The Invitations
I found tons of ideas online about possible invitations, I took many of the concepts and added a few of my own to come up with these. I put it all together in Photoshop. Awesome Aunt Rina took Lincoln around to the homes that were close and the rest we sent in the mail. Lincoln wanted to delivery them all by himself, so he was the one who went up to the doors and knocked for his friends.
The Fun
This was a hard area to narrow down as I found tons of ideas online and came up with many others on my own. Since he was inviting so many friends, I knew we needed to utilize the backyard, but since it is so hot here, I knew any activities outside also needed to include water. (we have an above ground pool- but with that many smaller children- we opted not to use that feature. Instead I incorporated "water" games.
Since we were doing the whole Star Wars theme mixed in with Jedi Training, I decided it would be fun to tour the galaxy on our quest to become a Jedi and defeat the forces of evil. I went online and found pictures of each of the planets I was going to incorporate and then printed them off. I put these around in our main headquarters. I had someone choose a planet every time to change activities. After each activity/Jedi Training we would go back inside - to cool off as well as to choose a new task. I will give you a breakdown of each planet with its accompanying activity and of course pictures. :0)
Hoth: The Ice Planet
Activity: Free the Jedi
Task/Explanation: The Jedi need you, their base was attacked on the planet hoth and many of them were not able to escape before dark. Because of the extreme temperatures at night many of them became frozen in ice. It is your job to free them.
Basically, I found small little Star Wars characters and froze them in water placed in a throw away aluminum mini loaf pan. I froze a bottom layer of water and then added the character and more water. The guys sank but only as far as the bottom layer of ice, so the guys ended up frozen (mostly) in the middle of the block.
Each of the kids got a block of ice that they got to free their Jedi from. At first the kids thought maybe that would just lay them out in the sun, but then they discovered that throwing them to the ground was much more fun and much more effective!
Dagobah
Activity: Jedi Obstacle Course
Task/Explanation: Jedi must learn balance and coordination. They must also protect the galaxy from the forces of evil. You will make your way through the course and then grab a water balloon to defend your fellow Jedi from the tie fighters that are approaching your training center.
We set up an obstacle course- swamp and all in the backyard. The kids had to balance across the side wall, make their way up and over a ladder, through the swamp, up the playground and down the slide, under/through the tunnel, and then down the slip and slide. Once completed they could grab one water balloon and through it at a tie fighter ( "H's" drawn on the cement wall with sidewalk chalk)
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| If you squint really hard this will look like a tie fighter ;) |
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| This is gross! I hate swamps... |
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| I made it! |
Kamino
Activity: Storm Trooper Stomp
Task/Explanation: It has come to our attention that the storm trooper army is being built on the planet Kamino. We must travel to the planet and stop production.
This was an inside came, although it could have been done outside. We blew up 100+ white balloons and taped on an image of a storm trooper head. When it was time for the game, we dumped the balloons which had been stored in trash bags into the room. The kids were to jump and stomp on them to "pop" all the troopers. The only problem was, these balloons were tough to pop. Half the problem probably occurred because we didn't fill them completely up. But even Justin was able to step on one with both feet without it popping. So we had to revert to giving them "the force" or a small pin to pop those bad boys!
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| I've got him, well I think I've got him. |
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| These Storm Troopers are tough! |
Tatooine
Activity: Pod Racing
Task/Explanation: As jedi you must have quick reflexes. You are going to build your own pod racer and then race each other in the backyard.
We didn't actually have time to complete this game, but the premise was that the kids were going to build a pod racer and decorate it (I found nerf airplanes and stickers at the dollar store) Then they would have raced them in the backyard,
Mustafar
Activity: Cross the Lava
Task/Explanation: You must help the jedi collect water to use as they battle on the Lava planet, Mustafar. But in order to collect water you have to transfer it form one side of the lava fields to the other, without falling in.
We laid out some red plastic tablecloths to act as the lava. And then had cardboard "rocks" strategically placed throughout the lava fields. They had to jump from one rock to another. The fun part was they were carrying large cups of water across, so every time you jumped you lost water. (I had to make sure and tell them they had to do a bunny hop as they were loosing much water the other way and since the object was to get them wet, the bunny hop worked much better!)
Endor Moon
Activity: Blaster Training
Task/Explanation- The ewoks are under attack. Use your blasters to locate and destroy the enemy (paper storm trooper heads hidden throughout the backyard)
The kids were each given a water gun. Their task was to locate the paper storm troopers and blast them with their water guns. This activity turned into a giant water gun fight- which was pretty much the point of it all. Although, I don't think Daddy was thinking he would be so out numbered!
Naboo
Activity: Rescue the gunguns
Task/Explanation: The gungun city is under attack. The Imperial army dropped mines into their city. It is your task to try and collect as many as you can with one breath.
We didn't actually have time for this game either, but I purchased dive rings at the dollar store, and we were going to have kids dive into the pool one at a time to try and collect as many as they could.
Alderaan
Activity: Jedi, Jedi, Sith
Task/Explanation- Sometimes it is hard to tell who is good or evil. You will each take a turn to discover the sith among us.
For this game the premise is the same as Duck, Duck, Goose. Except, the person that is it is carrying a large glass of water. Every time they say Jedi, they dump a small amount if water on the players head, if they believe the person to be a Sith lord, they yell Sith and then dump the whole glass on their head and run away as fast as they can.
Coruscant
Activity: Star Wars Bingo and Thermal Detonator
Task/Explanation: This is our home base, here is where we learn about the force. This game will help us learn our who our fellow Jedi's are and know who the bad guys are as well.
We played this game first as we waited for all the guests to arrive. I made the Star Wars Bingo cards and then found some large glass beads at the dollar store to use as markers. You won by having 3 in a row and shouting out Star Wars. The winner received "Starbursts"!
We didn't have time for Thermal Detonator. But this was basically going to be a version of Hot Potato. Music would have been played, but instead of a potato it would have been a water balloon. If the water stopped while you were holding the detonator, you would get to throw it at someone.
Death Star
Activity: Defeat the Death Star or Defeat Darth Vadar
For this one I had two activities planned. For defeat the Death Star, I had a black hamper with the Death star attached to it. The kids each had a Star Fighter ( which was actually a frisbee with a star fighter pictured attached to it) and the goal was going to be to throw the frisbee into the opening of the death star- like Luke had to do. But we didn't have time for this game as we actually had a real life Darth Vadar show up at the party.
I had the kids trying to learn to use their force on the garage door. They also took their light sabers with them (cheap dollar tree light sabers that they received when they arrived at teh party but that had been resting up till this point.) I told them that if they would all work together we just thought they might be able to force the door up. After a little bit of concentration, the door opened! Little did they know that their enemy was inside waiting to duel.
When the kids say Darth Vadar they went crazy! They pretty much all attacked him at once without anyone telling them to. I had to stop them for a second and get them into an orderly line so they could each have a chance fighting Vadar. Luckily Darth Vadar soon decided to join the forces of good and come inside and help them learn how to use the Light Saber. Each Padawan learner got a chance to work one on one with Vadar and of course take a picture.
Once Vadar proclaimed them masters, they received their Jedi Robes (which my awesome mother sewed together for me!) and we got to pose for one more picture with him before he had to catch his ship home.
The Food
Since we were having the party in the middle of the Day, we knew we would need to feed the hungry Padawan learners. Here was out mennu-
Darth Dogs - Hot dogs
Bobba Fett Buns - Hot Dog Buns
Rebel Relish
Moff Mustard
Kenobi Ketchup
Padawan Popcorn
C3PO-tatoes - Potato Chips
Wookie Cookies - No Bake Cookies
Yoda Soda- 7up with Lime Sherbert
Jedi Juice - Capri-Suns
Wampa Watermelon
Ewok Treats- Strawberries
Greedo Grapes
Vadar Veggies- Carrots, tomatoes, etc
Tribal Horns- Bugle Chips
Light Sabers- Pixie Stixs
Here are a few pictures of the spread
The Party Favors
I found black buckets at the dollar store and then attached a Star Wars logo I printed out on full sheet mailing labels. They matched perfectly and I was very happy! The buckets were stuffed with all kinds of things. Most of the stuff I found at the Dollar Tree, 99 cent store, Target Dollar section, etc. Some of my best finds were Star Wars playing cards, Star Wars Pez dispenser, Star Wars Notepads an pens we picked up at the Lego store in Downtown Disney. I also found Star Wars fruit snacks, crazy asteriod balls, and of course the frisbees.
The Cake
And of course no party is complete without a cake, right!? I found the Darth Vadar wilton pan on eBay for a great price, considering some people were trying to sell it for 80+ dollars. I actually made a chocolate buttercream for the first time, as a top online said it would make the black frosting taste better. Which I must say was a great tip. The frosting was great. And if you have ever had black frosting before, you know how nasty it can be- since it take so much dye to get it black!
Anyway, sorry for the long post. But we had a blast at the party, and my brain is already wondering what he might want to do next year. I started planning for this party in November, so it's never too early in my book! ;)
