Star Wars Birthday Extravaganza!

I have been so caught up in planning Indy's 10th birthday party I have barely had time to breathe. If you've been around a long time you know I love birthday parties. Love, love, love them. When we party, we party! I only have so many years where my boys are going to let me plan parties, so I better go big. Also, because I'm kick ass.  I would link to 2 previous party blow outs I've shared, but Google+ ate the photos and I haven't put them back up yet.  I'm still mad at Google+ over this!

Anyway this year Indy wanted Star Wars (obviously). He is Star Wars mad and I have been up to my ears in it for months. I personally have always loved Star Wars, but after this, I am just about at my limit. No, not really!  Who am I kidding? I will always love Star Wars!

Without James Bond, I decided instead of making most of the food, I'd order it and I have to say it was worth every penny!  I did make some things, but the time consuming things (cake, cupcakes, cookies, sandwiches, cut fruit) I just bought.  Why haven't I been doing this all along???  I also got a sitter for Han Solo so I wouldn't have to try to keep up with him while doing all this other stuff.  Plus, the party fell during his nap time.  Planning, my friends, planning.

For our party theme decided on a Jedi Training Academy. The invitations read:

Your Assistance Is Needed! 

The Empire May Have Discovered A Secret Rebel Outpost On The Remote Planet Earth. To Protect This Outpost The Alliance Has Chosen You To Receive Top Secret Jedi Training, Disguised as the 10th Birthday Party For The Youngling [Indy]. Class Will Be Held on August 4, 2012, 1400-1600 Hours 

All Younglings Should Travel Unarmed (As Traveling With Weapons May Alert The Empire To Our Secret Training Efforts) To The South Sector of [Street Name] In The East Doack Quadrant Of Wiesbaden, Germany. 

May The Force Be With You! 

They were printed over the Rebel Alliance Emblem.  I'm all about the details!

Each Youngling was given robes when they arrived, that were made of  canvas painter's cloth.  This stuff is crazy cheap compared to buying fabric by the yard!  I just cut it up, made a slit up the front and a neck hole, then cut some long strips to use as belts.  Easy, peasy.  Time consuming, but easy.

They were also given Jedi names.  I wrote a bunch of names I pulled from a Jedi name generator (you can find anything online!) and had each child pick a tag at random.  I told them the Force would make sure they got the correct name.  This kept them from arguing over a name or taking too long to decide which name to pick.  See, always thinking!

After the robing and naming, they gathered in a circle around me, the (kick ass) Jedi Master.  Oh, and you may notice, unlike previous parties, I am not in heeled boots.  I actually wore flat.  You didn't faint did you?  I do own flat shoes and boots.  The pair I wore are gorgeous Ann Klein and look fabulous on me.  :)

Since James Bond is in Afghanistan (sadness), I got the super awesome older brother of one of Indy's friends to help me out.  I adore this kid.  He is so awesome and kept the Younglings in line.  Yay!

Each Youngling was given a light saber ($7 each at Blockbuster costumes online)  and taught the proper handling and use of them.  By this I mean they were instructed not to hit each other.  Very important.  We have seen the Jedi Training Academy at Disney several times, so I just looked that up on youtube to get my schtick down.  Seriously, anything can be found online.  BTW, what do you get when you cross a bounty hunter with fruit?  Mango Fett!  Bwahahaha!

 Demonstrating the training moves on my Jedi Apprentice:

Indy and his sparing partner (and the younger brother of my Jedi Apprentice):

 After they got the training down, they had to work on keeping a balloon in the air with their light sabers.  It was pretty windy though, so they ended up chasing them down.
Why did Yoda cross the road?  He was FORCEd to! 

All my Padawans:

The final activity was an obstacle course to test their agility while carrying Yoda (backpack).  They had to run through one of those rope things where you have to step in each square (I don't know what those are called!)

Then jump over a low cable:

Walk across 2 sets of planks:

Shoot a Stormtrooper with a Nerf pistol (some kids got it in one shot!):

Stormtroopers!!!!  They didn't have to knock them over, just hit one of them.

Circle 3 trees (dizzy!) around then run back and cross the planks, cable and step thing again.  

 The Padawan with the fastest time got to keep the back pack.  Most kids ran it in 50 seconds to a minute and a half, depending on how many shots it took them to hit a Stormtrooper.  The kid who won hit the Stormtrooper on the first try and came in with a time of 34 seconds!  He was a really wired kid, so I'm not all that surprised.

After the course, it was time to eat.  Check out my Death Star watermelon.  It's not as good as the one James Bond did for G-Money's party a few years ago, but still, I think it's awesome.

 I like to theme my food (details!) so the Mos Eisley Cantina had the following menu:

Padawan Pizzas (mini pizzas)
Luke Skywalker's Tatooine Sandwiches
C3P-O's (potato rings)
Boba Fett's Fruit
Darth Vader's Death Star Dip and Empire Chips (spinach artichoke dip)
R2D2's Comlink Pepperonis
Chewbacca's Wookie Cookies
Admiral Ack-bars (Rice Krispie treats)
Gungan Gummies
Princess Leia's Alderaan Fluff (cherry/cool whip/marshmallow/pineapple goodness!)
Coruscant Cupcakes
Han Solo's Corellian Cake
Degobah Swamp Water (lime sherbert punch)
Jedi Training Academy Refresher (bottled water)

The kids went crazy over the Degobah Swamp Water.  I have to say it was really good.  To make it more "swampy" I cut up some long, skinny gummies and dropped them in.

Make a wish!

Presents!  This was a couple of Star Wars comics he's been bugging me for since April.  I wrapped them in a bigger box so he wouldn't know what it was.  He was excited!

Star Wars Legos (he got 4 different sets):

Holy smokes!  It's Star Wars Lego III for Wii!

And then there was the one thing he's been dying for since.....well, forever; a REAL Indiana Jones whip.  Shut the front door!

I have to say that whip is awesome (if you say that in a sing song voice it conveys the true meaning of the word).  He was desperate to try it out, but with so many kids around, I nixed that idea.  We didn't need another eye injury.  See the kid in the green next to Indy with the squinty eye?  Yeah, that would be the result of a light saber.  Someone did not listen to the Jedi Master!

The whip is 6' (not including the handle) of hand twisted leather.  It is really pretty.  We decided to try it out in the living room after the party and, um, I had to get out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get the marks of the ceiling.  Oops.  We then moved out on to the balcony where we both got it to crack.  That was terribly exciting.  And hard!  We also found out that the little tail at the end of the whip stings like fire if it comes back and hits your arm.  Ouch.  Oh, and Indy got a belt with a whip holder so he can wear it just like Indiana Jones.

In addition to a mountain of presents, Indy racked up $115, and a $20 gift card!   Lucky!

I don't think I could have done this if it weren't for my Jedi Apprentice, my sitter and my awesome downstairs neighbor, who helped me getting out the food and punch and cleaning up.  I owe her big time.

Now that this is all over, I want to drink about 5 bottles of wine and sleep for a week.  I don't think that's going to happen.

Oh, and instead of crappy goodie bags, the kids got to keep their light sabers and robes. The robes were a big hit.  Who'd have guessed?

I hope you enjoyed seeing our party!  Maybe now I can be around a little more!  You know, until it's time to start planning next year's party.  May the Force be with you.  And especially with me.