May the force be with you...

So the boy is eight.  EIGHT.  I don't believe I'm forty, but I *really* don't believe the boy is eight.  It seems almost impossible.

He is currently all about "Star Wars."  He has a lightsaber, dressed as Luke Skywalker for Halloween, and occasionally hums the cantina music to himself.  So of course it had to be a Star Wars birthday party. 

And for a Star Wars party, you need light sabers.  Now, obviously, the kids are going to whack each other senseless with these, so we constructed some from pool noodles and duct tape.  

You also need cool Star Wars food - things like Yoda Soda, Wookie Cookies, Tatooine Treats, and Luke Skywater.

 And don't forget Dark Side Cupcakes, with dark chocolate Darth Vaders.

And of course, Han Solo frozen in chocolate carbonite, because, well, it's awesome.

Because he missed out on the Jedi training during our last trip to Disney (more to come about that in a later post), I decided that the training would be our theme. There were some hiccups along the way - the boiler in the church where we held the party died, so it was a tad cold inside.  The cake I ordered, while delicious, was not even remotely close to what I wanted.  (Note to non-Star Wars fans - "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars" are NOT THE SAME THING.)  Most of the girl guests had no idea what Star Wars was.  But for the most part, it was a hit, and Matt loved it.

There were multiple tasks to master during the Jedi training.  For the first, the kids had to learn how to control their droids.  For this, we used an almost-life sized inflatable remote controlled R2D2 which is, quite frankly, the coolest thing I've ever seen.  R2 turned out to be a wee bit difficult to control, but the kids had fun trying.

 

What is this thing?  Do we pet it?

Then they had to use a Nerf blaster to knock down soda cans decorated as stormtroopers, and master the Force during musical chairs (to cantina music, of course.)  During all this, who should appear but Darth Vader himself, sweeping in with his cape to battle our Jedi.  

Matt...I am your father.

The children were most enthusiastic about beating the crap out of Darth with their pool noodle light sabers.  Charles is a very good sport.  

Charles is a VERY good sport.

After Lord Vader was vanquished, the final step to becoming a Jedi was to defeat the Death Star.  Matt very specifically wanted a Death Star pinata.  Yeah.  I know. I've got a bad feeling about this.  But I managed to pull it off.  I took a baseball pinata, spray painted that sucker gray, added some electrical tape, and BOOM: Death Star pinata.  No, it wasn't perfect, and I admit that bothered me, but I am trying very hard to be less of a control freak about things like this.  The pinata was going to be destroyed.  That is its purpose on earth.  I kept repeating to myself, "It doesn't need to be perfect, they are going to hit it with a stick.  It doesn't need to be perfect, they are going to hit it with a stick.  Put the glitter down."  In the end, the Death Star was defeated, the little Jedi scrabbled for candy, and all was well in the universe.  

That's no moon...

Charlotte getting ready to destroy the Death Star

We wrapped it up with cake and presents, and sent home our new Jedi with treat bags and training certificates.  Matt enjoyed himself immensely, which of course was the whole point of the party.  

So, happy birthday to our favorite Jedi Knight, our big eight year old boy, our Matthew.