My son Aesop decided, a year ago, that for his fifth birthday he would have a Star wars party.
From the moment his first episode of Star wars began, he was hooked. The weapons! The battles! And the baddies! Oh! The baddies were sooo cool. (Aesop, a little worryingly, always likes the villains more than the heroes.)
He loved every single one of the movies (except one of them was a bit boring because there was too much ‘pashing it up’, apparently.) and for a few months EVERYTHING revolved around Star wars. He got Star wars Lego and light sabers and every make-believe game involved battle scenes and droids and all that other good stuff.
So, when his birthday finally seemed to be nearing we confirmed the theme and began the mission for the ultimate 5-yr-old Star wars/ dark side party! This meant a fair amount of time on the net, looking up craft tutorials, costume ideas, pictures, and things to buy on Trademe.
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In the end we decided to keep main bits fairly simple: three games, provide only the cake/s and a small amount of food and have everyone bring a plate, decorate only with balloons, flags and streamers and keep the (good quality) take home gifts to a minimum (who needs another bag full of junk in their house?).
The games were a death star pinata, pin the light saber on the storm trooper (which I have no photos of due to me being the one guiding the kids. Bummer! It was awesome though, Abraham made both games and did an amazing job.) and a huge balloon light saber battle.
You can thank Atlanta-based Uzbin Photography for making your day this much better -- they recently shot a Dr. Seuss-themed birthday party for a pair... Read more
The balloon sabers were a great idea because, as I thought, some of the kids who had brought light sabers as part of their costumes were already whacking everything and everyone in site. These made for much less damage to people and things! None of the games had ‘prizes’ as such and the kids did not seem to mind at all.
I made a chocolate mud cake, covered in grey butter icing (well, technically margarine: I bake dairy free.) and drew details on it with black glitter icing, to resemble the death star. And made vanilla cupcakes with the same grey icing and bought cupcakes rings online. The rings were brilliant, they acted as a decoration and then became a take home toy for the kids. Other than the one kid, who insisted only girls wear rings, they were very well received!
I also made Darth Vader dolls for the kids to take home, using this tutorial by the ever-talented Mypapercrane. They were a bit fiddly but so, so worth it. I loved sending the kids off with something handmade and all, except the same little boy who insisted the dolls were also only for girls, the kids loved them.
Our costumes were the most fun part…
My costumes was also fairly simple. I was given a piece of satin that someone had sewn into a rectangle with a neck hole, and I purchased a wig online. Then I made a belt, using an obi style belt I had as the base, and glued some tin foil covered card on the front. Oh, and a gun from the $2 shop completed it!
Aesop’s costume was based around the amazing mask we were given. All I had to do was find him some black jeans, a black t-shirt and make him a cape, and he was set.
Otto was, of course, an ewok. Unfortunately I don’t have the proper pictures of his full costume yet, they are on Mum’s camera. But he slept for half of the party and he did not leave his costume on for long, he has an ear infection in either ear and was not in the mood to be wrapped up in half a teddy bear!
Abraham’s Dad needs a mention here too. He definitely wins for most amazing costume. The boys were both terrified and amazed when he arrived. It took Aesop a few minutes to even figure out who it was! Such an incredible effort.
Also, Lucy turned up with not only the soundtrack for the day, but these gob-smackingly awesome Chewbacca cookies. They win in the food stakes, for sure. Her and adorable little Isla made such a great addition to the party, so happy they came. Yay for real life bloggy friends!
I can’t believe how much effort everyone put it, thank you to everyone who came! And everyone who gave advice via the net, too. ‘Twas a great time had by all!
That is the most amazing party ever!!!! I love that it didn't take HUGE amounts of work and money and yet it looks REALLY fun 😀
OOH I think we need a new category OFFBEAT BIRTHDAY PARTY!!
The balloon light sabers are brilliant! The whole party looks like a blast. For some reason, seeing an 8 year old dressed as Darth Vader makes me giggle.
That's Fantastic! my husband owns a full storm trooper movie-quality reproduction armor suit and loves entertaining kids in it! we're definitely going to have to use the light saber idea! kudos!
OH holy hell this is AMAZING! I want to do this for my 29TH birthday!!
I had a star wars birthday party for my 21st it was the greatest!!
I can not wait to give my baby girl a Star Wars party. I hope she wants one.
We just had my son's 6th birthday party…Horde style! He's been playing WoW for 2 years, and he loved the whole day. Even those who didn't know the game had fun. I'll have to keep the balloon light sabers in mind for next year though!
You get the Best Mom Ever award! Really, you guys turned it out for your kid. It reminds me of a King Arthur party my parents threw for my brother when he turned 8…. I was elisted as Morgan LeFay/fortune teller. Lol
Okay I'll bite who was Abraham's Dad?
Thanks so much for featuring this Ariel! And thank you all for your lovely comments.
Jessica_Iowa- on the invite we asked that everyone come as their favourite character or make one up. Steve (Abraham's Dad) made one up. When I said it took Aesop a few minss to figure out who he was I meant to figure out that it was his Poppa Steve : )
I just came across a really cute picture on stylemepretty…. http://www.stylemepretty.com/gallery/photo/michae… is this a coincidence or is it the same adorable little boy? with the mask on I have no idea lol
Oh. My. God. I LOVE IT!!!!
Strong with this mom, the force is!!
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