Finally! THE most anticipated day in a certain young boy's life has arrived. Now you may have heard us say that before but it was never as true as it was today. Noah has been living and breathing this Star Wars birthday party for months. Ask him about it and he were start singing the Darth Vader theme song. (Go back and read the post title to this tune. Now does it make sense?) Needless to say, mom and dad were a little nervous that we would not live up to his expectations. But it was all for not. The day was perfect - I think even Noah would agree. While still in the planning stages, we decided that more kids would definitely make this party more fun but once the invitation list was constructed, we thought 20 4 year olds might be too many for our house - especially when we added lightsabers in to the mix. We decided to have the party at the community center and we were very glad we did. It made set up and tear down a little hectic but with the help of grandparents (and Eric and family) it all worked itself out. We arrived shortly before 10:00AM. Our first activity was just to let the kids color while everyone arrived. I had found some Star Wars coloring pages online, which was nice. Having found out before hand what Eric was giving Noah, we decided to let him open that present before the party. ALL we heard about was how he would be getting a Darth Vader costume and a purple light sword. (Much thanks to the Potts family for granting this wish.) Once everyone was there we moved into Bingo. While we were playing, daddy slipped out for a special surprise. It just so happens his barber had an $800 Stormtrooper costume that he was willing to let Christopher borrow. (We found this out because Noah went with daddy to get his hair cut one Saturday and as he talked about nothing BUT his party, he told Ed all about it. Ed offered up the costume and we jumped on it.) Daddy had this great plan that we would dress Noah up too.
The Stormtrooper would come in and inspect the room then escort Darth Vader in to the party while his theme song blared on the radio. It all worked out perfectly - except for the few girls who were completely freaked out by the giant stormtrooper. There were some tears and poor Gracie had to hide under the table but we did all survive. I am not sure Noah has ever been more proud than he was when he walked in in his costume. It was so cute his overly-emotional mommy started bawling. I was able to compose myself quite quickly, though, so I could appreciate the moment as he paraded around the room showing off for everyone.
(Later when we were watching the video we asked him what he was doing and he started breathing like Darth Vader. We asked if he had done that at the party and he said yes. We were a little disappointed that his helmet did not have a microphone so we could have heard that.) So once Vader and the Stormtrooper were in the room, we took a photo op for the children not freaked out.
Noah would look at the camera for the picture and then look back up at his dad.
We are pretty certain he did not know it was his dad until someone told Benjamin to go over and stand by daddy. Noah was pretty much in awe of the whole thing. After all the pictures were done, we moved on to the pinata. Noah had spied the Vader head very early on in the party planning and just knew he wanted that. Grandpa was able to come up with an easy mounting idea and Aunt Cynthia and cousin Alex risked their lives to hold it for us. It was cute to watch the kids that had never hit a pinata before as they came forward for their turns and gently tapped the head with the bat and then looked around as if waiting to get in trouble for doing it. They seemed almost shocked when we told them to do it again only harder.
No look was as classic as Delaney's when she busted it open though. She was sure she had done something wrong until everyone started cheering. The children did NOT need any instruction on picking up the candy.
For some reason that idea came naturally to them. Go figure. Next up was the lightsabers. Eric's mommy had found a suggestion online for making them out of pipe insulation. Taking in to consideration the age of our party-goers, we thought the perfect thing. We modified the plans a little and added colored duct tape. (Available at Wal Mart, should you ever be in the market.) Took a few evenings to get them all put together but pretty simple, really. They were perfect and Noah even got to have a PURPLE one. Daddy gave a little talk about how lightsabers were only to be used for good, not evil. (Notice daddy removed his costume but our pint-sized Vader did not.)
The lightsabers were passed out
and then the kids were challenged to an obstacle course - complete with training orbs to master lightsaber swinging.
They all did a great job and were just amazing in their willingness to wait patiently in line and participate. Lastly was cake
and presents.
It was a toss up as to who was more excited about the present - Noah or the child giving the present. They were so funny to watch as they jumped up and down in glee when he was about to open their present. As we passed the lightsabers back out for them to take home, they were able to squeeze in an unplanned free-for-all.
But, remember I said they were FOAM. No children were harmed in the making of this birthday party. They really were a great group of kids and we were so lucky that so many of them were able to come and help celebrate with Noah at his Star Wars party. Noah was very pleased with the day's activities and still loves to talk about it - especially daddy's costume. What a great day!
The Stormtrooper would come in and inspect the room then escort Darth Vader in to the party while his theme song blared on the radio. It all worked out perfectly - except for the few girls who were completely freaked out by the giant stormtrooper. There were some tears and poor Gracie had to hide under the table but we did all survive. I am not sure Noah has ever been more proud than he was when he walked in in his costume. It was so cute his overly-emotional mommy started bawling. I was able to compose myself quite quickly, though, so I could appreciate the moment as he paraded around the room showing off for everyone.
(Later when we were watching the video we asked him what he was doing and he started breathing like Darth Vader. We asked if he had done that at the party and he said yes. We were a little disappointed that his helmet did not have a microphone so we could have heard that.) So once Vader and the Stormtrooper were in the room, we took a photo op for the children not freaked out.
Noah would look at the camera for the picture and then look back up at his dad.
We are pretty certain he did not know it was his dad until someone told Benjamin to go over and stand by daddy. Noah was pretty much in awe of the whole thing. After all the pictures were done, we moved on to the pinata. Noah had spied the Vader head very early on in the party planning and just knew he wanted that. Grandpa was able to come up with an easy mounting idea and Aunt Cynthia and cousin Alex risked their lives to hold it for us. It was cute to watch the kids that had never hit a pinata before as they came forward for their turns and gently tapped the head with the bat and then looked around as if waiting to get in trouble for doing it. They seemed almost shocked when we told them to do it again only harder.
No look was as classic as Delaney's when she busted it open though. She was sure she had done something wrong until everyone started cheering. The children did NOT need any instruction on picking up the candy.
For some reason that idea came naturally to them. Go figure. Next up was the lightsabers. Eric's mommy had found a suggestion online for making them out of pipe insulation. Taking in to consideration the age of our party-goers, we thought the perfect thing. We modified the plans a little and added colored duct tape. (Available at Wal Mart, should you ever be in the market.) Took a few evenings to get them all put together but pretty simple, really. They were perfect and Noah even got to have a PURPLE one. Daddy gave a little talk about how lightsabers were only to be used for good, not evil. (Notice daddy removed his costume but our pint-sized Vader did not.)
The lightsabers were passed out
and then the kids were challenged to an obstacle course - complete with training orbs to master lightsaber swinging.
They all did a great job and were just amazing in their willingness to wait patiently in line and participate. Lastly was cake
and presents.
It was a toss up as to who was more excited about the present - Noah or the child giving the present. They were so funny to watch as they jumped up and down in glee when he was about to open their present. As we passed the lightsabers back out for them to take home, they were able to squeeze in an unplanned free-for-all.
But, remember I said they were FOAM. No children were harmed in the making of this birthday party. They really were a great group of kids and we were so lucky that so many of them were able to come and help celebrate with Noah at his Star Wars party. Noah was very pleased with the day's activities and still loves to talk about it - especially daddy's costume. What a great day!
3 comments:
The day was wonderful. When the Storm Trooper entered...you could have heard a pin drop!! Then, the star...little Darth Vader stole the show. Little Brother Benjamin jumped right into the activities and enjoyed it all too. They were so adorable...and that's not just GRANDMA talking!!
I wish I could have been there because it looks like it was an amazing birthday. Wow!!!!
What a fun party Stephanie!! Great planning & really fun ideas. You need to post this on one of the kid party birthday party idea websites as I'm sure others would love to get these ideas!
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