(I have a great Silhouette Promotion to share with you today. If you have no interest in Star Wars (huh?) and just want the deal, scroll to the end of the post).
I've always had a healthy appreciation for Star Wars, but having a mega fan little boy (and husband), I have now been thoroughly indoctrinated. It came as no surprise to me that Ocsar wanted a Star Wars party, and he had grand plans for a snowy, Hoth-themed celebration. Everyone could wear white! We could cover the whole yard with snow! I had to talk him down a bit.
I made a simple e-vite and added a personalized Star Wars intro using the free Star Wars Crawl Creator.
Sorry, quick moment of nostalgia here ... can you believe Oscar is already 5?!! It all goes by so fast.
Most of the kids at the party had never seen Star Wars, so "Jedi Master Jill" gave a brief rundown of Jedi and the good side of the force, and they ran through a series of tasks. The padawans had to jump some cones, crawl through a tunnel, rescue a toy R2D2 from the swamps of Degobah (a kiddie pool "ball pit") with their eyes closed, and keep a balloon in the air with their lightsabers.
Once everyone successfully completed their Jedi training, we headed over to the "Tatooine Parlor" to be branded with the Jedi emblem. I used Silhouette Temporary Tatoo paper (affiliate link) to make the tatoos. This is a really cool specialty media from Silhouette, and you don't really even need the cutting machine to use it. You simply choose a design, print on your home computer, apply the adhesive sheet, and cut (by hand or machine).
I didn't go too crazy with decorations for this party, because I knew the kids would mainly be running around with the lightsabers. We strung some mini lanterns and balloon Tie-Fighters, and I dressed up the umbrella pole to look like a lightsaber.
The main decoration was this felt Star Wars bunting, which I I totally copied from Sticks on a Plane. She made the world's coolest Star Wars nursery, and that little bunting spoke to me. I copied most of Amanda's characters, and then did a google search for Star Wars graphic images to create templates for the rest. I kept this decoration a surprise for Oscar, and now it hangs on the wall over his bed. I think this is my favorite element from the whole party.
Food at the party was pretty simple, because this was more of a kid party than a big family barbecue. We had Lightsaber fruit kabobs (which Jared cleverly renamed Obi-wan Kabobies), Cloud City Crudites, Jabba Jello Jigglers, and Empanada's Apprentice Italian sausage hot pockets. My mother-in-law helped me crank out lots of little Darth Vader (sausage filled) and Stormtrooper (ham and cheese filled) hot pockets, using pie dough for the crust, and Williams Sonoma Star Wars cookie cutters (as seen at A Mama with Ideas). Oscar LOVES these things. All the moms and dads thought they were yummy, too. :)
Those cookie cutters served double duty, because obviously we needed to use them for their intended purpose. And the cookies come out so cute, you don't even have to frost them. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, and for the chocolate ones, used the same recipe, omitting the almond extract and adding 1/2 cup cocoa powder. They are sooo good, I'm having a really hard time staying away from the left overs.
I always decorate our drink dispenser for parties, but this R2 unit is my favorite vinyl "costume" to date. I cut the vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo, and applied it by hand (I find transfer paper is a little tricky on curves). If you want my R2D2 vinyl file, just shoot me an email (homemadebyjill@gmail.com)! The "head" is just a metal mixing bowl set over the top of the drink dispenser and secured with a little tape.
Other Silhouette media projects included these cute storm trooper favor box labels, made with the Printable Silver Foil labels (affiliate link). This is one of my favorite specialty media products by Silhouette, because the labels look SO polished. I wasn't sure how color would show up against the foil, but it was vibrant and looked fab. This is definitely a product you could use without the machine, and would be wonderful to use on holiday treats.
I filled the boxes with Star Wars rings and pop rocks candy for each of the guests and their siblings. I was feeling stingy with my cute chevron boxes, so I just packed one for each family instead of each kid.
I used the Printable Clear Sticker Paper (affiliate link) to add Darth Vader to the kid's drink cups. This sticker paper is quite thick, and would look great against glass. It worked on my cups, but would look better on a nice smooth surface, I think.
I also made the star straw toppers on my silhouette using a pencil topper shape from the online store. You have to shrink the shape down a bit to make the holes a good size for straws, but they were pretty cute. It's all in the little details!
Darth Vader (a.k.a., Darth Daddy) showed up and tried to steal all of our pinata candy. He tried to bring Oscar to the Dark Side, promising the pinata candy would bring them great power, but luckily, Oscar was able to resist. He and the other young Jedis gave ol' Darth a good pummeling with their lightsabers, and he surrendered.
I made the Darth Vader costume by ironing on a chest plate image I found online to a long sleeve t-shirt, and sewing a big piece of fabric into the shoulders as a cape. We ordered the accessories from amazon.
The only thing that held out from the original Hoth party theme was this Wampa Cake, which I saw on Alicia Policia. If you love Star Wars, definitely check out all of her Empire Strikes Back party posts. It looked amazing (and had the coolest pinata I've ever seen. Pinata Luke's hand was detachable. I'm serious.).
It was a very Hoth-y birthday after all.
Many thanks to all our friends who came and made this birthday boy's wishes come true! Also, big thank you to my mother-in-law for all of her help with the food prep (you always save the day!), my husband for being a very punny Darth Vader, and my good friend Sonja for helping me with so many of the crafting details behind the scenes. She should get a blog, don't you think? :)
On to the Silhouette promotion!
You may have noticed that I reference my Silhouette Cameo and specialty products a number of times in my party posts. Aside from my sewing machine, it is my favorite crafting tool! It elevates the quality of my projects and just plain saves time.
Silhouette is promoting a killer deal on Specialty Media and Media Bundles (affiliate link) from October 15th through October 24th.
Visit the Specialty Media Promo Page (affiliate link) and use the code JILL at checkout to access these great deals:
Silhouette Cameo Specialty Media Bundle for $269.99
or
or
Silhouette Portrait Specialty Media Bundle for $129.99
So, what comes in the bundle, you ask? You choose your machine, and it comes with:
- 1 cardstock essentials pack
- 1 pack printable adhesive kraft paper
- 1 pack printable clear sticker paper
- 1 pack temporary tattoo paper
- 1 pack printable cotton canvas
- 1 pack chipboard
- 1 pack printable silver foil
- 1 pack printable magnet paper
- 1 pack double-sided adhesive
Basically, you are getting about $30 discount on the machines and $70 worth of free product. It's a good promotion. :)
If you don't need the machine, all Specialty Media is 30% off!
Like I said before, if you don't have to own a Silhouette machine to use the cool specialty media. While I would recommend choosing simpler shapes to cut by hand, the media all works the same ... just print your design and cut it out! I'll be sharing other specialty media projects throughout the promotion to show how neat this stuff is.