroy two team's bases single-handedly, not bad for an old mama.

Then it was home for a quick change into our Star Wars personas and some friendly fake light saber duels; Darth Vader was a popular target and often had to fight off multiple Jedi apprentices at once.

After all that adrenaline, what better than to calm things down with a bit of cookie decorating. Yes, that's right. We got 10 eight year Jedi knights to sit down and decorate cookies. They really enjoyed it! And what a lovely job they did; I was super impressed with their talents and attention to detail. Darth Vader picked the winner who received a pack of Star Wars stickers (from the $2 shop - amazing what you'll find there).

I used the tubes of coloured icing that come in packs of four from the supermarket; much less mess than the homemade stuff, and very easy to use.

After food and Cake, the guests all went around and took turns to say a few words to Dash about what they appreciate about him, which was really touching. Dash reciprocated and thanked them all for being his friends and coming to his party. It was a warm fuzzy moment all captured on handycam.

Then it was time to destroy Darth Vader (the pinata, that is).

I made this super easy Darth Vader pinata and filled it with Mars Bars, Milky Ways and other wrapped sweets.

The boys were blindfolded, spun around several times and then had to use their lightsaber (and the Force) to bring down Darth. Always a good giggle watching people swing at the air while blindfolded. Tee hee.

Topping it all off we watched Return of the Jedi (the movie).

A very fun-packed party, I must say. I overheard one lad say to another, "This is the best party I've ever been to...!"
Makes it all worth it when they enjoy themselves so much, doesn't it?

(I also must say I really did rather enjoy being Princess Leia. Something about that bagel-head hairdo...)


More Star Wars Fun:

> Star Wars Party: Darth Vader Pinata
> Star Wars Party: Wookie Cookies & Lightsabers
> Star Wars Party *Just Because*
> Video Game Party: StarWars vs SuperHeroes