Star Wars Party

Lucky dressed up to promote the party. He's Boba Fetch.

The Star Wars Party was our very last event of the 2014 Summer Reading Program. I can't believe it!  This summer went by super fast, and I'll write an overview of it later this week, but for now, let's focus on the party.

I decided a while back that I needed to have a Star Wars event, and since this summer's theme was science, science fiction fit in perfectly.  We watched one of the movies (the one that used to be the first one but is now the fourth), had some snacks, and played a game.

Snacks

Wookiee Cookiees and Vader-Ade

I always go way too overboard on this stuff, but since this was only a short event, I managed to rein myself in. We had Wookiee Cookiees (yes, that is how you spell "wookiee") and Vader-Ade (lemonade mixed with iced tea). As with the Doctor Who Party, I printed out cute little signs for the refreshments; please note that I didn't make the signs for Vader-Ade or for the Wookiee Cookiees. I found them using a Google image search. I wish I could take credit for the amazing artwork, but I can't.

Things I was going to do but stopped myself: Jabba Jigglers (green jell-o); Yoda Soda; pretzel-stick lightsabers. Also, for the Wookiee Cookiees, I was going to use a gingerbread man cutter and cut out a bunch of gingerbread cookies with fork-tine-marks for fur, and have little frosting bandoliers... yeah, see? Overboard. We had gingersnaps from a bag, and nobody cared.

Lightsabers

Yes, you can have yellow lightsabers. Also purple or silver.

After sitting and watching a movie and eating sugary food, I figured we needed a way to burn off some steam. I found this idea online, and had some of my kid-friends help me make them. We took pool noodles, cut them in thirds, and wrapped one end with duct tape. Then, we drew on buttons and lines with markers. At the party, I blew up a bunch of balloons, and told the kids to try to keep them from hitting the ground. Most kids just attacked each other, but they're pool noodles, so after trying unsuccessfully to stop the violence, I decided the parents could intervene if they were worried (they weren't), and instead spent my time blowing up balloons and trying to keep the kids from running into the parking lot.

The battle ensues.

Decorations
In addition to the two full-size cardboard Darth Vader standees that we own (each of which was pointing the way to the party), we had posters for each of the original trilogy, framed and on the sidelines.

We also had a cardboard standee that I made and painted, which isn't perfect, but will do just fine. Notes: Luke had both a blue and a green lightsaber, depending on the movie, but DID NOT wear his Tattooine outfit when he fought Darth Vader. I was aware of this (believe it or not) but thought it would look better than an all-black outfit, since the Tattooine outfit is more iconic. Yes, the kids noticed.

That's about it, really. We had 63 people (quite the crowd), and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. A good end to a good summer reading program.