Star Wars Birthday Party

My son Jonah turned 9 a couple weeks ago and he asked for a Star Wars themed party!  We had so much fun with this!

As guests arrived, this is what they saw on the front door... I wanted it to look like the begining of the movies, kind of trailing off, but I didn't have much time to fiddle with it. My wording was inspired by the invitation on Shindig.

Our first activity was balloon popping.  I failed to get a picture, but I tied a balloon to each kid's ankle and they had to pop it with the other foot.  Not as easy as you think. ;)  Inside each balloon was a yoda sticker for them to wear.

Next up the boys were split into 2 teams and had a relay to see who could cross Mustafar (lava) the fastest.  The catch was they had to do it one at a time, using 2 stones all the way across.  When one boy finished, he had to run the 2 stones back to the next in line, and so forth.  We had some wind issues with the tablecloths staying down, but it was still a lot of fun.  Even the girls played!

{the idea for this game came from here}

After the relay game we got out the water.  It was a HOT day.  I drew a vulture droid on our driveway and let the kids "shoot" at it with water guns.

{I also borrowed this idea but I cannot remember where from!}

Next we had a Jedi training session.  Which was nothing short of hilarious.  I had my brother lead the training (same brother who played bouncer at Adriana's Rock Star party).  Honing his karate skills of old, he conocted some ingenius moves such as the Jedi side kick, and Jedi side punch.  Real original, eh?  He also demonstrated Jedi Mind Tricking by forcing his wife to hop on one foot and bark like a dog.  Needless to say, the adults were rolling, but the boys ate it up!

Next it was time for a little break.  We feasted before the Jedi Awards Ceremony with a buffet of Star Wars themed snacks.

{some of the food ideas came from Shindig as well - the yoda soda was my favorite!  lime sherbet in lemon-lime soda}

I wanted a good vs. evil themed table, so I stuck primarily to black and white-ish foods.  The white side of the table represented "The Force" and the black side of the table represented "The Dark Side".  Even the cake had a little good vs. evil going on... originally Jonah just wanted cookies (he's not a big cake person), but we saw this cake at Target the night before while picking up some last minute items.  It had bright flowers all over the top, but I just scraped them off and re-iced it and added the lettering.  Dang that cake was yummy!  So were the little cupcakes around it... green key lime flavored  and appropriately named "Jaba Cakes"!

The boys went back outside and were each awarded by name ("Master _______") with a light saber made from pool noodles.  I've seen these in pictures all over blogland, but no real tutorials.  I cut each of 4 noodles in half, wrapped one end in silver duct tape, edged the same end with black electrical tape above and below the duct tape, and added few dot stickers (the kind you use for price tags at garage sales) to look like buttons.

Armed with their new light sabers, the boys then played a game of keeping a balloon up in the air, using just their light saber.  The wind made this the perfect challenge and they loved it! 

The boys ran around a bit and chased each other and whacked each other a few times with their light sabers (good thing they're soft).  So for the pinata we opted to use a pullstring.  I figured enough "striking" had gone on and it was a nice way to settle down before they went home.  I filled the pinata with Star Wars fruit snacks.

We all headed inside and played a quick game up "Pin the astroid on the spaceship". It came with 3D glasses (presumably to be used AFTER the blindfold?  lol) which was fun.  

{my cute niece looking a little bug-eyed!}

Finally, Jonah opened his gifts.

Parents came and each boy left with a party favor box filled with Star Wars themed items I found at Party City.

We had a great time.  As much as I enjoy the frills and fun of my girls' birthday parties, I enjoy the adventure and challenge of coming up with creative boy party ideas!

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