Birthday parties are a popular topic amongst our kids. They discuss on a fairly regular basis what they'd do at their birthday parties. So, now that Carter's birthday was coming, naturally it was a little more focused on "Carter, what are you going to do for your party?"
(I had to smile at that too, because Josh and I hadn't yet discussed if there would even BE a party, and here they were planning the whole thing!)
But, last weekend we decided to go with it, and Carter told me he wanted a Star Wars party. Ok. So here we go. Not too familiar with all that, although I've seen the
original three movies way back in the day. Thankfully, that's what the internet is for!
Got some great ideas and planned a party for that coming Saturday.
Great ideas like this fun invitation I found! You can personalize it with your child's hair and skin color, plus the logistics of the party. I ordered them late Monday night and picked them up at Walgreen's at noon the next day. Nothing like the last minute!
It really looks like Carter!
One of the great things about having a late fall birthday is that
you can chill the drinks outside and save fridge space : )
"Make your own Light Sabers" (or light saVERs as my boys were calling them...) A brilliant idea I found online. I went to Home Depot and got pipe insulation ($1 each for a six foot long piece!), cut them in thirds, made a duct tape handle, and let the boys decorate them with painters tape.
All morning long, Carter kept asking how much longer until his party started.
Anticipation is half the fun!
Love this lady so much!! I'm so thankful.
Quality control. Had to make sure the light sabers were going to work...
He beat me by making me laugh too hard to stand up. I love living life with this man.
No party would be complete without music, so we went on iTunes
and downloaded a Star Wars mix to play.
Party favors.
Every good party needs a game, and besides, restoring order is always a good thing, and not a bad thing to keep in front of a group of boys, either...ha ha
Very intently and purposefully decorating his light saber,
and loving the fact that it's with his two favorite colors.
The living room was 'enter at your own risk' for a while. Great and valiant battles were taking place. Totally a boy party! And I was so glad they were made out of insulation because the boys could whack as hard as they wanted and nobody got hurt and nothing got broken.
Win-win.
Getting ready to "Restore Order to the Galaxy"
(A Star Wars version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey")
Carter has known and loved Justin since before he was 2 years old.
The boys thought it was hilarious that we used one of Josh's long socks for the blindfold. We were going to use the hot pink sleep mask that Kate sometimes plays with, but it was in there with a sleeping Mollie so we had to improvise. I promise the sock was clean!
Yoda Soda...another idea I found online.
You mix Sprite and lime sherbert and voila! You've got a fun, fizzy,
green party drink that actually tastes good, too!
Tastes better when shared...
Cupcakes are a staple. I started out trying to decorate them to look like stars but they just looked like polka-dots, so I went with a 5-point star on the second batch.
Mollie sees me with the camera and waves, saying "Hi, Mom"
Present time
My friend Stephanie Joyner stayed for the party and I'm so glad she did : )
Listening to his live-in translator read his card : )
Carter and his school buddy Nicholas checking out the car Justin and Rachel brought him back from Africa. The kids over there make all kinds of toys out of old fences and coke cans and things like that. Really cool!
We love Rachel!
The weather was amazing, so we ended with the kids playing in the yard.
Gotta soak up these last warm days before the cold comes to stay.
And look who joined us!! Brandi, all the way from DC! She was in town for some friend's weddings and stopped by after the party for a visit. And Steph brought her girls by, which I know Kate was especially grateful for since she was the only girl at the party that morning (Mollie slept through just about the whole thing)
*I love the color of this tree this time of year!
Aunt Brandi is loved, no doubt about it! Please come back soon!!
All in all, the Star Wars party was a success.
How do I know? Two ways...
1) Carter was walking around later in the day singing a song he made up about "Yoda Soda"
and 2) He slept with his foam light saber.
*Apparently it doesn't matter one bit that Carter, or anyone in my family for that matter, except me and parts for Josh, has never even seen the Star Wars movies. That will be changing as soon as we get through with this semester. I foresee a Star Wars marathon in my near future, at least for Josh and me!
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