Star Wars Birthday Party

When William asked for a 'Star Wars' themed birthday party, I decided to have FUN with it. For invitations, I made small books with the story that 6 years ago a boy was born who was strong with the force. He was hidden away in the Milky Way Galaxy on a small planet called Earth. Now the Sith seek him. His Jedi training needs attended to. The Jedi council want us to 'pretend' this 'training' is a 'birthday party' so the Sith won't find out.
Each child got a training card for all the different skills needed with the Jedi Rebel logo and their name on it.
First of all, was old-school weapons training. Fran Solo (Han's older, and better looking brother) did the safety training on the BLASTERS (Nerf guns).
We encouraged kids to wear their Star Wars costumes (if they had any). The funny thing here, is we have 2 targets, Darth Vader, and a Storm Trooper. Vader (aka Kyle) and Trooper Megan are shooting at their likenesses!
They all took this really seriously, and then got stamps from the trainers or the staff for how well they did.
William 'sharp shooter' Putaansuu. Out of 13 total kids, there were 2 Williams, and 2 Zachary's. I had put 'William P' on William's cup, and 'the other blonde William's (as our William refers to him as) mom said, "Uh, our last name begins with P, too!"
Last year was a downpour. This year was the day after our typhoon passed us by. Usually, those are really clear and nice days. It was awesome to go outside and let the kids play with their 'training light sabers.'
Tim insisted on safety, so no foam sabers for us. So, I had to devise something that would work. I got some plastic plumbing piping, and some long balloons. I decorated the gray plastic up (with stickers for an on button, and colorful tape), and inserted the balloons. Nobody got hurt. EVERYONE got whacked a few times, I am here to witness!

Getting the pipe was a long, slightly funny story. I went to our local HOMES (think Home Depot with nice furniture offerings upstairs). I couldn't find the plumbing area. I could find toilets, and toilet fixings, metal piping, but no plastic. So I said in my most Japanese voice, "Doko wa POO-rah-su-tchi-ku PIE-poo desu ka?" Ah! POO ra su tchi ku PIE poo. Yes, it was understood, but as I wandered around with this older gentleman, I realized I really needed to know the Japanese word for 'plumbing.'

One of the worst things to happen, is for someone to try and HELP you when they really don't know what you need.

I finally extricated myself, and found a younger person. "Doko wa POO-rah-su-tchi-ku PIE-poo desu ka?" he told me to wait a second, went and asked, and took me to plumbing. I explained that my son is going to be 6 (basic Japanese) and SUE-TAH OO-wahs. When I picked out the pipe joint fitting (from one size, down to the next - to insert the balloon in), and the smaller pipe for the handle (for little kid sized hands), the guy's expression was of understanding, and he said, "RIE-toh Shi-Ay-buh!" Ah. He might have only spoken a little English, but he definitely spoke 'Star Wars!'
Whacking bubbles was an excellent way to work on light saber accuracy.
Then it was on to the obstacle course. A series of tubes, don't set off any of the jingles in the balloons as you dodge and weave...
...up a series of stools, jump and run to the end. I have to admit. It reminded me of those dog skills courses. The kids loved it.
Then, Tim showed them some fencing techniques, and it was light saber duel central!
Next was the 'Galaxy's Most Wanted' with a box with Sith, Vader, Storm Trooper holes for the bean bag toss.
Judges awarded points on accuracy, speed, getting better... yes, we were setting them all up to get the 5 points per unit allowed. Last year was too much crying if a kid didn't win.
Red Light, Green Light was "Darth Vader light saber" or "Yoda light saber."
The game I don't have on here, was 'hot potato.' In star wars, they have a thermal detonator, which is basically a timed explosive device. I bought cheap, 100 ¥ timers, and made foil balls, and they were awesome. PROBLEM: The foil ball muffled the beeps. That would be fine, but one of the younger siblings (about 14 months) was so excited, she kept screaming, and nobody could hear the timer go off, and therefore be out of the game. The kids took them outside later, and had a blast with them (forgive the pun). As they were yelling about their bombs, I kept worrying someone would call the police.
In Star Wars IV, A New Hope (the FIRST Star Wars film for those of us old enough to remember), Luke saves the day by using the 'force' to put his photon torpedo into the exhaust vent of the Death Star, thereby exploding it, and stopping the Death Star from killing another planet (where the rebels were).
This was no X-wing flying in a trench, but I made a trench with different tubes and configurations, and the last one was the target.
Tim pushed the kids past it, and they had 2 tries to get it in the correct one. All kids got it either in one, or the second try was at a pretty low speed.
I looked up, and there was Tim. I just cracked up. William had wanted to push...
...who knew Fran Solo would save the day!
Pod races were FUN. I used our big suitcases, which really aren't viable anymore since you can't take over 50 lbs. on a plane. I put the kids in two teams, with 2 pairs, each. Each Pre-Padawan learner had to pull to the end and back, then put on the helmet and be the 'rider' down and back. Then, the next pair did their turns.
It was a scream, and everyone had so much fun.
The kids weren't even putting the safety straps on, they were going to win!
Changing out was always fun. I had these weird glasses to go with the helmets, but only the older kids got it (looks more like the pod races on SW1).
The luggage would careen around, it was amazing nobody got hurt. In the background, you can see the blaster training targets, and the Galaxy's Most Wanted box (with the 3 year old invitee in it). The box got a lot of play time, too.
I collected all their qualification cards, and tallied them up while they hit the pinata. I bought a Darth Vader pinata, but never got a picture. This is the best I can do!
In all of the parties we've been to here, the pinata never breaks, and the parents end up tearing it to help get the goodies out. Not this party! All that light saber training made the kids very accurate and deadly. Didn't hurt that they had a HARD light saber to do some damage! Very cool! Vader killed Vader!

Their training resulted in them getting a Tshirt.
I used an old Japanese flag idea, with the Jedi/Rebel logo. Younglings are children who aren't training with a Master as a Padawan yet, and we're in Yokosuka. It was better than a certificate.
Kayla was super help. She would help the younger kids, or be the person retrieving the bean bags. I put this picture in, because I had made some posters for our training. In the background you see Yoda with "Yoda says: Do or not do, there is no TRY." To the right of it (off camera) is another that said, "YoMamma says: Win or not win, there is no CRY."
While we tried to find a way to light the candles, it was time to open presents!
We finally got a lighter, but it was empty. Thankfully my best friend lives in this building, and we got one that worked, after-all.
This cake was AWESOME!!! I saw some of the cakes a Facebook friend here in Mabori Kaigan had done, and thought, "This lady will do this better than I can!" And WOW!!! What a cake. All the kids eyes were huge. They all wanted a bit of the dome.

There is something magical about this type of cake. It just tastes better because it is so special!

I should add that our food all had signs I made using pictures I could get off the internet.

We had:

Padawan Pizza

Sandpeople Sandwiches on Bantha Buns

Chewy Chewbacca Wookie Cookies

Greedo Grapes

C3P0 CaRR0ts

Yoda Soda

Jawa Juice

Cantina Calpis (a white soda that is cream lemon in taste).

BTW, I was Mamma Leia. A la Star Wars, you can be Queen when you're young, but there ain't no PRINCESS in me, anymore!!

Here's some of the light saber ACTION: