Here are some great tips for throwing a Star Wars birthday party that’ll transport little ones to a [fun] galaxy far, far away…

Like it or not, Star Wars continues to take the world by storm. If your little ones haven’t already started asking for a Star Wars birthday party, chances are they will soon. Here’s how to shoot for the stars and please your little Padwans without spending to the moon and back!

Invites

Using a blockbuster theme means churning out invites on a desktop can be achieved in a few mouse clicks. Make Google Images your best friend for an hour or so, find an image that you think works best, pop in some words, and an invite have you will.

How about treating your guests before they even get to the party? Find a long chocolate or roll of M&Ms, wrap it in coloured paper to make it look like a light sabre, and attach a simple invitation on it. We love invites like these because they get everyone excited about the theme. Remember to do this well ahead of time because of the logistical planning of getting invitations to people. You might have to think about reminder messages if you do this early.

Other options include Darth Vader helmet-shaped invites, which might require a little more crafting on your part, but will definitely deliver the desired effect.

Galactic Décor

Sci-fi may mean cutting-edge tech, but that doesn’t mean attaining the Star Wars atmosphere has to cost an arm and a leg. Fortunately, black makes an apt Star Wars backdrop and dotted with white paint or yellow stars, you can easily reproduce the milky way. A good one can also serve as a photo backdrop for guests to create memories. Get the birthday child involved and make stars to hang in sections in the room, creating the feeling of being in space and adding dimension to the decorations.

Details count, too. If you’re using transparent drink dispensers or plain white trash bins, then well-placed coloured tape can transform cylindrical objects into robot henchmen.

Alternatively, pick a scene from the famous movie e.g. Jaku, which is mainly sand and a market place, and hold the party out in a sand park with the requisite additional tables set up for the various elements of the party. This is a fab option, if possible, because you save the decoration time and get to concentrate on the other details.

The Food-A-Ristic Grub

If you haven’t time to customise finger food to the theme, simply give your grub Star Wars names such as Hans Salsa, Leia Lemonade and Fruity Sabres – the kids will lap them up gladly. If you want to go the distance on a shoestring, purchase spaceship, star or planet-shaped cookie cutters to shape bread and other food.

Of course, we strongly encourage you to get creative! Dark cookies, white marshmallows and icing can be assembled to make Tie Fighters, while grapes or marshmallows can be skewered into light sabres.

The Costumes – Get Geared Up

Wielding light sabres in T-shirts and bermudas just doesn’t cut it. Ask the guests to come in their favourite Star Wars-inspired costumes. Or go the whole nine yards and sew white kimono robes that can be worn over clothes. Sewing not your thing? Buy large white T-shirts or second-hand karate kits, braid some cloth scraps to make a belt and JEDI! You have your outfits.

Headbands are great for creating Princess Leia hair buns or Yoda ears; they are easy to make, and could even double up as a party activity for the warriors in waiting.

Don’t have the time to make enough costumes? Just make a few and set them up as a photo booth activity for everyone to take turns and have some fun.

The Games – Fantasy Fun

For a sci-fi-themed party, your imagination is the limit when organising games of galactic fun. Here are some fun ideas:

1. Light sabre free-for-all: what’s a Star Wars party without the obligatory lightsabre fight? Safe sabre options include pool noodles or long balloons. Accessorize with duct tape and silver foil to disguise their origins and let the Jedi warrior training begin.
2. Stormtrooper face-off: tape printables of a Stormtrooper or Darth Vader head to a plastic bowling set for a galactic take on this old favourite.
3. If you have to make a piñata, fashion one after the Death Star.
4. Invading the force fields: a good no-contact game would be having guests toss bean bags into each other’s hula hoop force fields.
5. Pin the bun on Leia: another twist on a classic and the options are endless. Variations include pin the light sabre on Hans, or pin the ears on Yoda.
6. Build a Tie Fighter: Lego works for this game, and is suitable for older partygoers as well. Variations include building BB8 or R2D2 with Lego or paper cut-outs.

Galaxy Goodie Bags

This theme is perfect for goodie bag ideas, because there are so many elements to choose from. As with the décor, basic black makes a great statement for Star Wars goodie bags. These can be accessorised with printable cut-out heads of characters such as Darth Vader, Yoda or Stormtroopers. Simple white bags with black cut-outs is an effective way to add the Stormtrooper army to the décor and fun to the goodie bags.

Make your own play slime or goo in black and glitter for a galaxy slime gift to fill the bags. Blue and green long bubble tubes or long glow sticks would be perfect gifts for the young Padwans to take home.

Another option would be to make your own wrapping paper and give each child a sheet – black paper, white, silver or yellow paint and finger printing is all you need. Children love making things and giving them to their friends. Plan ahead and this is definitely an easy gift to make.

Food such as light sabre pretzels, Ewok gummies and Leia buns work well and give guests a piece of the galaxy to take home.

^{This article was originally published on Sassy Mama SG and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author. 
Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image Credit: Photo by .imelda is licensed under CC BY 2.0 - Resized to 1028x576 px}

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