Old-School, Backyard Birthday Party…

Hmmm…should we cash in some of our 401k and contribute to the increasingly elaborate, hire a planner, children’s birthday bashes?  OR…should we have an old-school, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, musical chairs, cake and goodbye party in our backyard? Not having 40 kids and parents to clean up after is written in all caps on the pro side of the “rented hall” list. And as much as I hate to admit it, there is that “coolest party ever!” competition I’m in with all the other parents at Nate’s school. {tsk-tsk}

When Nate declared (through a town crier) that his 5-year-old party would be a Star Wars party, I immediately did some surfing to see what other Moms of Jedi-Junkies had done with this theme. Maybe it was the cleverness of all those Moms, maybe it was purely the unconditional love of my eldest son, or maybe (probably) it was how very cheap thrifty I am…I decided to go with the home-made, DIY party in our backyard.

We decided to call it a “Jedi-Training” party. That way, everyone was on the same side…the good side. We didn’t want some poor kid coming to the party dressed as Darth Vader and getting his “dark side” kicked all over the yard. We try to teach non-violence to our sons, but it’s hard when your husband is a Wookie-lovin’, Solo wannabe. I was determined to make this party as peaceful and Zen as Yoda himself.

The preparations:

We also had Jedi-Juice. It was green Hawaiian Punch. If you add 7-up it’s Yoda-Soda! In keeping with the cheap thrifty theme…I made the cake myself and decorated it with Nate’s Galactic Heros:

Sure, it looks home-made and uneven to us but to the kids at the party….”Woah! Cool cake, Nate! Can I have a piece with Luke on it?” Mission accomplished.

The party schedule was this: (Of course there was a schedule! I’m still type “A”) When the Jedi arrived, they were given their Jedi robes and their very own light saber. Both of these items were handmade from online tutorials I found.

After each Jedi was uniformed and armed, they entered the training center for some light saber training:

When all the Jedi had arrived, we herded them outside for the Jedi obstacle course:

Then we played,  “Get Han Solo out of the carbon-freeze” I had taken 3 of Nate’s Galactic Hero Han Solos and froze them in a container of water. We separated the kids into 3 teams. Each Jedi had a cup for water. They took turns dipping the cup into a pail of water and running to dump the water onto their frozen Solo. The first team that got Han out of the ice won.

After light saber shaped popcicles, we moved back inside to cool off. We played a Star Wars version of the old cake-walk game:

About halfway through this game, I pulled out R2-D2 and looked up to see that Nate was standing on that photo. I said, “Nate…that’s you! Sit down.” All of a sudden I hear  what sounded like a helicopter, “pssst…psst…shhhh..ssssss…” I look up to see EVERY other parent starring me down. “Did you just call the BIRTHDAY BOY out?” They all whispered at once. “SHHHHAAAME ON YOU!” I didn’t know you let your kid win just because it’s his birthday. I’ve seen way too many Lifetime movies about parents who cheat for their kids. I guess I was being overly honest. “Nate…I made a mistake…stand back up!” (before this angry mob lynches me!) So, after a few more rounds…”And the winner is Nate!”

Then it was cake time:

Nate wanted a pinata. Even after I showed him all the “America’s Funniest Videos” of people getting  hit and mamed for life trying to bust open pinatas…Nate wanted a pinata. I found a Darth Vader pinata online but really didn’t like the idea of hitting him in the head with a bat. Even though he’s the bad guy. We’re trying to teach, “Bodies aren’t for hitting…only for hugging”. Then I found one at the Party Store that was non-violent. It has ribbons attached to the bottom. Everyone takes a turn pulling a ribbon until someone pulls the one that spills the goodies all over the floor!

Oh, yeah…there’s Zeke! Wondering what happened to Zeke? Well, Mommy and Daddy decided to hire a personal escort for Zeke. Thanks, Danielle for keeping Zeke safe, happy and away from the cake!

After everyone left Nate got to finally open his gifts:

That night in his thankful prayer, Nate was thankful for, “The best birthday party I ever had or even went to!”

Old-School wins.