Forces to Reckon With

Saturday night we hosted Jake's 8th Birthday Party.  Last summer Tracy sent me a link to a birthday party site with tons of ideas for a very fun Star Wars party.  I showed it to Jake and filed it away for this past birthday.

It all started with the invitations:

As the boys arrived they received their Padawan robes.  Grandma to the rescue on these.  This website offered a simple robe pattern.  It really wasn't complicated and I found super cheap fabric.  Mom sewed up most of these as I cut. 

These were a hit.  My mom made 8 of these.  (Then she made one for each of Tracy's kids...).  These boys didn't remove the robes all night.  When they changed into their pajamas, they made sure to put the robes back on.  The next morning when I came down they were all wearing them again!

We collected wrapping paper rolls from family and friends and made a lightsaber for each boy.  These were also a huge hit.  (I crack myself up!)  More on that later.

We started with dinner.  Galactic Pizza with Yoda Sodas (which is just lime sherbert and Sprite).

Then we headed downstairs where we had set up an obstacle course.  Each boy had to crawl under a chair, jump across three bean bag chairs, duel Mike then pop a balloon on the other side of the room.

I couldn't begin to take pictures fast enough and keep track of times.  But the balloon popping?  CRAZY.  These boys had to run across the room and at least half of them took a flying leap, landing on their choice of balloon on their knees or butt. 

The night before I had drawn the emperor for the next game.  Jake decided the boys would get one chance to get their lightsaber landing as close to the "X" as possible to kill the emperor.  We covered their faces with a clone trooper mask we found on the internet, spun them around and let them go.

I'm not sure what we are going to do with this drawing.  But I spent the better part of an hour drawing and coloring it so someone is going to need to at least put it in his closet for awhile.  Poor emperor though.  He looks a bit like an evil Mother Theresa with the habit thing I managed to draw across his forehead.

Anyway - I did manage to get them to sit still for a picture.

"Sit still" might actually be a stretch.  But this gives you an idea of what the lightsabers looked like.  Wrapping paper, painter's tape, duct tape and electrical tape. 

After this I sent out a distress signal to my family telling them that we weren't sure we were going to survive until morning.  These guys were nuts.  My mom sent back an email with, "May the Force Be With You." - (everyone's a comedian).  We headed upstairs to feed them a cupcake and open presents.  We figured we'd go all out; they were already insane so why not give them sugar?  Maybe they'd crash faster.

In case you're wondering, they are lined up to look like a lightsaber.  Jake chose a gray cupcake, took a bite and said, "I never knew the lightsaber handle was so tasty!"

Then they all asked for a second cupcake and we said, "Are you crazy?" 

Afterward they headed downstairs and watched Episode IV of Star Wars.  Well, they watched almost all of it, but got restless 30 minutes from the end.  This just about killed Jake; he loves this movie and really wanted to see it all.

Instead they chose to play the Wii.  A few couldn't spend the night and the rest that did were in bed by 11pm. 

When they headed home they were given an official Jedi Training Packet.

These packets contained a Jedi word search, a mask, directions on drawing R2D2, cubecrafts, a coloring page and two Star Wars pencils (which Tracy found for me in the Valentine section!)

Finally, here's the deets you should know before you take this party on:

1.  8 boys with 8 lightsabers = total insanity.
2.  8 boys sitting around pizza and talking = "Hairy butts," "Smelly pits," and "Boobies" ad naseum.
3.  Despite all that, it's still fun to see your son and his friends get excited about Jedi Robes and homemade lightsabers.