Monday, April 3, 2017

Daxton's 4th Birthday: Star Wars Style!

Holy Cow, looking back on Daxton's birthday party last year and all the prep that went into it, is EXACTLY why we just went to Disney World this year instead of another party ๐Ÿ˜‚

I have to admit though, that I LOVE to plan parties and although this was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun.  It also helps that my husband, Dallas, works insane hours February and March, which give me plenty of time to be creative and plan big parties.

For the past couple years Star Wars has ruled our household.
I suppose that will probably not change for several years to come, so I've embraced it.  So when Dax asked for a Star Wars birthday party, I immediately jumped to Pinterest to copy countless ideas from more creative people than myself.

Here's what we came up with...

For invitations I found a picture of a lightsaber handle and cut a hole at the top.  I then inserted green and red construction paper with the party info inside, so when the kids pulled on the paper it looked like a light saber extending.  It was pretty cool and totally not my idea!  (Thank you Pinterest!)

The decorating was pretty intense and tons of fun.
I had a VERY understanding husband and excited son to help out which made things a little easier.  We covered our playroom with yellow and black streamers dangling from the ceiling to make the roof look like we were in outer space.  We also covered every wall and window in countless yellow stars and other Star Wars pictures and paraphernalia.  For little gifts thank you gifts we turned bubble wands into light sabers, star wars tatoos and stickers, and they each got to keep their costumes we made (jedi robes and light saber pool noodles.)  We had all sorts of fun games, including "pin the bun on Princess Leia."

As each of the kids entered our house, they were able to find their very own Jedi tunic.  Since there were a couple little ones that ended up joining, I made sure to make each Jedi their own name tag.  I sure love a good label and excuse to use my laminator!
The robes were SUPER easy to make and didn't require anything but a pair of scissors and a measuring tape.  I found light weight fabric from Michaels (since it's so stinking hot in south florida) and cut long rectangular pieces.  I used the width of my sons back (shoulder to shoulder) as a basic measurement for each of the robes.  I then made one cut straight up the middle and stopped halfway.  That's it!  I then cut small belts out of a darker fabric to tie around their waists for belts.  Super easy, inexpensive, and the kids loved them.

One whole wall of our playroom was covered in black butcher paper and I found the cutest Star Wars border at the local teacher supply store.  Kids could decorate the wall with all sorts of stickers and coloring supplies.

We had several different stations for the kids to explore while we were waiting for everyone to arrive and get dressed.  I had a lot of fun coming up with fun labels for each of the tables.  "Build Rey a starship to help her escape Jakku" was our table that kids could play with model magic (a cleaner form of playdough) and all sorts of cookie cutters and tools for them to use.

"Save Finn and his buddies from the Sarlacc" was a huge hit with the kids.  This table had four different trays filled with colorful kinesthetic sand.  There were several different star wars figures hidden in the sand the kids could find and then burry again.  We ended up keeping this sand out for weeks after the party since it was so much fun for everyone.

The kids were sweet enough to let me snap a few pictures in their Jedi robes with their light sabers.

Jedi Masters Jack and Dean

Jedi Masters Levi and Julian

Jedi Masters Olive, Emily, and Claire

And our adorable birthday boy!
Jedi Master Daxton

All of our cute little Jedis!
These pictures make me laugh so much.
Just imagine a whole bunch of crazy kids with all the parents behind the camera trying to get everyone to smile.  At the end everyone was yelling cheese ๐Ÿ˜‚



For one of the main activities we did a Jedi training similar to what they do at Hollywood Studios at Disney World.  Our friend and super Star Wars fanatic, Brian, was amazing enough to lead the Jedi training.  He even had his own Star Wars Jedi costume to wear!  He seriously killed it and the kids LOVED every second!

Brian started with showing them three basic moves in a specific order.  The whole group practiced those three moves together and then they got to each take turns using them on Brian.  It was so much fun seeing all of them so focused and having a blast.

Seriously, Brian was amazing!
He was so great with each of the kids and had the best reactions when they used the force on him!

Daxton using a force punch against Brian

Jedi Master Jack taking his turn

Jedi Masters Olive and Ethan showing off their skills

Practicing their skills one more time as jedis.  Love their cute little jumps in the picture on the left.

After their light saber training with Brian, we continued with our Jedi training in the back yard.  The kids loved doing all the different obstacle courses and activities we had planned.

We played "Don't drop the stormtrooper."  Dallas was amazing and hand drew little storm trooper masks onto each of the hard boiled eggs.  It was a good thing we hard boiled them, because there were several that dropped them in the grass multiple times.  Each of the kids were incredibly focused! 

Daxton's face below made us laugh!
He was so determined to hone his Jedi skills.

Each of the kids got to do the obstacle course several times and some even tried running with their egg stormtroopers by the end.  Even little Claire tried carrying her little egg!

Another major hit with the kids was their balance training!
This was another idea I found on Pinterest with a super easy concept and yet the kids LOVED it.  All we did was buy a couple red plastic table clothes from the dollar store and used a few of our extra brick tiles from our back yard.  We told the kids the red table cloth was lava and they needed to jump from rock to rock without falling into the lava.  They all loved it!

Some of the kids jumped fast from brick to brick while others were very focused and went super slow to make sure they didn't fall in the lava.  The rest of the obstacle course was pretty simple with cones and hula hoops to go around or jump through.  The kids spent at least 15 minutes doing the obstacle course over and over.  These jedis had a great time!

When they were finished with the obstacle course, we put on some music and started the bubble machine.  We called this activity, "Party like a Wookie" where the kids got to use their light sabers to try and pop all the bubbles.  There wasn't much wind so in order to spread out the bubbles, Dallas walked in a circle along the outside of the yard while the kids popped bubbles in the middle.  It was pretty fun and loved any excuse to use their light sabers.

Because Daxton's birthday last year fell on Easter weekend, we thought it would be fun to do an asteroid hunt as one of our activities.  After the jedi training we brought everyone inside to eat lunch (pizza--keeping it simple) while a couple people hid all the asteroids outside in the yard.  The asteroids were really easy to make.  I bought several snack size treats and wrapped them in small pieces of aluminum foil.  The looked like perfect little asteroids with yummy chocolate inside.  I made over 100 of them, so the kids had tons of candy and asteroids to find.  Plus since they were wrapped in foil it was easy for us to make sure there were no asteroids left behind to ruin our grass.

Our last activity we did before birthday cake and presents was our Darth Vader pinata.  The kids had a blast "using the force to destroy Darth Vader."  I love the pictures I was able to capture below.  Their facial expressions are priceless and all were very determined to bust that pinata open!

Seriously, look at Dean, Daxton, and Olive's faces in the below pics!  So amazing!๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

Brian was a life saver during this activity.  Since Dallas was manning the pinata rope and I was taking pictures, Brian made sure the line of kids did not get wacked in the head with the pinata stick...and that was a tough job!

Daxton's final birthday swing to crack open the pinata

Everyone running to grab the candy

Daxton requested a storm trooper birthday cake and I have to say, I was pretty impressed with how it turned out!  Cooking is so not my forte so I was very happy it looked at tasted great.  Monica was incredible and made the cutest chocolate light saber cupcakes which the kids loved.

Blowing out his birthday candles

Opening presents...
His friends were beyond generous with their birthday gifts so Daxton got so many fun things!  He got an amazing storm trooper gun from Olive, the hungry hippo game from Jack, a massive millennial falcon from Levi and Dean, star wars walkie talkies from Ethan and Janie, just to name a few.
He has such thoughtful friends!

We were so excited that our Aunt, Uncle, and cousins were able to swing by at the end of the party as well.  They got him the coolest Chewbacca and Stormtrooper, with lots of great hugs as well.

Once everyone had gone home, we let him open his presents from mommy and daddy.  We knew he would get lots of fun toys from his buddies so we figured we would get him fun costumes this year instead.  Dressing up was a new interest he had been showing and we had no costumes at our house, so we found some great deals on Amazon and stocked up!

Here are all the costumes he got for his birthday...
Stormtrooper (with his awesome new stormtrooper gun from his buddy Olive)

Fireman and Construction worker

Policeman

One of my favorite shots from our little birthday boy after the party had ended...
Holy cow, did we have a lot of fun!
Thanks to the most loving supportive husband, lots of hours on Pinterest, and great friends, we made Daxton's fourth birthday a great success!
It was so much fun!
Feel free to steal any and/or all ideas from this post...I stole them as well๐Ÿ˜


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