Last month was my sons 5th birthday.  After weeks of him changing his mind about what kind of party he wanted to have (everything from Ninja Turtles to Transformers to Monster Trucks) he settled in on star wars.  This was especially exciting for the wife and I, because we both love Star Wars.  Naturally I let my dorky dad side take over and went straight to Google to start planning.  I found tons of ideas for party favors and games and may have gone a little overboard!  Here’s what worked,and what didn’t for us.

Invitations

The invitations took the most work.  I wanted to make my own and with a minimal amount of computer skills you can too.  The first thing I needed was a photo editing program.  if you already have one, great.  If not I used a free one called Paint.net.  It’s fairly easy to use and you don’t need to do anything too complex with it.  I downloaded a font called Starvader and installed it.  I used Microsoft Publisher to make the invitation, and I used a free PDF converter called Cute PDF to convert it to a PDF for emailing. 

Now I’m ready to make my invitation. 

First I needed to download some images.  We all know that Google is the king of search, but I have found that bing image search does a really nice job of finding images that I use for invitations, cards, websites and blogs.  I went to bing.com, clicked images at the top and began my search.  I ran a search for starfield and found a couple nice images to use for a background.  Then I ran a search for Jedi Training Academy Logo, lightsabers, and various Star Wars vehicles and downloaded all of them into a folder so I could decide what I was going to use.  I decided to go with the training academy logo and two of the lightsabers.

Step 2.  I went to my photo editor paint.net and I opened the training academy logo.   I used the magic wand to select some of the white space and then the delete key to remove it.  You may have to play around with the zoom and do it a few times to get all the white space out.  When your done do a save as and change the file type to .png.  You have to save files in that format for the transparency part to work.  I did the same for the two lightsabers. 

Step 3.  Microsoft Publisher.  I opened a new project and set the page size for 4×6 landscape.  I put the starfield image as a background.  If you want it to print without a border you need to extend the image beyond the page.   I inserted my Training Academy Logo and my two lightsabers, and I added the details in the Starvader font.  We printed invites for his friends on photo paper (which will kill your black ink cartridge) and we saved the file as a pdf to send out to family.

Party Events and Activities

Make your own lightsaber

This was the hit of the party, and surprisingly easy and cheap.  I wish I could take credit for it, but I found it on Google.  I went to Lowes and bought eight pieces of foam pipe insulation, grey duct tape, and neon purple, neon green, neon red and neon blue duct tape.  The night before the party I cut the foam pipe insulation in half.  I took the grey duct tape and made handles of various decoration.  As the kids arrived at the party their parents helped them use the neon duct tape to make very soft very creative lightsabers of their own that they could use at the party and take home as party favors.

Battle of Geonosis

Now that all the young Jedi have their own lightsaber they are ready to battle the droid army!  We bought a battery powered bubble blower from Target for around $10.  I’m going to let you know now it does not come with enough bubbles, and don’t put the bubble mix into it until you have moved it to where you want it.  That being said it blows a nice stream of bubbles that the new Jedi can battle with their lightsabers. 

Attack The Death Star

They make Star Wars themed piñatas but they are way overpriced.  They make a soccer ball piñata for like $8.  Use spray paint to paint the ball grey , then add some black paint to make some lines and you now have a death star ready for attack.  Obviously your foam lightsabers won’t get the job done breaking this thing.  The hard plastic ones will get it done eventually.  A Piñata stick or a broom handle can be decorated to look like a lightsaber pretty easily as an alternative. 

Events and activities that didn’t work for us

• Pod Race.  I made a pod racer out of some computer boxes and Styrofoam.  We had gone to a Star Wars day at the library and they had a bunch of them made that the kids stepped into, picked up and raced with.  I spent about two hours on mine, and it ended up in the trash.   
• Obstacle course.  The pod race was going to be part of our Jedi Training obstacle course.  We were going to have them do three “training” events to become a Jedi.  When they completed their training they would get their……
• Jedi Robes.  I saw this on another blog and it looked really awesome.  Each kid got to decorate his or her own Jedi robe at the end of the training.  We just didn’t have the time or the organization to pull it off.  What can I say we went a little over the top!

Jedi Food

We had three Jedi themed foods at our party. 

Frozen Gogurt Lightsabers

Gogurt right now is making Star Wars themed Gogurt with Lightsabers on the back.  We froze a couple of boxes overnight and put them out on the table. 

Lightsaber Pretzel Rods

These were a huge hit with parents and kids alike.  At the party store my wife bought colored chocolates.  We melted them in the microwave and then brushed them over pretzel rods.  When they hardened they were fantastic looking (and tasting) lightsaber pretzels. 

AT-AT Cake

I have a hidden talent,  I can draw on cakes.  I may not be cake boss material, but for my purposes I’m pretty happy with my work.  I’m not sure where it came from,  I’ve never been overly artistic in that sense, but I can draw on cakes.  I looked up a picture of an AT-AT online.  I drew it one on a piece of paper, then I drew it on this cake.  I used a black spray icing to give the frosting a more metallic  color.  I used a black gel pen to do the outline, then filled it in with some frosting that we had colored in a bowl.  I then went back with the black gel pen and added some detail work, and I used black red and blue gel pens to make the lightsabers around the edges. 

If you’re planning a Star Wars party I hope you find some of this helpful.  Remember (as I should have) that the younger the kids are the less you need to try to cram into the party.  Have fun, and may the force be with you!!!!!!!!!