May the "FOURce" Be with You!

A Quick Update

So much has happened since my last post. I finally got this thing up and running, and then we had my youngest kiddo's birthday party.  I was so excited to blog about it, but then a Cat 4 hurricane decided to narrow in on my little county and sit right here for hours on end.  We were without power for about 5 days, but we didn't have Wi-Fi for weeks to come.  Since getting back power, we've just been busy with life: 2 kids in school, 1 4-year-old, a hyper dog, working full time jobs, all the things after school (gymnastics, karate, flag football, church, & life group), rearranging some things around the house, field trips, Halloween, and some sickness on top of that.  It's just been a lot.  I'm still not feeling great as I type this, but the weather outside is just cool and breezy enough on my porch that it's calling me outside.  My fingers have been itching to write, even as my eyes are heavy and my brain is foggy.  So here goes... My first birthday post.

A little backstory...

For Christmas 2019 before COVID hit us hard, we got our kiddos Disney passes.  We had never been big Star Wars fans, but when we finally were able to ride the Rise of the Resistance ride (over 2 years later!) at Hollywood Studios, we fell in love.  Since then, we've become big Star Wars fans.  We've watched most of the movies and the series Obi Wan.  I'm currently watching Mandalorian.  Because of this newfound love, Canyon decided he wanted a Star Wars birthday party for his 4th birthday, hence the title of the post "May the FOURce Be with You."  With my dad still healing from open heart surgery around the time of Canyon's birthday (September 7th), I wanted to push back the party as much as I could in hopes that my mom would at least feel comfortable to leave my dad at home at the time.  My husband's birthday is also in September (the 29th), so we decided to push the party back enough that we could combine the two.  We ended up having the party on September 24th, and God was definitely looking out for us... Not only was my mom able to make it to the party, but my dad was able to come too!!! Also, only days later, Hurricane Ian would take a turn for us.  If we'd had it any sooner, Dad wouldn't have made it, and any later, and we wouldn't have had a party at all!  

Let the Party Planning Begin

When I plan a party, I brainstorm a lot.  I also Pinterest a lot.  I kind of build the party around a bit of both my own vision and tweaking inspiration from Pinterest to match my vision.  I'm making this disclaimer now, because not everything I'm posting was my original idea, and I don't want to act like it was.   I scour the internet for ideas and things I can buy premade, like from Party City and Walmart and Amazon, and then I buy what I can and make the rest.  I also have a bin of party supplies that I reuse from year to year, like balloon weights and mini chalk boards.  I recently attended a party and was amazed with their backdrop stand.  I had so many bad memories of hanging my photo backdrop with tape and the tape not holding, so I ordered one that same day.  It made such a difference.  I highly recommend this, as I will never have to battle tape and wind and making my backdrop stay up again.  I also can move it wherever I'd like, without needing a flat wall.  So many perks.  This is the Backdrop we went with. I'm not cool enough to get paid for endorsements, just wanted to share this with you (updated as of 8/19/23, I am attempting to become an Amazon Affiliate).  One other tip is don't doubt yourself when it comes to saving cash on the cake.  I used to fork it out for cute cakes, but somewhere along the line, I realized that I might not be able to make a cool cake, but I can make pretty decent cupcakes, and I can almost always come up with an idea that fits the theme and saves me some dough.  

I'm going to post lots of pictures from the party with links if there is anything that might help you make your own version.  Again, I don't get anything out of it, just the joy of helping you plan your own awesome party.

My DIY Cupcake Display

I know this isn't perfect, but it was way cheaper than ordering a custom made cake, and it was fun to do (even if my kids did ask my why I had purple frosting on some cupcakes that were supposed to look grey).  I displayed it on a foam board from the Dollar Tree with a cool table decorating set from Party City that only cost like 9 bucks.  It looked less crooked in person, lol!  

The Food

I love themed food!  And this one was soooo fun to do.  I couldn't find exactly what I wanted for the food tags.  I tried to make my own but I was so scared of viruses with the free font that I downloaded, so I gave that up pretty fast.  I found these food tags that had most of the food I wanted to make on Etsy and then I printed some free Star Wars pictures and free food labels and just redesigned the rest.  Most of the food I made is self-explanatory, but if you have any questions about anything specific, just leave a comment, and I'd be happy to give you the details.  All 3 of the kids were a huge help with the "Obi-Wan-Kabobies," and the big kids helped chop the fruit and also helped with chopping the veggies and cheese for the "Bow-Ba Fett Pasta" and wrapping the "Hutt Dogs".

The Photo Booth

So glad my dad made it!!

And my mom made it too!

The backdrop was from Amazon.  The lightsabers are from the DOLLAR TREE!!! Some of them had a pull tab and didn't require batteries, but the newer version does require batteries.  Either way, great deal!!  The paper masks were from Amazon.  Super cute but sooo hard to see out of, lol!  I made the little props with some pieces we didn't use from a decorating set from party city, and the Star Wars balloons also came from Party City.  The black swirly ones were another Dollar Tree find.  Aaron and I got our shirts from Amazon, but we lucked out and found the kids' shirts at Walmart!!

Present Time

We loved this Galactic Hero Chewy from Aunt Mer!

The photo booth was also a perfect backdrop for opening gifts... yay!  These pictures are always hard to get, because the kids are all sooo excited.  It's actually pretty cool to see the excitement other kids have over the birthday kiddo getting so many cool gifts.  We found lots of fun Star Wars gifts for Canyon on Amazon, like this fun set of action figures, this set of readers, and this awesome bedtime story book.  He is getting into Legos, so we also got him a small Millenium Falcon set.

Gifts for the Guests

These were more lightsabers from the Dollar Tree!  The kids had a blast with some Jedi Training on the trampoline!  I don't think many of the lightsabers survived to make it home, but they were fun while it lasted.  The cups were another Party City find and just had some candy and some Star Wars fruit snacks that I actually found at Winn Dixie

Guest Book

I don't know where I got the idea that you have to have something for guests to sign at every single party, but I've been doing this for years.  We've signed books and balls and canvases and puzzle pieces.  This year it was this adorable Golden Book from Amazon.

To Wrap It Up...

I know party planning isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I absolutely love it!  I hope this inspired you in some way, if you, like me, love it too.  Here are a few more fun pics from the day as I wrap this blog post up.  Thanks for reading!

Happy Party Planning!