Star Wars Party -9yr- Pool Noodle Saber

Star Wars party for a nine year old - My son loves all the Star Wars films, so we decided to have a party at our house with nine of his best friends. Being a stay at home mom means we were on a budget, but thanks to some ideas from this site, plus a few of our own, we pulled off an awesome event !  

Invitations - done on the home computer, I downloaded a picture of Luke Skywalker carrying Yoda on his back , and then added text balloons besides their heads, so that Luke was asking " Master Yoda, what must I do ? " with Yoda's reply " To Connor's party, go you must. And get me a soda ". Then on the inside of the card I reprinted the photo but left the caption balloons blank, and invited the kids to fill in what they thought Yoda was saying, with a prize for the funniest entry, as voted by the kids.   

Costumes - These were optional , but as the party was close to Halloween lots of kids already had their costumes and this gave them another chance to wear them ! We took some group pictures ( masks on and off ) and gave a prize for best costume of course . The most expensive thing in this party was my sons costume - a Clone Trooper - which we bought at the store , but we saved some money on my costume. As Princess Leia, all I needed was a white turtleneck, black tights, knee high black boots, a thrift store belt, and a braided hairpiece which I made by braiding three pairs of cheap pantyhose together, tied each end with elastic, then secured in the back with a brown scrunchy.  

Decorations - my son dug out all his Lego and built small spaceships that we suspended from the ceiling with string and thumbtacks - arranged to look like a space battle. On the walls we used coloured chalk ( it washes right off ) to draw large Star Wars characters - used a Clone Wars sticker book as a guide . They were simple line drawings but we made them come to life by drawing enemies that appeared to be shooting each other - in the entry hall I drew a life size Stormtrooper on the wall, taped a thin blue curling ribbon to the end of his gun and then ran the ribbon across the hall to a drawing of a droid - taped some curled up ribbons at the point of impact - it looked like the trooper had blasted off the droid's head !

The droid also had red ribbon running from the end of his gun but you could tell it was a missed shot. We bought an inexpensive soccer ball pinata, painted it all over with grey acrylic paint, then drew on it with black marker to make it into a Death Star pinata. Black vinyl tablecloth with confetti stars dressed up the eating area , plus we bought some silver and black balloons, filled them with helium, and added balloon sticks with cups to each one. The stick looked like an antenna, and its added weight made each balloon sort of hover in midair, like a probe droid ( You may have to shorten the stick to adjust the weight ). We drew on the black ones with silver marker to make them even more realistic. Very cool.  

Activities - Ten nine year old boys running around your house is a force to be reckoned with , especially if it is raining ( which it did most of the day ). We put out extra chalk and invited the kids to draw their own characters when they arrived.  For a craft we made light sabers out of pool noodles. The pool noodles were on sale for a buck apiece, so I bought six in various Star Wars light saber colours ( green, blue, yellow , purple , and a pink one for my 3 year old daughter so she didn’t feel left out ) . Then at the hardware store I found some cheap plastic threaded 1/2 " pipe pieces which fit nicely into the end of the noodle as a handle.

At home I cut the pool noodles in half , the kids picked the colour they wanted  ( Jedi or Sith ) , then they assembled their own light sabers which they  personalized with stickers and initials. When we finally got an hour of sunshine we ran outside and the kids went bananas duelling with these light sabers, and best of all no one could get hurt with them( as opposed to the toy light sabers which some of them brought to the party , which are hard plastic and can hurt if whacked on the head ). When it rained we came back inside and had a contest using the pool sabers and balloons - the one who could keep a balloon in the air the longest using only his light saber won a prize. My son also organized all his Lego pieces by sorting them by size into clear containers. We left these out on a table for the kids to play with at their own pace - a nice quiet activity for those who were "duelled" out. Prize for the best Lego creation, of course.   

We also rented Star Wars movies and after watching the part in Episode VI where Han Solo is temporarily blind after being thawed from the carbonite,  we played a game called Know Your Enemy, which involved a blindfold . The kids all stood in a circle , with one kid in the middle who was blindfolded and spun around a few times , then he had to touch one of the kids in the circle and in thirty seconds try to guess who it was. It was fun watching the kids try to stand still and not giggle or say anything because that would give away your identity. There was a prize for the one who the force was strongest with - who guessed the most correctly.  

Cake - We made a volcano cake and recreated the climactic duel scene in Episode III , when Obi Wan fights Anakin . I baked two chocolate cakes and then mushed them together with my hands into a volcano shape, frosted the outside with chocolate frosting, and placed it in the middle of a large cookie sheet with a rim, placed in the freezer overnight. Next day I made some "lava" , simple vanilla boiled frosting with red and yellow food colouring added, and while it was still hot I poured it over the volcano, the excess pooled on the pan into a river of lava , to which I added some red sprinkles. Bought some brownies at the store, and cut them into rock shapes, which I placed in the lava, and put an action figure of Obi Wan on one brownie, and Anakin on another, in duelling poses. On the other side of the volcano we recreated the next scene where Emperor Palpatine rescues Anakin from the volcano , again with action figures. Placed nine candles in the crater of the volcano for some added " fire" , and my son thought it was the coolest cake he'd ever seen. The kids liked the idea of eating igneous rocks for dessert. Yoda Sodas and Darth Malts for drinks, as recommended on this site - though we couldn’t find Hawaiian Punch up here, but lime Crush and fruit Cplus soda worked just as well in the ice cream floats.   

For the contests we had various prizes - but surpisingly the favourite was also the cheapest - a Star Wars comic with General Grievous on the cover. Loot bags were black paper with their names drawn on with silver marker, and Star Wars stickers - found lots of stickers , Star Wars balls and Star Wars M& M's at the dollar store, plus we added glow sticks that looked like mini light sabers.   Thanks to birthdaypartyideas.com for all the inspiring ideas !