Lego Star Wars

Have I mentioned that I love birthday parties? I'm not sure I know how to throw a small party (much to Ryan's chagrin). Some wise moms have the rule that you get to invite as many kids as how old you are turning, so theoretically we should have invited five, but limiting it to five wouldn't have allowed us to invite the all the kiddoes on the block... so we invited the kids Coleman sees and plays with often, and had a very fun group. Anyway, we did a party for his friends on Saturday, and the next day we had our family over so we could enjoy their company for a little longer without all the mayhem... even though with our family, there is always mayhem.

So I love theme parties and I love to copy other peoples ideas. Blue had some great Star Wars party ideas and Amanda had some great Lego party ideas so along with those and great ideas from BirthdayPartyIdeas.com we came up with a spectacular bash. I can't take credit for many (any?) of the ideas that we used for the party, but like I said, I'm really good at copying, and imitation is the most sincere, best form of flattery, right?

We made big Lego cards for the invitations...

This was the inside of the invitation...

I thought I was so clever making our tables look like Legos (my very own idea!), but when I had to explain it to a few of the adult guests on Sunday I realized maybe it wasn't so clever.We had this sign on our front door so the kids could come in the gate on the side of the house...

Our apprentice Jedi Masters were there to help with training and preparation for the games (JD, Olivia, Anna, and Liam).

This was the check in table where they got their Jedi robes (a simple tunic made with fabric--20" X 60" with a hole cut in the middle for their heads and a rope tied around their waists) and light sabers. Note--if you want to make easy, cheap light sabers, make sure to buy pool noodles from the dollar store at the beginning of the summer, rather than waiting until a week before the mid-September party and going to every store in Utah County (15 in one day!) looking for them and ending up finding them at Big Five for a whopping 2.99 each. At least you get three out of each noodle (20" long each)... and they are very simple with 18 inches of 1/2" pvc pipe, a little black electric tape around the handle, and a cap on the end.

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (aka best husband ever) trained the Padawans in the ways of the Jedi so they'd be ready to face Darth Vader.
They were such good students, so attentive!

Darth Vader (my awesome brother-in-law Chad) came and fought all of the Jedis. Although his costume was a little snug (whoever invented the "size" called "one-size-fits-all" is an idiot) he was a good sport and made it so fun for the kids. Our friends lent us this great helmet, complete with voice warping and sound effects (thanks Whites!).

The Jedis had to help Yoda find his Light Saber in the fashion of "Pin the Light Saber on Yoda"

Then we had balloons with small pictures of Princess Leia and Queen Amidala inside them--they had to pop the balloons by stomping on them (or smacking them with their light sabers or just throwing them on the grass) to save the Princess and Queen.

Music from Dexter's Diner (made known to us through the wonderful Lego Star Wars video game) played while the kids danced... when it got shut off they had to freeze in a Star Wars pose...

The Jedi Knights (and isn't Princess Leia lovely?)

I'd love to be a talented cake decorator, but some days all I get is an A for efffort :). Here's my Lego Star Wars Cake complete with Happy Meal Star Wars Bobble Heads... thanks to tips from two blogging friends (Amanda and Shally) we came up with this... I'm not crazy about what I had to do to the bottom to cover up the big gaps between the cake and the board--maybe someday I'll be able to level it out right--but the kids didn't care a bit and ate the whole thing. Using marshmallow halves for the lego heads worked better than cupcakes, because the cupcakes got all crumbly as I tried to frost them.
Coleman said he was going to make five wishes when he blew out his candles (I think maybe the wind blew them out before Coleman got to them, so maybe there wasn't even time for one?).

After presents and cake and ice cream we had a few extra minutes, so we played an impromptu game of "Red Light Saber/Green Light Saber"--there's nothing like a small army of Jedis coming towards you at full speed brandishing their light sabers. I held up the yellow and red light sabers a lot then passed off to Ryan, who let the kids chase him around the yard with their light sabers. What a good sport.

On their way out they got a certificate of completion with some Legos Fruit Snacks stapled to the back... then we all crashed hard.

I think I liked how the cake turned out better for the family party the next day, but the cupcakes were the easiest by far.

Cute Jonah with his Daddy Chad... have you ever seen a cuter youngling? Olivia kept saying "Look, it's Yoda"....

Cousin Sam vs. Darth Vader (little Alyza was afraid of him, but Sam had no fear)

Coleman and Darth Vader

Uncle Tim with Faith against Vader

Cousin Evan fighting Darth Vader...

Lindsey and Jonah with Darth Vader who said in a very convincing Vader voice: "Jonah, I am your father."

We had a great time both days... I'm relieved it's over and still a little bit wiped out... and I think I'll wait awhile before I collect ideas for the next party. We missed our family members that couldn't come... and hope you can come next time (maybe move a little closer, would you?).

**Do you like to throw theme birthday parties?
**Do you like to copy ideas from other people?
**Are you better than I am at limiting the number of guests?