Star Wars Party

I took a page out of my friend Ellie's book (she also has a cluster of birthdays), and we threw back-to-back friend birthday parties for Spencer and Emma. Emma's party ended at 4:15; Spencer's began at 5:00. The chosen theme of his party was...you guessed it...STAR WARS. 

One of the great laments of my blogging career is that I do not have ANY still photos of the party to share. But, in my defense, we did have nine 7-year-old boys running around the house with foam lightsabers. There were more pressing matters, like reminding friends that bathroom language wasn't allowed at the table and helping all the boys stay engaged in the activity at hand. (No small task! I have new appreciation for Spencer's awesome 1st grade teacher). 

Fortunately, we had Jedi Master Joel on hand to keep our rowdy bunch in line. He was AMAZING! I don't know if I've written about it before on this blog, but Joel and Spencer have a VERY special relationship. Joel is my baby brother; he comes after a string of 5 girls in the birth sequence and is followed by another 2 girls. Spencer is the little brother he never had, and Spencer absolutely ADORES his Uncle Joel. (He's been asking all week when get to come see you, Joel, but we're going to let you finish the school week first.) Joel's present to Spencer this year was to serve as Jedi Trainer at his birthday party. 

When the kids arrived, they made (decorated) their own lightsabers. This is supposed to be part of becoming a Jedi, if I understand Jedi lore correctly. If I had it to do over, I would have put this a little further down the list because battles immediately erupted. Ah, well. Lesson learned. 

The lightsabers really turned out well. The idea came from a blog, found by my mother-in-law Valerie (thank you!). They are swimming noodles, cut in half. Spencer and I prepped the hilts with silver and black duct tape. Then I precut strips of duct tape and colored electrical tape so different sizes so they could decorate their hilts and make their own "activate" buttons. 

Here's a photo I just took of the three that ended up at our house, which have been popular not only with my kiddos but also with the neighborhood boys who came over specifically to play with these.

After collecting the lightsabers and treating the kids to some pizza and Star Wars Gogurts, we headed down to the basement to see what Jedi Master Joel had in store. He had tied a cup with fishing line, which then went through a hook in the ceiling and behind a white sheet so he could demonstrate how to use THE FORCE. (I was behind the sheet, helping the force along). Joel demonstrated, explained the level of concentration and focus needed to lift the cup off the table, and then the padawans (just had to check the spelling on that one) got to try their hand at levitating the cup. Pure awesomeness.

After that, there was a disturbance in THE FORCE. Adam had rigged up a Star Wars sound board on his computer to a set of speakers. I acted as AV specialist and did my best to press the right buttons at the right time. Adam (most awesome dad EVER) came out of a storage room door in the basement dressed as Darth Vader with "The Imperial March" playing in the background. (You know...Dun, dun, dun, duh-duh-dun, duh-duh-dun).  He had even set up a fog machine for greater dramatic effect. The padawans gathered by their Jedi Master while the sound board spoke for Vader, inviting them to join him in the dark side. Joel responded in planned lapses, and they had some verbal parrying until it was time for the padawans  to run up the stairs and out back so they could be properly trained on their lightsabers. 

This part went SO well. These boys needed to be outside. They lined up, saw a demonstration of how to defend themselves against the dark side with some basic combinations, practiced with Joel, and then each padawan got to face Darth Vader himself. The training and lightsaber matches took place on the deck, which served as a stage, all the other padawans waiting below. It was most excellent. 

After that, it was time for cupcakes and ice cream. Spencer had requested not to open gifts during his party because he didn't want anyone to feel bad. Sweet kid, that one. (I get to say that since I am his mother.) After the friends left, Spencer had an additional Star Wars extravaganza opening the gifts his friends had brought. 

MAJOR thanks go to...

Heather and Sarah, who answered Joel's call with it became blazingly apparent that we needed more adult supervision and came right away.

Grandma (Valerie), who gave us a Star Wars cupcake set and the blog link for the light sabers. From there, we were off and running to create a truly awesome party.

Grammy (Merilee), who made Joel's Jedi costume which gave him immediate clout in the eyes of our company. He SO looked the part!

Adam, who was seriously awesome in his role as Darth Vader. 

Uncle Joel - not sure I have the words to say just how awesome you were, Joel. This was the best party Spencer EVER could have imagined. Thank you for making it a reality. You were such commanding presence, exuded so much confidence and expertise. We would never have survived this party without you!!

Here's a photo I snapped as we all relaxed in the backyard after the goodie bags were distributed and the parents had picked up their kids. Joel was letting my three munchkins duel him in the backyard. I wish I had a photo of him in his full get-up with the boots, facing off with Darth Vader. 

But alas, we were too busy living life to photograph it.