Homemade Friday: The Great Star Wars Birthday Extravaganza (only a month late)

I'm a little behind on my Homemade Friday posts, I see.  There's a really good reason for that, I swear.  At first it was just because I was preparing for the Great Star Wars Birthday Extravaganza and so didn't have any time.  And after that, I wanted to show you all the cool stuff I made for the Great Star Wars Birthday Extravaganza but I knew it was going to be a long post full of link backs and whatnot and I either didn't have the time to devote to it or I just didn't feel like it.  So in my warped mind, I couldn't show you anything else that I've made lately, and there have been lots of things, because I haven't showed you the birthday stuff.  Chronologicality and all that.  (I totally made up that word. And I'm sure you didn't know until I told you, right?)

The Birthday Boy got the first three episodes of Star Wars for his birthday.

But today I just decided to go ahead and get it over with.  It may not be the exciting, detailed post I had planned, but at least there will be lots of pictures, right?

Sebastian decided awhile before his birthday that he wanted a Star Wars theme, but not just any Star Wars theme.  He wanted an Angry Bird Star Wars birthday theme.

Okay.

If you search for Star Wars birthday ideas, you'll find tons.  But there aren't too many Angry Bird things, unless you want to pay $35 for a fondant cake topper.

Spoiler: I didn't.

So I incorporated a lot of different types of Star Wars shows - and THERE ARE MANY.  We ended up with Clone Wars, Lego Star Wars, Angry Bird Star Wars, and just the regular, normal Star Wars.

Sebastian also insisted that he have a costume, which is a part of his personality that I adore and encourage every chance I get.  The kid loves to be in character!  He wanted a Luke costume.  I used the same pattern as I used for his Ninja costume and leftover fabric I had around, so it really didn't cost me anything but time.  He loved it, but then was a bit disappointed that it didn't come with boots.

Sorry kid.  My sewing skills only go so far.

Once it was finished and he was in costume, both Chris and I decided he was more of an Anakin than a Luke. 

See?  Almost twins.

Sebastian also wanted a pinata for his birthday.  We settled on the Death Star since there seemed to be a lot of instructions online for it and I thought it would cause me the least stress as I was already up to my eyeballs in it because I've never actually made a pinata before, and I have no memory of making a paper mache anything ever.  So I dove right in.  As I do.

I used instructions from here and here. 

I used a beach ball to make a round shape and lots and lots of old newspaper.  I think I did 3 or 4 layers - enough to make it sturdy and strong to hold all the candy that Chris made me to put in it.

I was actually pretty proud of it.  Especially considering I didn't really know what a Death Star was and couldn't remember ever seeing one before this.  Here are a lot of pictures of the pinata:
 

I let them hit it with pool noodle lightsabers that my friend Laura helped me put together.  Basically I just cut large pool noodles in half and duct taped the end to make a handle.  They were supposed to have designs on the handle, but I ran out of time and energy.  Here's where that idea came from.

Once they all attacked it at once, I let the kids each have three swings with a tobacco stick.  I didn't blindfold them as I didn't want to have to take anyone to the hospital.

In the end I 'helped' by ripping it open.  Here's the aftermath:

 

I also made lightsaber napkin wraps, which I found here.  Here are mine:

And I used that same person's idea for R2D2 cups that I put in the gift bags.  However I don't really recommend them because as soon as the cups got wet all the ink bled all over the place.  It was kind of a waste of money and time. 

I used the cups as party favors and put them in Star Wars bags I freezer-paper-stenciled for all the kids. I thought I took an actually picture as I was painting it, but I can't seem to find it.  Here's one I took this morning: 

I think they're pretty awesome myself.

With it you can see the popsicle sleeve that I put unfrozen popsicles in to make little lightsabers.  I got that idea from here.

I also freezer-paper-stenciled Yoda T-shirts for Adele and Sebastian, which I saw here.   I think Adele's actually turned out better than Sebastian's.  The black looks a lot better with the silver spray paint than the blue does. 

For drinks I made my version of Yoda Soda - which is a punch I fall back on regularly because it is delicious and simple.  Plus it's green so it totally fits.  All it needs is a big can of pineapple juice - I think it's about a quart and a half - with 2 liters of Ginger Ale and a container of lime sherbert.

And here is a blurry picture of the double-sided Angry Bird Star Wars banner that I printed out, cut and strung.  It's still hanging in that window, mostly because I forgot it was there.  Eventually I'll put it in Sebastian's room.  Whenever I remember.

 Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing and lightsaber sticks in Star Wars cupcake liners:

And a chocolate cake with white chocolate icing in the shape of a 5 that was supposed to have little Star Wars Angry Bird figures on it but that I forgot about until after the party:

I did put a lot of work into this party, but the thing is, Sebastian is so excited.  He gets really into the whole thing so I want to make it as special as possible for him.  And he appreciates it, you know?  He understands that I'm doing this for him and is grateful.

That means a lot.