throwaway pancake: star wars birthday

Star Wars. Light sabers. Jedis and Jedi princesses and aliens and starships. An awesome 4th birthday party for my Star Wars-obsessed son is a vision in my head. Now how do I make that work, without a mylar balloon and plastic tablecloths and a grocery store cake? Pinterest, of course!

I wanted to throw Tagg a 4th birthday party he would LOVE. Star Wars. Water. All his friends hopped up on sugar, sugar, sugar. Maybe a battle of sorts. General insanity.

Mission accomplished! Thanks to Pinterest, and the big giant blow-up waterslide we bought (WAY more cost-effective than renting, FYI).

Step 1. The Vision.

Search for "Star Wars Birthday" on Pinterest. AMAZING what you can find. People are so creative. And I can copy!

Step 2. The Cake.

First on the list...cake. I do not bake. My amazing sister found this local, just-starting-out cake lady (let me know if you want her name) and she was inspired to create the PERFECT R2D2 cake - legs made of Rice Krispie treats. Genius! It was a super cool, shockingly tasty chocolate cake, and...heavy! That was some serious fondant and gooey chocolate cake!

Our niece was born the day after Tagg, 2 years later, so we had cake-lady make her a special cake too. And Princess Leia Cake was born. The buns? Chocolate donuts. Seriously!!! How cute is that?! And she did it with just two days notice.

Tagg LOVED the cake(s)! He literally could not keep his hands off them.

Step 3. The Star Wars Ice Cream Bar.

What an amazing idea to theme all of the sundae toppings with Star Wars references.

Wookie Cookie Crumbles = crunched up Oreos.

Cloud City Puffs = little marshmallows.
Gummy Ewoks = gummy bears.
Han Rolos = rolos.
Asteroid Chunks = chocolate chunks,
in the grocery store near the chocolate chips.

Scooped the ice cream into cups before the party. Put them on a tray in the freezer and then just pulled the cups out when it was time to serve the cake. Super easy and such a time saver. Bonus...these cups were a dollar each at WalMart. Bingo! Nice not to have to chuck more plastic bowls.

The dudes attacking the sundae bar.

Step 4: The Treats.

Creepy Star Wars drinks...unfiltered, organic apple juice with gummy worms. Also known as Degoba Swamp Drinks. Kids loved them...or maybe that was just Sloane. Or the gummy worms.

Step 4: The Uniforms.

For the Leia's: Cut a piece of white diaper fabric (or some white, cheap fabric)into a 2' x 4' piece and cut a hole for the head. Then wrap some gold braid (cheaper is better than than the drapery braid I bought!) around it and you have a little Princess Leia, or 6.

For the Jedi's: Do not get "authentic" burlap for the Jedi boys. It is itchy. They will NOT wear it. Something soft and brown would have been good, with a cheap cream or light brown twine or cord. It looks awesome with their swimsuits.

Harper modeling her Princess Leia outfit
with her pink light saber.

The Light Sabers:

Jedi Masters in training.

Take some pool noodles cut in half, some duct tape (shiny silver and regular versions, if you want to be a little fancy. We did.) plus some black electrical tape and...you have waterproof light sabers!

Tagg was a great helper in making the light sabers and every one was a little different. We actually had a ball making them. And, happily, no children were harmed in the ensuing light saber battle. Scott might not be able to say the same...