Star Wars Party

Our Jedi recently turned 6. His favorite thing these days is Star Wars. He loves to dress-up and act out the scenes. He loves asking questions and reading his character encyclopedia. And he love listening to the music. I wanted to keep things pretty simple for the party, but it was challenging! This was the first time we bought licensed character stuff and if you didn't know, they have Star Wars-themed everything!! A few weeks before the party, my son and I brainstormed a few things... Chocolate Chewbacca Cake, Yoda Soda, and Sandcrawler Sandwiches. I also wanted to make coloring books for the take-home treat :)

I think my favorite thing was the Chocolate Chewbacca Cake. We're not really into sweets, but our son loves chocolate cake, so we splurged on one from Mayfield Bakery in Palo Alto. My brother is an all-star, and agreed to try making a chewbacca stencil. He drew it and then cut it out with an exacto knife. We laid it out on the cake and sifted powdered sugar over it (here's an in-progress picture before the sugar). I was so happy it worked! Thanks, Uncle Alan!! 

Next up, Yoda Soda. I made green juice (fuji apples, spinach, and carrots) and added some soda water for fizzzzz... delicious, sweet, and not full of sugar- we saved the sugar allotment for chocolate and PEZ (see below).

We got some Sandcrawler Sandwiches and snacks from Calafia in Palo Alto... oh so conveniently located next to Mayfield Bakery. And also near Trader Joe's where I was able to pick up some beer and wine. 

I think that's pretty much it for food. I try to keep food simple, healthy, and delicious. Ready for the fun Star Wars stuff? I made these sweet little drawings of the characters. And then scanned them in and made invitations and coloring books. I bought R2D2 crayons & Darth Vader crayons from this Etsy seller and downloaded a Star Wars-style font. Everyone got a coloring book and crayon. 

They also got to play with and take home a Star Wars mask and a light saber/bubble wand. I was excited when I thought of using these bubble wands instead of real light sabers or pool noodles. Bubble wands are a bit more flexible and a nice alternative for the kids who didn't want to run around and fight ;)

Another fun Star Wars find was the PEZ dispensers. We're not a candy family, but I made an exception because I knew they'd be a lot of fun. 

It was supposed to rain that day, so I put together a little activity for them to do. Glue and assemble Yoda, Chewbacca, and R2D2!! I saw something similar online and thought it looked so simple! And yes, it was simple, but holy jeeeez, it took many more hours than I thought. Serial (podcast) saved the day! I caught up on the first 7 podcasts while cutting out small shapes of paper. It turned ou to be a lovely & sunny day so the kids weren't interested in this. I've got about 8 sets of each character left. If you're throwing a Star Wars party and want these, leave me a comment and I'll hook it up for you!! Seriously. 

Chris was Darth Vader for Halloween and also got out his costume for the party. The kids took him down lickety-split. 

We had a little Darth Vader Hunt and hid these guys all over the yard (similar). I ordered these and threw out the candy inside, replacing it with a Vader crayon. 

Our birthday boy was as happy as a Jedi 

Eating raspberry PEZ and comparing red tongues with his Ewok pal


The highlight gift was all-star Uncle Alan's homemade Echo Base Lego Set (Limited Edition). He created a set for our son using his own Legos and made the box, too. It looked so legit, y'all! 

No party is complete without an afterparty ;)

 

First Birthday: a Spring lunch

A big hooray for the best birthday boy who turned 1 last week. I can't even believe he is 1. We can't imagine life without him. He's so snuggly and easy-going. He's happiest outside. He loves his brother and family to bits and pieces and we all feel the same way about him. Good growin' young man. Happy first.

To celebrate, we had a little birthday lunch and invited my parents and my brother. It was very sweet & simple. I made pasta with pesto and grilled goat cheese sandwiches over fresh spinach (my two favorites). My step dad brought homemade hummus and guacamole and I made a pumpkin pie for dessert.

My older son did all of the stationery... The invitations are on bookboard leftover from a wedding I worked on years ago. My son wrote the baby's name on all the invites. He also made one for "Blast Off," the baby's unofficial nickname (it's what our older son wanted to name the baby). He also made place cards using washi tape on the wood animal puzzle by petit collage, and a pie banner (made from washi tape and toothpicks). It was so fun to have his help and he felt like such a big kid being included. 

I didn't have time to do much beforehand, but my family was happy to help with moving furniture outside and hanging my string of balloons. They even waited patiently while I snapped a few photos. 

Cute party hats by Oh Joy! for Target

I was able to take one photo before we ate. And the baby is showing off how he skillfully climbs right out of his high chair.

Crown on the climber is by tin cup.

a few new gifts... this is a great wooden race track from my dad. 

Busytown Birthday Party

Hooray for our sweet birthday boy! We celebrated our son's 5th birthday over the weekend. It was crazy times with 27 kids running and riding vehicles all over. One of our favorite children's book author/illustrator is Richard Scarry, so the whole party was centered around it. We should probably donate money to his foundation or something as payback for all the images we scanned and printed. We had a goldbug hunt, hopscotch, and a general drive-around free-for-all! My brother drew out an amazing 30 foot banner/mural of Busytown. We originally were going to have the kids color it in, but it turned out so awesome, that we changed our minds. 

Able Baker Charlie, Farmer Alfalfa, and Grocer Cat provided the snacks and cupcakes. It was a crazy afternoon, but I know my boy had an amazing time. Special thanks to Stephen Wahl for the last 2 photos. 

Fire Station Birthday Party

While we were visiting Athens, GA, our sweet pal celebrated his 5th birthday! In honor of the occasion, his super rad mom arranged to have the birthday party at Fire Station #1. It was probably the best $10 she's ever spent because her son had an amazing time! We got the full tour of the station and a truck. The firefighter host even put on all of his gear piece-by-piece for all of the kids. After the tour, we ate cake and opened presents (the Super Hero Car was a big hit- see below!) in their kitchen. Double Dutch Press printed blank notebooks for one of the party favors using one of the birthday boy's fire truck drawings and how cute are the matchstick pretzels?!!